Why Did Walter Cronkite Fight Trump World Tower? The Tallest Residential Tower Across From the U.N.

The glass slab of the United Nations Secretariat beside the dark bronze Trump World Tower, seen across the East River

The United Nations Secretariat Building with Trump World Tower to its right, seen from across the East River. Photograph by Reading Tom, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.

Trump World Tower is the dark, bronze-tinted condominium tower at 845 United Nations Plaza, on First Avenue between 47th and 48th Streets, directly across from the United Nations. It was finished in 2001, it was fought in court by some of the city's best-known residents, and its official marketing still describes it as 90 stories tall. This article covers why the tower was controversial, where its height claims came from, and how its ownership and name stand now.

What stood on the site, and how did Trump assemble it?

The New York Times reported on September 12, 1997 that Donald Trump and the South Korean company Daewoo Corporation had signed a $52 million contract to buy the site at First Avenue and 47th Street. The site held the United Engineering Center, an 18-story building put up in 1961. CityRealty's review calls it a 20-story building designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, and says Trump paid about $50 million for the site, so the sources differ slightly on both the building's height and the price.

The Times said the developers were interviewing architects including Frank Gehry, Robert A.M. Stern and John Portman, and were planning an 850,000-square-foot tower with either 300 large apartments priced from $1 million to $12 million or a mix of a hotel of about 200 rooms and fewer apartments. Trump's zoning lawyer, Samuel Lindenbaum, said the site could take a $300 million tower without variances that would require public hearings. He said it could rise 69 stories, but only if the developers bought air rights from nearby properties, including two brownstones, the Church of the Holy Family and the Japan Society. A Japan Society vice president told the Times the society was negotiating to sell about 60,000 square feet of air rights.

CityRealty says Trump and Daewoo got financing from Deutsche Bank and Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank. The Times reported on October 16, 1998 that demolition of the old building began the day before. It described the project as a $360 million tower rising 861 feet and 72 stories, with financing from two German banks, and quoted Trump saying he had always thought New York should have the tallest building in the world and that it now had "the tallest and most luxurious residential building in the world."

Trump World Tower rising among the buildings of Turtle Bay with the East River and Queens beyond

Trump World Tower and the East River from above. Photograph by Casper Moller, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.

Why did neighbors fight the tower?

The 1998 Times article quoted Edward Rubin, the chairman of the land-use committee of Community Board 6, saying the tower did not fit the neighborhood and that "If anything deserves to be that prominent, it's the U.N., not Donald Trump." The U.N. Secretariat, the Times noted, is 39 stories tall.

The opposition grew into a cause. The Times reported on November 22, 2000 that the court fight led by Walter Cronkite and other neighbors ended when the state Court of Appeals declined to hear their appeal. The campaign had drawn support from the film director James Ivory and from Alberto Vilar, an investor who had donated $25 million to the Metropolitan Opera. The neighbors argued that the 856-foot structure was illegal and out of character with the area, and had asked Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to revoke the building permit. Trump replied that his wealthy opponents were upset because the tower would block their views. A leader of the opposition, Seymour Flug, told the Times, "If we'd had a mayor strong enough to take a position at the outset, it never would have been built."

The Giuliani administration's position, as the Times summarized it, was that the developer had properly bought development rights from other owners on the block and had built a public plaza in return for the right to build 20 percent higher than the rules otherwise allowed. In December 1999 Justice Nicholas Figueroa of State Supreme Court in Manhattan had upheld decisions by both the Buildings Department and the Board of Standards and Appeals. CityRealty says the tower was built "as-of-right," within existing zoning, and notes that although some neighbors believed buildings facing the U.N. gardens should not be taller than the Secretariat, that rule was not in the zoning.

Did the fight change New York's zoning?

The Times said the oversized tower inspired Joseph B. Rose, chairman of the City Planning Commission, to begin an effort to overhaul the city's zoning rules. Under his proposed regulations, the tower could have been no taller than 495 feet, about 44 floors. Trump told the Times he was thrilled that the battle was over and that he did not have to lop off the top of his building, and said he expected residents to begin moving in the following January.

Trump World Tower standing among Midtown East towers on the Manhattan shore of the East River, viewed from Queens

Trump World Tower on the Midtown East skyline, seen from Hunters Point South in Queens. Photograph by Tdorante10, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

How tall is Trump World Tower, and how many floors does it have?

The sources agree on the number of constructed floors but not on the height, and the tower's own marketing uses a different count. The 1998 Times said 861 feet and 72 stories, a figure CityRealty repeats. The 2000 Times article said 856 feet, which it said was 310 feet above the U.N. The cost is another disagreement: the Times gave $300 million in 1997, $360 million in 1998 and $400 million in 2000.

