With Luxury Buildings, Has Trump Ditched His Roots?
Even though Fred and Donald share the same last name, their real estate legacies couldn’t be further apart. A billion-dollar brand—and now presidential candidate—Donald Trump has emblazoned his name across the country on buildings as a loud, expensive and glitzy version of himself. But the origin of the Trump empire began with a simpler, more frugal focus, helping the working class with government-backed brick buildings like the Trump Village in Coney Island. Fred, a Depression-era penny pincher, focused on the lower-middle class, a strategy that made him a millionaire by the 1970s, the Washington Post reports. Fred is still loved by those who live in his buildings. Donald, on the other hand, spares no expense, building an empire spanning media, golf courses, luxury buildings—and now a bid for President. While both successful in real estate, one main things sets them apart: Fred Trump had the love, Donald goes for acclaim. “Nobody goes by any of the [Fred] Trump housing and says ‘wow look at that,’ ” Andrew S. Dolkart, a Columbia University historian of architecture and development in New York says. “Whereas you go by Donald Trump’s housing, and it forces you to look—not necessarily positively—but it’s the antithesis of the anonymous housing that his father built." [WP]
