Trump returns to risky real estate investments

Donald Trump is sinking millions into real estate investments, taking large risks in 2012 for the first time since “getting clobbered” in the 1990s, the Wall Street Journal reported.

For instance, in addition to his purchase of the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Trump bought out New York-based Fortress Investment, his junior creditors at the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago condominiums earlier this month, to the tune of $48 million.

The long-term bet on high-end residential real estate marks a change for Trump, who has generally been risk-averse after squabbling with lenders at the Chicago project when condo sales slumped, during the recession.

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In the 1990s Trump, previously one of the biggest risk takers in the real estate business, was unable to pay hundreds of millions of dollars worth of debt,” the Journal said. But those days are over.

“Call me in five years,” Trump told the Journal Tuesday. “I view my prior investment as a sunk cost.” [WSJ]