Cushman & Wakefield, NYC cut ties to Trump Organization
Brokerage will stop handling leasing for firm; de Blasio ends rink and golf contracts
New York / January 13, 2021 02:10 PM TRD Staff
Cushman & Wakefield CEO Brett White, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Donald Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. (Getty) A week after Capitol Hill was stormed by a mob at the encouragement of President Donald Trump, his family real estate company lost its leasing team and $17 million in contracts with New York City. Since the Jan. 6 attack, companies have been distancing themselves from the president’s brand and the Trump Organization has seen one relationship after another come undone. ADVERTISING Among them are Deutsche Bank, Signature Bank, social media and eCommerce companies of all kinds, and PGA of America, which pulled its championship from Trump’s New Jersey golf course Monday. That list now includes Cushman & Wakefield and New York City, according to reports from the Washington Post and New York Times. Read more
- JLL backs out of selling Trump’s DC hotel
- Real estate industry denounces “insurrection” in DC
- The Trump Reorganization: What’s next for the president’s firm?
The commercial brokerage, which handled office leasing at Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street in New York and retail leasing at the Trump Organization’s Chicago hotel, said Tuesday night in a statement to the Washington Post, “Cushman & Wakefield has made the decision to no longer do business with The Trump Organization.” ADVERTISEMENT Fred Trump III, the president’s nephew, is a leasing director at the firm. Sources told Business Insider that he was recently asked to leave the company. Neither he nor Cushman & Wakefield responded to requests for comment, and Trump continues to list his position at the firm on LinkedIn. It’s unclear who will handle leasing at Trump Organization properties going forward. The firm did not respond to requests for comment. The Capitol incursion prompted the city to review its four contracts with the Trump Organization, which Mayor Bill de Blasio claims are worth $17 million a year. It had considered ending them after previous controversies but did not see a legal way out. Then on Wednesday morning the city pulled the trigger, saying it would cancel Trump’s contracts to run the Central Park Carousel, two Central Park ice-skating rinks and Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx. ADVERTISEMENT [Pics] School expels teen over outfit, regrets it when they see who dad is Sponsored by React Share SEE MORE Amanda Miller, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization, told the Times it would fight the city’s decision “vigorously.” “The City of New York has no legal right to end our contracts and if they elect to proceed, they will owe the Trump Organization over $30 million,” she said in a statement. “This is nothing more than political discrimination, an attempt to infringe on the First Amendment.” New York City’s decision to cancel its contracts with the Trump Organization raises the spectre of whether something similar could occur at the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. The firm has a ground lease with the federal government for the former post office turned hotel. Brokerage JLL was working with the Trump Organization to sell the property since last year, but days after the unrest at the Capitol Building, JLL confirmed it would not be involved in the deal. ADVERTISEMENT Meet Brad Pitt’s Gorgeous Daughter Sponsored by Weight Loss Groove SEE MORE The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
