foto: Mark Reinstein/Getty Images
Construction will be done in conjunction with local partners, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump-branded skyscraper will be built in the Caucasus, another example of how the Trump family company has changed its approach to doing business abroad during the second term of his administration.
“The Trump Organization and its partners plan to build Trump Tower Tbilisi, a roughly 70-story mixed-use project that will be the tallest building in Georgia’s capital,” the publication quoted a comment from a representative of The Trump Organization project as saying.
The building will include elite residential apartments, retail space and hotel-level services.
The project is being developed by the architectural company Gensler and supported by a consortium that includes the Georgian development company Archi Group and Biograpi Living.
New York-based development company Sapir Organization and Trump’s former partner are also known to be involved in the project.
The author of the article notes that The Trump Organization has increasingly entered into international licensing and branding agreements in recent years. Critics point out that such projects can cause conflicts of interest.
The article states that one of President Trump’s sons and the company’s executive vice president, Eric Trump, declined to comment on the project.
The publication also writes that he previously denied the existence of a conflict of interest in the company’s foreign activities and said that the Trump Organization’s business relationships are separate from the Administration’s policies. He said the Tbilisi project will bring a “globally recognized high standard of excellence” to Georgia.
The project, the publication notes, will also restore the previously initiated but subsequently terminated relationship between the Trump brand and Georgia.
The company had planned a project in Batumi in 2012, but later abandoned it to avoid the impression of a conflict of interest. The publication notes that after being re-elected for a second term, Trump’s company has significantly increased its involvement in international projects, including the Middle East, Vietnam and India.
“Georgia is located in a geopolitically sensitive region – it seeks to preserve relations with the West while managing tensions with Russia. At the same time, the country is trying to attract foreign investment through business-oriented policies, low taxes and growing tourism,” the author writes.
It is reported that the Georgian company Archi Group is one of the leading developers in Georgia: it has more than 55 completed projects and tens of thousands of apartments on its account.
It is also noted that the head of Sapir Organization Alex Sapir gave the project a personal significance, emphasizing the Georgian roots of his family and saying that the project is an opportunity to “make a significant contribution” to the future of the country.
We would like to add that in 2012 The Trump Organization already announced its intention to build Trump Tower in Batumi, Georgia – a 47-storey Trump Riviera building together with Silk Road Group.
But then the project, like many other foreign deals, was canceled due to Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions and his desire to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
And after Donald Trump was elected US President in 2017 (Trump’s first term), the agreement was canceled and the Trump-branded construction did not take place.
