Real estate mogul Donald Trump is wooing well-healed Japanese to invest in Hawaii real estate, given the unprecedented rise in Japan in the number of high net worth investors.
Trump, host of the popular television show "The Apprentice," was visiting Tokyo to promote his luxury 38-story, 464-room hotel-condominium complex, Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki Beach Walk, which is expected to be completed in 2009, as well as to thank Japanese buyers who have already signed deals.
"The reason I came to Tokyo is the fact that I want to thank all of the buyers. We have just sold (a) tremendous number of units. And I made a pledge, at the very beginning, to some of the buyers, if we sell quickly a certain number of units, I would come to Japan," said Trump, chairman and president of The Trump Organization, a New York-based hotel management company.
The hotel-condominium business may be still new to Japanese investors, but buyers of this luxury complex account for about 20 percent of total reservations as of Oct. 28, his company said. Recently, high net worth Japanese investors are increasingly embracing investments in overseas luxury properties.
On real estate projects in Asia, Trump said, "I am doing and looking for four or five major jobs in various places in Asia, and they will be announced over a short period of time"