The official Trump World Tower website today says the tower soars "90 Stories Above New York." A 2003 New York Times article explained the discrepancy. It said Trump World "bills itself as having 90 stories; in fact, it has 72 floors." The Times quoted Trump saying that he divided the building's height by 10 feet to get its floor count, and that he was showing restraint by not using 9 feet. This article uses 72, the figure in the Times reports from 1998 and 2003, and CityRealty.

CityRealty adds that the tower has 376 condominium apartments, rises without setbacks, has no balconies, and is the tallest building along the East River in Manhattan. It says the tower is slightly shorter than Citicorp Center, and that it was the tallest residential building in the city when it was completed in 2001.

Looking up the bronze-tinted curtain wall of Trump World Tower from its base, with rows of windows narrowing toward the sky

Looking up the curtain wall of Trump World Tower. Photograph by Acediscovery, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.

What did critics say about the design?

CityRealty, in a review by Carter Horsley, credits the architect Costas Kondylis and says the glass facade follows the modern tradition of the U.N. complex while its dark brown bronze color sets it apart from the blue-green Secretariat. Horsley quotes the New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp's review of June 2, 2002: "Aggression and desire, violence and sex: put them together and they add up to Trump World Tower, undeniably the most primal building New York has seen in quite a while." Horsley adds that Muschamp quoted Terence Riley, then chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, saying the building "works urbanistically, and the glass curtain wall is the best New York has seen in a long time."

CityRealty says the International Real Estate Federation named the tower the "Best Residential Project in the World" in 2003 for design and amenities, and the tower's own website repeats the recognition. The website says ceilings run from 10 to 16 feet. CityRealty lists a 60-foot pool, private wine cellars and a restaurant called Megu that offered room service.

Trump World Tower in dark glass seen between tree branches against a blue sky with white clouds — Trump World Tower from the street. Photograph by Willem van Bergen, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Is there a public restaurant or bar in Trump World Tower?

Not that this article could confirm. The base of the building once held a two-story bar and lounge called World Bar, which a 2013 New York Times piece described as an unlikely spot for United Nations staff. Amny reported in May 2023 that the roughly 2,500 square feet of former World Bar space had sat vacant for about four years and was being converted into amenity space for residents, according to a lawsuit by a resident, which the Trump Organization called baseless. So the bar space is now described as private. A turn-key restaurant space at the base of the building is also advertised by a retail broker, but that is a leasing listing, not an open restaurant. No source read shows a public restaurant or bar operating inside the tower now.

Who runs and owns Trump World Tower today?

The tower is a condominium of 376 apartments, according to CityRealty, so most of the building belongs to individual unit owners. The Trump Organization's role is that of building manager and name licensor. The Real Deal reported in May and June 2024 that the company charges a licensing fee for the Trump name and earns revenue for managing the property, and that Eric Trump is one of two board members appointed by the sponsor, an affiliate of the Trump Organization.

In August 2023 The Real Deal reported that a New York judge had temporarily stopped the building from collecting assessments from unit owners for the renovation of a commercial space owned by the Trump Organization. That space is the former World Bar, about 2,500 square feet. A unit owner, the Compass agent Johanna Beiter, had sued over a $1.75 million amenity project and a ten-year lease with the Trump Organization. The same article described an earlier episode, orchestrated by Michael Cohen, in which the Trumps seized control of the board in what it called a coup that ended in a standoff between rival groups of security guards.

The name is the live question. The Real Deal said in June 2024 that unit owners who wanted to remove the Trump name and replace the Trump Organization as manager had failed, as the board seen by critics as friendly to the Trump Organization kept power at a board election. It said sale prices had fallen 24 percent from a 2016 peak of $1,790 per square foot, and that changing the legal name would take approval from two-thirds of unit owners, while ending the license and removing signs is typically a board decision. A board member described the wish to remove the name as that of "a small minority." The building manager attributed price declines to the neighborhood rather than the name, and the sources read do not settle that argument. The building's own website still uses the name Trump World Tower and the address 845 United Nations Plaza. This article could not find a later change reported in the sources read, so the name should be treated as current as of those reports.

Sources

Visiting Trump World Tower

Address: 845 United Nations Plaza (First Avenue), between East 47th and 48th Streets, Manhattan.
Access: This is a residential condominium. The sources read list no public hours, tours or observation area, so none are listed here.
From the street: The tower sits across First Avenue from the United Nations headquarters.
Dining: No public restaurant or bar was confirmed in the building; the former World Bar space has been described as resident amenity space.

Checked against Trump World Tower official building page. Confirm hours and ticket rules there.