The announcement of plans to build a 70-story tower bearing Donald Trump’s brand in the Georgian capital has raised far more political questions than investment interest. Against the backdrop of sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili and a frozen strategic partnership with the United States, the project looks less like a real estate initiative and more like an attempt to create a convenient pretext for dialogue with Washington — even if a largely symbolic one.
A Skyscraper with a View to Politics In a Park That Doesn’t Exist
On April 18, The Wall Street Journal reported plans to construct a 70-story mixed-use complex in Tbilisi with the participation of The Trump Organization. According to the announcement, Trump Tower Tbilisi will combine luxury residences, commercial spaces, world-class restaurants, and premium lifestyle infrastructure. If completed, it would become the tallest building in the history of the Georgian capital.
The skyscraper will be built by Georgian developers well established in the local market. The architectural design is being handled by Gensler, one of the largest architecture firms in the world. The American company Sapir Organization, led by Alex Sapir, has also been named as a partner.
There is a notable story behind that name. Alex’s father — Tamir Sapir, born Temur Sepiashvili — was a Georgian Jew who emigrated to the United States and rose from taxi driver to billionaire. In 2006, he partnered with Donald Trump on the Trump SoHo hotel project in Manhattan, and the two entrepreneurs maintained not only a business relationship in real estate but also a longstanding personal friendship.
One detail is of particular importance: neither Donald Trump nor any members of his family are acting as investors, developers, owners, or managers of the Tbilisi tower. This is purely a brand licensing arrangement. When construction will begin, what the building will look like, and what the sales plans are — all of this is promised to be announced “in the coming months.”
The construction site has not been officially named, but the project is consistently linked to the territory of the former Tbilisi hippodrome — despite the fact that city authorities have been promising for years to transform that area into something resembling New York’s Central Park.
The official press release speaks of “breathtaking views of Central Park” and a “prestigious location.” The problem is that no Central Park exists in Tbilisi yet. The former hippodrome remains an overgrown vacant lot. Promises to develop a proper public park there have been made for six years, but the idea has never progressed beyond pre-election presentations.
The history of the site is directly tied to Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. Long before his entry into politics, the billionaire acquired the land. Ahead of the 2020 elections, it was solemnly announced that Ivanishvili was donating the territory to the city — specifically for the creation of a public park. Since then, the Central Park idea has become a fixture of Georgian Dream’s campaign materials at every Tbilisi mayoral election. Most recently, the park’s opening was promised by the end of 2026, with Ivanishvili’s Cartu Foundation declaring its readiness to invest at least 20 million lari (approximately $7.4 million) in the project. According to available information, as many as seven high-rise buildings are planned for the former hippodrome site, with Trump Tower set to be the tallest among them.
Following the Trump Tower announcement, Tbilisi business outlet BMG checked the public registry and found that the land associated with the planned construction — totaling more than 80,000 square meters — remains registered to the Cartu Foundation and has never been transferred to park developers. In other words, the plot publicly announced as a gift to the city is still in the hands of Ivanishvili’s structures.
An Idea That Outlived One Government to Return Under Another
The Georgian Trump Tower project is far from being a new idea. Its history dates back to 2011, when President Mikheil Saakashvili secured a licensing agreement between The Trump Organization and the Georgian conglomerate Silk Road Group during a visit to New York.
In 2012, Donald Trump flew to Georgia on his private jet to sign an agreement for the construction of the 47-story Trump Riviera in Batumi. The project was valued at $250 million, with construction scheduled to begin in 2013.
But that was precisely when Georgia’s political landscape shifted: Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream won the elections. The new government’s relationship with the Trump brand never got off the ground. The project was formally transferred to a state co-investment fund, but received no genuine support from the new authorities. By 2017, state backing had been withdrawn entirely, and Silk Road Group was forced to abandon the idea.
Ivanishvili’s own position on the matter was blunt and left no room for ambiguity. As early as 2012, he publicly called the Batumi project a “trick,” stating plainly: “Trump made no investments in Georgia under the ‘Trump project.’ They both [Saakashvili and Trump] pulled a good trick: Trump got paid, and Saakashvili, as a master of lies, used it.” He added that he had never taken the project seriously.
It is worth emphasizing that in terms of the deal’s structure, nothing has changed in 14 years: The Trump Organization still contributes no capital of its own and merely licenses its name. What has changed is the political context — one in which that name now carries an entirely different weight.
When a Name Is Worth More Than an Investment
The announcement of the Trump Tower project comes against the backdrop of increasingly strained relations between Tbilisi and Washington.
Following the November 2024 parliamentary elections — when Georgian authorities announced the postponement of EU accession talks until 2028 and forcibly dispersed pro-European protests — the Biden administration suspended the Charter on Strategic Partnership with Georgia and imposed personal sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili and his inner circle. The dialogue between the two countries fell into deep crisis.
Since then, Georgian Dream representatives have made repeated attempts to normalize relations. Georgian officials held meetings in Washington — at the State Department, the Treasury, and with members of Congress. The ruling party’s leadership openly spoke of hopes for a “reset” with the Trump administration. Nevertheless, the sanctions remain in force and the strategic partnership has not been restored.
It is telling that shortly before the Trump Tower announcement, Georgian Dream representatives teased “important news related to America.” The opposition had hoped to hear of a genuine diplomatic breakthrough. Instead, a skyscraper bearing the American president’s brand was announced.
The disappointment was predictable. Simply using Trump’s name is not equivalent to restoring state relations — a point acknowledged by both political commentators and economists alike. A skyscraper in Tbilisi will not lift the sanctions, will not reinstate the partnership charter, and will not alter Washington’s position on Georgian Dream’s political course.
Meanwhile, pressure on the Georgian government from the U.S. legislative branch is not easing — it is growing.
Congressmen Joe Wilson and Steve Cohen — known for their consistent criticism of Georgian Dream — have introduced a bipartisan bill in Congress requiring the Trump administration to investigate the activities of Russian and Chinese agents of influence in Georgia. The legislation calls for the preparation of a “classified assessment of Russian and Chinese intelligence penetration” and a review of the five-year strategy for U.S.–Georgia relations, including an analysis of whether Tbilisi remains committed to genuine rapprochement with the West.
It is against this backdrop that the Trump Tower announcement is being read by the Georgian opposition in unambiguous terms: not as an investment project, but as a tool of political positioning. Opposition figures have stated directly that pro-government media are attempting to present a brand licensing deal with the Trump family as a diplomatic achievement of Georgian Dream.
The paradox is hard to miss. The very project that Ivanishvili publicly dismissed as a “trick” and a symbol of Saakashvili’s political opportunism in 2012 is now being presented as an accomplishment of his own party. The structure of the deal is the same — only the political necessity it is meant to serve has changed.
It is telling that public debate around Trump Tower has barely touched on the project’s architectural merits, its economic significance for Tbilisi, or the fate of the promised Central Park. The conversation moved immediately into the political realm — which itself says much about how this announcement is being perceived.
Under the current circumstances, Trump Tower Tbilisi looks above all like an attempt to reframe political dialogue in commercial terms — at a moment when traditional diplomatic channels have been blocked. The question is whether this gambit will work: the American president’s name on a skyscraper’s facade is not, in itself, a bridge between two governments.
