In excess-loving South Florida, there’s always room for more — more mansions on the waterfront, more luxury penthouses, and more Trump.
TRD‘s latest episode of Coffee Talk includes just one Trump. Not Donald, not Eric or Don Jr., but one whose name South Florida industry experts know just as well — South African-born developer Jules Trump.
Though he bears no relation to the White House occupants, Trump is the leader of the similarly named Trump Group.
“At one point, when we were getting quite a lot of publicity because of some public companies we’d acquired, I think Donald got quite upset about it and instituted the lawsuits trying to prevent us from using the Trump name in business,” he explained. “There were five lawsuits. We won in the lawsuits and eventually we worked it out.”
In this interview, he spoke to The Real Deal publisher Amir Korangy about getting into the real estate game. Trump, who started off as a retailer before diving into development, said that the key to success is simple: listen to your customer. “You listen and you learn and you keep improving on what you’re doing based on what the customer feedback is,” he explained.
That mentality, and the developer’s ultra-luxury plans for the Sunny Isles Beach waterfront, have clearly proven popular with lenders. Bank OZK funded the construction of Trump’s Estates at Acqualina with a $558 million loan, the largest of its kind in South Florida.
The project seems to be always on the mind — and the Zoom screen — for Trump. Sales launched at the Estates at Acqualina’s second tower in February, where units are furnished with Fendi and Baccarat la Maison furniture, and common areas were designed by Karl Lagerfeld. For more on how he put it together, watch the video above.