SYDNEY: Plans for a $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 Organisation announced in February the project for a soaring Trump tower on eastern Australia’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 on LinkedIn.

The Trump Organisation 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.”

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2026