Skip navigation


Current DateTime: 09:43:39 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 24355697

Current DateTime: 09:43:39 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 24890560
  • Winterizing Your Portfolio

      If 2009 was the winter of our discontent, will 2010 be a winter wonderland for investors? A lot depends on the recovery—or lack thereof.

  • Investor's Guide to Real Estate

      Some even say the long-awaited recovery is here. Regardless, buyers and sellers alike can profit from our guide.

  • Alternative Investing

      Stocks and bonds? Sure. But it's a big world out there for investors.

powered by digg
By: By Floyd Norris, The New York Times | 05 Dec 2008 | 10:52 AM ET
Text Size

Donald Trump
CNBC.com
Donald Trump

Guess who is complaining that condominiums in Donald Trump’s latest big project are ridiculously overpriced.

Donald Trump is.

But he isn’t cutting the prices. He says the banks won’t let him.

The project is the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, which is to be the second-tallest building in that city (after the Sears Tower). By Mr. Trump’s account, sales were going great until “the real estate market in Chicago suffered a severe downturn” and the bankers made it worse by “creating the current financial crisis.”

Those assertions are made in a fascinating lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump, the real estate developer, television personality and best-selling author, in an effort to avoid paying $40 million that he personally guaranteed on a construction loan that Deutsche Bank [AG  Loading...      ()   ] says is due and payable.

Rather than have to pay the $40 million, Mr. Trump thinks the bank should pay him $3 billion for undermining the project and damaging his reputation.

He points to a “force majeure” clause in the lending agreement that allows the borrower to delay completion of the building if construction is hampered by such things as riots, floods or strikes. That clause has a catch-all section covering “any other event or circumstance not within the reasonable control of the borrower,” and Mr. Trump figures that lets him out, even though construction is continuing.

“Would you consider the biggest depression we have had in this country since 1929 to be such an event? I would,” he said in an interview. “A depression is not within the control of the borrower.”

He wants a state judge in the Queens borough of New York to order the bank to delay efforts to collect the loan until “a reasonable time” after the financial crisis ends.

Deutsche Bank thinks the idea that an economic downturn should free people from the obligation to pay their debts is laughable.

Mr. Trump, it may be noted, does not think remorseful condominium buyers are in a similar position. When I asked him if he would let them walk away from contracts to buy apartments at predepression prices, he said he would not. “They don’t have a force majeure clause,” he said.

The suit, and a parallel one by Deutsche Bank seeking the money, provide a glimpse into both how Mr. Trump does business and into the way the real estate loan market was operating in 2005, when the loan was made.

For this big project, built on the site of the old Chicago Sun-Times building, it appears from the court papers that Mr. Trump put in little of his own money. He got a construction loan for up to $640 million from a syndicate headed by Deutsche Bank and a $130 million junior loan from another syndicate headed by Fortress Investments [FIG  Loading...      ()   ] , a hedge fund operator that has troubles stemming in part from bad loans made for other real estate projects.

The people who negotiated the construction loan did not think real estate prices could tumble. The loan agreement requires partial repayment each time an apartment is sold and provides a detailed list of the minimum prices to be charged.

According to Mr. Trump’s suit, he cannot cut prices without the unanimous consent of the lenders, and that has not been forthcoming. There are a lot of lenders in the deal, and some of them appear to be banks and hedge funds that are no longer in good shape.

The loan was due Nov. 7, and the lenders did not grant a requested extension. Mr. Trump filed his lawsuit just before that deadline.

Tools:
Print EmailAdd This share icon
  • digg share

CNBC HIGHLIGHTS

  • Rumors abound that Oprah will leave her show to start a new network. What would this mean for daytime TV?
  • David Moore
  • A private equity specialist sponsored a stand-up comedy troupe in New York to prove that CEOs can, in fact, be funny.
  • Jim Cramer
  • Cramer did the research and found eight stocks that lead the pack. Read on to get his top picks.
  • Hideki Matsui
  • Did Hideki Matsui’s performance make it more likely that the Yankees will pay to have him back?
  • Which wines should you bring—or serve—with holiday meals this year? Ask a connoisseur.
  • Two competitors in this year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas have stories fit for Hollywood.
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 02:34:52 08 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters