WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Lenders are forcing Donald Trump to auction more than 100 unsold condominium units at the Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches in order to pay down his debt, a published report said Sunday.
Forty-five condos ranging in price from $229,200 to $1.8 million will be auctioned at discount prices Dec. 16 at The Breakers in Palm Beach, The Miami Herald said. Bids will start at $150,000.
The auction will be broadcast via satellite to bidders in New York.
Real estate agents said Trump may also be on the verge of selling Mar-a-Lago, the 118-room oceanfront estate he bought in Palm Beach for $10 million five years ago.
The mansion, which has 53 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms and three bomb shelters, is not officially on the market. It would be expected to fetch $30 million to $40 million.
The condo auctions are expected to net about $15 million, still more than $10 million short of whatTrump owes on them.
Trump bought the Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches out of foreclosure in 1986 for $40 million. Marine Midland Bank holds a $27.1 million mortage on the 221-unit complex, located on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The auction provision is pgrt of a reprieve the bank granted Trump. His loan was due Oct. 22 and he had to deposit $1 million with Marine Midland to get it extended.
Trump has until Sept. 30, 1991 to get rid of the rest of the unsold units.
Fewer than half have been sold and there had not been a sale at the building in 10 months when a Boynton Beach gynecologist bought a condo for $400,000 on Oct. 1.
'The real estate climate is soft nationwide, indicating a need for more aggressive and innovative marketing approaches,' Trump said in announcing the auctions.
William Lange, president of LFC Real Estate Marketing Services, the California company hired to run the aucton, said 'No doubt the properties will be sold for less than the previous asking prices.'
Trump's recent financial woes center around his highly leveraged New Jersey casinos and New York real estate.
Two months ago, Trump negotiated a $65 million bank bailout to give him breathing room to repay his loans. He was forced to restructure $100 million in bank loans to the Taj Mahal and Trump's Castle, another of his Atlantic City casinos, because they gren't generating enough cash to repay the debt.
He is currently negotiating with bondholders to restructure $675 million in Taj Mahal debt.
