The beginning of the Trump Era in Manhattan, considered one of the most successful restorations in history.
Every great empire has a beginning, and for Donald J. Trump, that beginning was the Commodore Hotel, a storied but struggling 1919 landmark sitting directly beside Grand Central Terminal. In 1976, in what has been called one of the most famous real estate deals in history, a young Donald Trump partnered with the Hyatt Corporation to purchase the fading hotel, negotiating an unprecedented 40-year tax abatement, the first ever granted to a commercial property in New York City, along with $70 million in financing to bring the project to life.
Trump enlisted acclaimed architect Der Scutt to reimagine the property entirely, wrapping the historic brick structure in a sleek, reflective glass and stainless-steel facade that would become an early hallmark of the Trump design aesthetic. After a $100 million transformation, the Grand Hyatt Hotel opened its doors in 1980 to tremendous fanfare, its shimmering exterior signaling the arrival of a bold new era for both Midtown Manhattan and its ambitious young developer. The deal marked Donald Trump’s first major solo project in Manhattan real estate, the deal that put his name on the map in New York City and set the stage for the iconic Trump Tower, which broke ground on Fifth Avenue soon after.
The Grand Hyatt quickly became one of the most successful hotels in the city, generating gross operating profits exceeding $30 million a year and cementing its place as a fixture next to one of the busiest transit hubs in the world. In 1996, Trump sold his stake in the hotel to the Pritzker family’s Hyatt organization, concluding a 20-year partnership and bringing to a close the very first chapter of what would become a global real estate empire.
Today, plans are underway to redevelop the site into an entirely new 83-story skyscraper but the legacy of the deal that started it all remains a foundational chapter in the Trump Organization’s story, marking the moment Donald Trump transformed himself from a Queens-based developer into one of Manhattan’s most prominent names in real estate.