in 1975, remodeling the Commodore's bar and renaming it the "New York, New York". In early May 1976, Penn Central asset manager Victor Palmieri announced that the Commodore would be closed the next week, having lost $1.3 million in 1975. By then, the hotel's occupancy rate had decreased to 33 percent, and hotel officials said the Commodore was projected to lose $4.6 million that year. Trump was still negotiating to buy the option. The hotel closed on May 18, 1976, and Penn Central laid off all of the hotel's 500 employees. The Commodore hosted 19 guests and four small events on its last day of operation; the very last guest had not been notified of the hotel's closure until the day before. Tax abatement and financing Then-mayor Abraham Beame had proposed a tax abatement in January 1976 to encourage commercial and industrial development in New York City. Beame and Trump's father Fred Trump had a longtime political connection, and Beame's deputy mayor Stanley Friedman championed the tax-abatement program, even as the city experienced the worst fiscal crisis in its history. Trump formally requested a tax abatement from city officials in March 1976; he was the first developer to request a tax abatement under Beame's program. Hyman B. Cantor of the Carter Hotels Corporation made another offer for the Commodore in April 1976, while city officials continued to discuss the tax abatement. Although Beame had originally planned to give the hotel a 50-year tax abatement, he subsequently proposed reducing the tax abatement to 35 years, to which Trump objected. By then, several members of the New York City Council had expressed concerns about the proposed abatement, as did rival developers and hotel operators. Opponents said the city government would forfeit $4 million a year in tax revenue if the abatement was approved. The New York City Board of Estimate approved the Commodore's tax abatement two days after the hotel closed. To receive the abatement, Trump would pay Penn Central $10 million and resell the hotel for $1 to the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), a New York state government agency, which would lease back the hotel to Trump Organization subsidiary Wembley Realty Inc. for 99 years. Trump would make payments in lieu of taxes during the hotel's renovation. The hotel's rent would be discounted for 40 years, and the rent payments would increase gradually to $2.27 million after 40 years. The tax