I know in the scheme of things, this will just count as another in a long list of failures, but I stumbled across this today and found it delicious.
Seems Trump Tower in Chicago has 70,000 square feet of retail space that hasn’t leased since the tower was first opened 10 years ago — or about the time Barack Obama first was inaugurated. That’s not just mind-boggling to anyone who works in commercial real estate, it happens to be a record:
The decade-long vacancy sets a record for Downtown Chicago’s retail market in the modern era, according to Colliers International. No other retail site larger than 5,000 square feet has sat on the market for this long.
So. Much. WINNING!!!
And don’t think for a moment that Trump just happened upon this failure without significant effort – no, an utter flop this unprecedented required hard work and marketing mastery to pull off:
Trump Tower’s failure is an outlier in Chicago’s competitive retail market, where no comparable space has languished on the market for nearly this long. Over the years, the Trumps have cycled through multiple leasing agents without success. Last year, the Trump name was even removed from marketing materials. And then added back again. Last summer, Donald Trump Jr. paid a visit to the property to kickstart leasing activity.
Oh, I’m sure Junior’s visit kickstarted SOMEthing, anyway.
A decade after the tower opened in 2009, it has just one retail tenant, a salon that occupies an enclosed 3,400-square-foot suite above the hotel lobby. The entire deck-level space remains empty, its blank beige walls on full display for the millions of tourists who stroll along the river each year. No part of it has ever been leased, according to Trump Organization tax appeal documents filed in Cook County and analyzed by The Real Deal.
Flashy, wannabe expensive, empty, failure.
Sounds about right.
