Michael Sallah reports on the financial meltdown surrounding Donald Trump's completed but empty $200 million International Hotel & Tower on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Sallah recounts the process by which Trump's dream of "a luxury high-rise shaped like an ocean liner and bearing his name that would turn Fort Lauderdale Beach into an international draw" has turned into a "hulking, empty tower casting a shadow over one of Florida's most popular beachfronts" and a court battle for duped investors.
Was the project a victim of a historically poor real estate market or more nefarious reasons? All of the above, it sounds like from Sallah's report featuring project delays, a market plunge, shady deals with a onetime mob associate, and the eventual withdraw of Trump's name from the project mere months before it was scheduled to open.
"Three years after the tower was to open its doors, investors are demanding millions in down payments on at least 60 units - priced between $500,000 and $3 million - accusing the developers of massive fraud."
Read the full story: Trump’s tower of trouble: anatomy of a financial fiasco
Minnesota seeks to replace fraud-ridden Housing Stabilization Services with new program
Federal prosecutors have charged over a dozen people in fraud cases involving at least $26 million.
The Florida Cities Risking Everything to Save Rainbow Sidewalks
Gov. DeSantis has threatened to withhold state transportation funding and remove local leaders who don’t comply with an order to remove painted crosswalks.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority