SYDNEY, May 13, 2026 (Net) – Plans for a US$1.1 billion, 91-storey Trump hotel and apartment tower in Australia have been scrapped because the American brand has become “toxic”, the developer says.
The Trump Organization announced in February the project for a soaring Trump tower on eastern Aus-tralia’s Gold Coast, saying it would “redefine beachfront sophistication”.
David Young, chief executive of Australian developer Altus Property Group, said the project was scrapped because the Trump brand had become “toxic to Australians”.
Young said he still aimed to complete the development with another brand.
“The writing was on the wall when the war started and I have been in discussions with many high-end luxury brands,” he said in a post Tuesday on LinkedIn.
The Trump Organization is run by President Donald Trump’s adult sons, not by the American leader himself, Young said, describing the brand’s deteriorated reputation as “grossly unfair”.
“There is no acrimony between the Trump family and myself, why would there be after knowing them for 19 years when no one here then even knew who Donald Trump was. It is pure business.”
The Australian developer’s statement followed a report in the Australian Financial Review that the Trump Organization had pulled out of the deal.
“While we were very excited about the opportunity to bring a world-class development to the Gold Coast, the project was dependent on our licensing partner meeting certain obligations,” a Trump Organi-zation spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
“Unfortunately, those obligations were not fulfilled,” she told the paper.
An Australian online petition against the hotel gathered more than 124,000 signatures.
Directed at the Gold Coast city council, the Stop the Trump Tower petition criticised the US president’s “contempt for democratic norms”.
