But on a weekday evening in November, only a few sprinklings of patrons grace the resort’s bar and high-end steakhouse. Tables with lit candles sit empty through the night.
With hotel expansion plans thwarted, marquee hotels in New York, Panama and Toronto stripped of the Trump name, and revenues lagging or relatively flat at properties like Doral, rising rent collections at office and commercial properties have provided the Trump Organization a boost. For this report, The New York Times analyzed 5 years of Trump’s personal financial disclosure statements, which he first filed as a candidate and then as president. His candidate reports covered periods longer than a calendar year, so The Times adjusted the figures for comparison. Additionally, The Times obtained loan data and other financial reports that offered a fuller picture of the performance of Trump’s commercial real estate portfolio, and loan data on Trump Organization properties.
The Trump Organization had at least $572 million in revenue in 2018, about even with 2017, The Times found. Revenue remained stable because commercial real estate added $17 million while hotels and branding deals fell off by about the same amount. The resort brought in sales of $92 million in 2015, with particularly strong business at its restaurants and bars, which include a BLT Prime steakhouse, according to financial reports filed with the county tax assessor.
But on one recent weekday, with no large events at the resort, the cavernous Donald J. Trump Ballroom sat empty, as did the smaller Ivanka Trump ballroom, with its Austrian crystal chandeliers. Financial reports also show declines in the Trump Organization’s branding businesses, which sell the family name to be used on new residential towers outside the United States and licensing it for products from bottled water to furniture and ties.
But for the most part, the trend of declining or stagnant revenues does not extend to the Trump Organization’s office buildings.