Plans for a Trump Tower to be built on Australia’s Gold Coast have been scrapped because the developer said Trump’s brand is ‘too toxic’.
David Young, CEO of Altus Property Group, told CNN: ‘Let’s just say that with the Iran war and everything else, the Trump brand was increasingly unpopular in Australia.’
Plans for the 91-storey tower, which would operate as a hotel, apartment building and retail building, would have been Australia’s tallest tower.
Backlash from Australians was swift, with more than 140,000 signing a petition to block the tower from going forward.
Young said the backlash, while ‘deeply unfair’, showed that the Trump name had become too toxic in Australia.
The Trump Organisation, which was behind the project, slammed the halting of the project.
‘After months of negotiations and empty promises, after empty promises, on a supposed $1.5 billion project, Altus Property Group was unable to meet the most basic financial obligation due upon the execution of the agreement,’ it said.
The Trump Organisation said Young’s comments about world events were a ‘ploy’ to distract from ‘his own failures’.
But the Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, said that the Trump Organisation was partly to blame, because they were planning to make more profit than the developer.
Young added: ‘Some time ago, we knew it was time to part company. It was not about not meeting obligations. There are other luxury brand options for us. The project is live.’
London could see its own area similar to ‘Trump Tower’, with new development in Hanwell, Ealing, angering residents with plans for high-rise blocks.
The comparison with Trump Tower is further fuelled by the fact that the development is on Trumpers Way, a relatively peaceful backwater in Ealing.
Campaigners are fighting to block the proposals under the banner ‘Hands off Hanwell, Stop Trumpers Towers’. Under plans from Francourt Group, 287 homes would be built alongside commercial space.
The developer has named the new complex Elthorne Works, and while there is nothing in the plans to suggest any direct comparison to the gaudy 1980s style of Trump Tower, the scale and boldness of the scheme have been seized upon by opponents who have branded the proposals ‘Trumpian’.
The three buildings would range from 10 to 15 storeys, and the current proposals are yet to be considered by Ealing Council.
A plan for 213 homes was approved in 2020, but the developer has now sought to increase the size to reflect growing housing needs locally, it has claimed.
A consultation leaflet said that ‘with increasing demand locally for affordable homes’, the developer is ‘refreshing the plan to better meet local needs.’
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