required under the 421-a tax exemption program. The New York Court of Appeals rejected the city's argument in 1984. Afterward, the city claimed Trump Tower's commercial space did not qualify for the exemption, but the Court of Appeals also rejected this argument in 1988. The city government then tried to reduce the amount of the exemption based on a more stringent method of calculation. In 1990, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the New York City government had to give Trump $6.2 million in tax rebates. 1990s The flagship Bonwit Teller store remained as one of Trump Tower's retail offerings until March 1990, when its parent company declared bankruptcy and closed the Trump Tower location. In July of that year, Galeries Lafayette announced that it would sign a 25-year lease to move into the space previously occupied by Bonwit Teller, a move that expanded its business to the United States while helping Trump pay off the debts incurred by the tower's construction and operation. The new store opened in September 1991 after a $13.7 million renovation, but was unprofitable and lost a net $3.6 million in the first year alone because it had made only $8.4 million in sales. Galeries Lafayette announced that it would be closing the Trump Tower location in August 1994, less than three years after it opened, due to its inability to pay the $8 million annual rent and taxes. Critics cited other factors, including the decision not to include merchandise from top French designers as the company's French locations had done. The Galeries Lafayette store was replaced with a Niketown location. By this time, most of the high-end retailers had moved out of Trump Tower, having been replaced with more upper-middle-class outlets such as Coach and Dooney & Bourke. 2000s to present In 2006, Forbes magazine valued the of office space at up to $318 million; the tower itself was valued at $288 million. Trump took a ten-year, personally guaranteed $100 million mortgage loan on the building in 2012. Between 2014 and 2015, the building's valuation rose from $490 million to $600 million, making the tower the single most expensive property under Trump's ownership. In 2016, the tower's value dropped from $630 million to $471 million due to a 20% reduction in the tower's operating income and a further 8% decline in the overall value of real estate in Manhattan. Because of the