Plans for $1.5 billion Trump Tower on Gold Coast scrapped

In a statement to Domain, a Trump Organization spokesperson put the blame squarely at the door of the Australian property developer Altus Property Group and its CEO David Young.

“While we were very excited about the opportunity to bring a world-class development to the Gold Coast, the project was dependent on our licensing partner meeting certain obligations. Unfortunately, those obligations were not fulfilled,” they said.

“After months of negotiations and empty promise, after empty promise, on a supposed $1.5 billion project, Altus Property Group was unable to meet the most basic financial obligation due upon the execution of the agreement.”

Young posted about the project on his LinkedIn page in a post where he did not outright say the project would not go ahead, but said the Iran war and changing percpetions of the Trump brand was having an impact on the project.

“The major point is being in recent events the brand in this country has become toxic to Australians,” he said in the post.

He claimed he was in discussions with “many high end luxury brands” to continue the development, and insisted there was no acrimony between him and the Trump Organization in the post.

However, The Trump Organization did not take kindly to claims the Middle East conflict was the main reason for the stalling of the project.

“Mr Young’s attempt to blame certain world events for our termination of the agreement is merely a ploy to distract from his own defaults and failures,” the spokesperson claimed.

The claims from the Trump Organization have been put to Altus Group and David Young.

They added the company was looking to explore future proposals to bring a Trump Tower to Australia.