units, representing over a third of the tower's total housing stock, had sold for more than $1 million. The first residents were set to begin moving in that month. Despite the destruction of the Bonwit Teller store's building, the flagship store itself was able to keep operating at the site, having signed a lease for within the lower-levels' shopping area. The controversy over the destruction of the Bonwit Teller decorations had largely passed: in August 1983, one New York Times reporter wrote that "the only negative comments about Donald Trump these days are given off the record." By then, there were forty high-end outfits that had opened stores in the tower. These included Buccellati, Charles Jourdan brands, Mondi, and Fila. Trump said in 1985 that there were more than a hundred stores wanting to move into a space in the tower. Around this time, he began describing the tower as "something of a New York landmark." By 1986, between 15% and 20% of the tower's original stores had closed or moved to another location. The commercial rents were the highest of any building along Fifth Avenue at the time, with retail space in the atrium costing per year. One writer for Vanity Fair magazine noted that as tenants were evicted from the tower's atrium due to high rents, several of them sued the Trump Organization for issues such as overbilling and illegal lease termination. The residential units were more successful, and 95% of the residential condominiums were sold in the first four months after it opened, despite their high prices. The cost of condominiums at the tower started at $600,000 and ranged up to $12 million, and the penthouse was sold for $15 million in 1985. The tower attracted many rich and famous residents, including Johnny Carson, David Merrick, Sophia Loren, and Steven Spielberg. In total, Trump received $300 million from the sale of the condominiums, which more than offset the $200 million cost of construction. By 1991, Trump was involved in lawsuits against residents: in October of that year, he successfully sued actor Pia Zadora and her husband, businessman Meshulam Riklis, to collect $1 million in unpaid rent. The city government, under mayor Ed Koch, challenged the validity of the tax breaks given to Trump Tower. The government originally tried to deny a tax break on the basis that Trump Tower did not replace an "underused" site, as was