Trump Parc

Trump Parc: Barbizon Plaza Hotel

At 106 Central Park South and built for $10 million, the 38-story, art deco Barbizon Plaza Hotel opened in 1930 with 1,400 ensuite rooms. The property foreclosed in 1933.

At some point, likely around World War II, the top of the building was altered to its present form with a stylish design. Carter B. Horsley of The City Review said, "Its only rivals in audacity are the Chrysler Building and the former RCA/GE tower".

Aeolian Company installed a large pipe organ at the hotel in 1930; it was moved a year later to the nearby American Women's Association clubhouse.

In 1956, Aldous Huxley extolled the tranquilizer drug Meprobamate (aka Miltown) in a conference at the hotel.

After the combined purchase in 1981, Donald Trump renamed the property to "Trump Parc" and converted it to 340 condominium units around 1988.

Trump Parc East: 100 Central Park South

100 Central Park South is a 14-story building that was built in 1929.

Trump purchased the Barbizon Plaza Hotel and 100 Central Park South in 1981 for $13 million from Banque Lambert. The Barbizon Plaza Hotel was the major asset; 100 Central Park South was a rent controlled building that Trump said "they practically gave it to me". It contained 80 apartments, by 1985 60 were occupied, with about half being rent-controlled and the rest being rent-stabilized. Trump's intention was to replace the two buildings with a new one, which would be "one of the finest pieces of real estate in New York."

In a February 1985 New York Magazine article, "A Different Kind of Donald Trump Story: The Cold War on Central Park South", Tony Schwartz detailed "how a bunch of rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants in an old building... have managed to do what city agencies, courts, colleagues, competitors, and the National Football League have been able to do: successfully stand in the way of something Donald Trump wants." Trump could have bought out the rent-controlled tenants; instead, he contracted with Citadel Management, who also handled tenant resettlement and had been accused of harassment in the past. The article goes on to describe how Trump and his organization, attempting to evict the tenants, harassed them through "lapses in building security" and ignored needed repairs.

Trump (as Park South Associates) sued to evict the tenants in 1981, and in 1982 the management company ordered six tenants to comply with rules ignored for 30 years, giving them 10 days to comply. Trump, in newspaper advertisements, also offered to house homeless in the vacated units, which was seen as a threat to the remaining tenants. The tenants raised funds and hired legal counsel, receiving an injunction against the compliance orders in 1984. In 1985 the harassment case was brought to the state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal, with the city mentioning daily harassment, "wrongful acts and omissions", bogus nonpayment notices, and utilities that were turned off, by Trump's agents. The city lost an injunction against Trump in September 1985, with the State Supreme Court justice stating The danger of irreparable harm to the tenants seems to be minimal now that the challenged activities of the defendants are under the scrutiny of the various departments of the City of New York. The hearings were still open in November 1985, even though Trump had claimed victory.

Trump countersued, citing the RICO act, listing charges including extortion and bribery that were committed by the tenants. Judge Whitman Knapp rejected the countersuit, ordering it dismissed with prejudice. In a 1985 New York Times editorial, Sydney Schanberg called Trump a "slumlord". Trump's attorney on the case responded in an editorial, attacking Schanberg, the tenants' lawyer, the city, and calling it a "political maneuver in a mayoral election year".

Ultimately, in 1986, Trump dropped the eviction suit, allowing the tenants to stay with their rent controls in place and paying their legal fees of over $500,000. Trump stated he wouldn't continue with demollition but would renovate the building to "take advantage of the strong real-estate market now."

After a final settlement in 1988, the building was converted to a condominium with 51 rent-regulated tenants remaining. In 2016 some rent-controlled tenants were paying less than $1000 for a one-bedroom apartment along Central Park.

Notable tenants have included Suzanne Blackmer, who lived in the building from before Trump's purchase until her death in 2004, Arnold Scaasi, and Eric Trump.