Trump on the hunt in hub: Mogul?s empire eyeing properties
By Donna Goodison and Scott Van Voorhis
Friday, August 31, 2007 - Updated: 01:07 AM EST
Could the Trump name one day be emblazoned on Boston?s skyline?
Maybe. Donald Trump?s company confirmed it?s been scouting the Hub for possible real estate development deals.
Donald Trump Jr., son of The Donald, has had a number of meetings in Boston with local real estate developer Bruce Percelay to explore opportunities, sources confirmed. The junior Trump is executive vice president of development and acquisitions for the Trump Organization.
Rhona Graff, assistant to Donald Trump Sr., confirmed the billionaire?s company has set its sights on Boston.
?They explored most of the high-end properties on the market,? Graff said. ?. . . It?s very, very early in the process.?
Percelay, chairman and founder of the Mount Vernon Co. Inc., declined comment yesterday. His Boston real estate investment company specializes in buying underused and undervalued properties, according to its Web site. Its $200 million portfolio includes apartments in Boston and Quincy, vacation properties on Nantucket and St. Barths in the French West Indies, and commercial properties in Newton and Nantucket.
The Trump family has had some ?discussions? about a real estate deal with Donald Saunders, of D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., a Boston investment management real estate company, said one executive who was informed of the talks.
So far, however, there is no agreement, according to the executive, who could not say which Saunders properties the Trumps might be eyeing.
Saunders? flagship is the 950-room Boston Park Plaza Hotel, which he co-owns with Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. Their combined holdings also include the adjacent Statler Office Building and The Castle at Park Plaza. Saunders also owns properties on Newbury Street, Arlington Street and Commonwealth Avenue, according to city records.
It might seem an odd time for Donald Trump Sr., who has a penchant for posh residential projects, to look at investing in Boston real estate. Some developers are getting cold feet about building luxury condo towers as the real estate downturn drags on.
But Trump, who was in Norton yesterday playing golf at a Deutsche Bank Championship event, told the Herald late last year that he?s looked at properties in the area for years, but the prices had simply been too high.
He hinted that might be about to change. ?Maybe people will start talking turkey,? he said.