was headquartered. History Development Donald Trump had envisioned building a tower at 56th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan since childhood, but formulated plans to develop the site only in the mid-1970s, when he was in his thirties. At the time, the flagship store of Bonwit Teller, an architecturally renowned building built in 1929, occupied the lot. The site was next to Tiffany & Co.'s flagship building, which Trump considered the city's best real-estate property. Approximately twice every year, Trump contacted Bonwit Teller's parent company, Genesco, to ask whether they were willing to sell Bonwit Teller's flagship store. Trump said the first time he contacted Genesco, "they literally laughed at me." Genesco continued to decline his offers and, according to Trump, "they thought I was kidding." In 1977, John Hanigan became the new chairman of Genesco. He looked to sell off some assets to pay debts, and Trump approached him with an offer to buy the Bonwit Teller building. In February 1979, Genesco sold off many of the Bonwit Teller locations to Allied Stores, and sold the brand's flagship building to the Trump Organization. At the time, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States owned the land, while Genesco had a long-term lease on the land, with 29 years remaining. If Trump were to buy the building, his tower's ownership could be transferred to Equitable in 2008, once the lease expired. Equitable initially refused to sell the land to Trump, but the Trump Organization bought the lease instead, and Equitable exchanged the land in return for a 50% stake in the construction project itself. This was more profitable for Equitable, since they were getting only $100,000 per year from Genesco for the use of the land, while a single residential condominium in the tower could be sold for millions of dollars. Trump also bought the air rights over Tiffany's flagship store to prevent another developer from tearing down the store and building a taller building. Trump then needed to convince the New York City Department of City Planning, Manhattan Community Board 5, and the New York City Board of Estimate to rezone the area for his planned tower. In 1979, the New York Committee for a Balanced Building Boom had opposed the planned rezoning over fears Fifth Avenue's character would be changed by the construction of skyscrapers. Trump later said a positive review of the building by the