ABC exclusive by Liam Walsh and Glen Norris
The developer behind the Trump Tower proposal has had multiple financial scrapes. Photo: Supplied: Altus Property Group
The property developer behind a startling proposal to build a Trump Tower on the Gold Coast is a businessman who has gone bankrupt twice, the ABC can reveal.
David Young of Altus Property Group this week stunned the Australian property scene by unveiling he had signed a deal with the Trump Organization for a 340-metre tall, six-star luxury complex in the heart of Surfers Paradise.
He even posted a photograph on LinkedIn of him shaking hands with Trump Organization's Eric Trump, the second son of US President Donald Trump, after signing an agreement at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Valentine's Day.
Altus CEO David Young with Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump. Photo: Supplied: Altus Property Group
He described the proposal as something "I've been pursuing for almost 20 years", starting with a cold call to President Trump's daughter Ivanka in 2007. But the global financial crisis of the late 2000s then produced "setbacks for both the Trumps and my own companies, because property development rides on debt".
His company's website also published an article in which Young said one of his former property businesses had in the GFC washout "folded, unable to complete projects because credit had dried up [and] this happened to builders all over Australia".
A search by the ABC of federal insolvency records revealed the 60-year-old has also had personal financial scrapes.
Multiple bankruptcies
In 2010, around the time the property company was in trouble, he declared himself bankrupt in Surfers Paradise with his occupation as a management consultant. He was discharged three years later, the normal period for a bankruptcy, records show.
The proposed Trump Tower would be built in Surfers Paradise. Photo: ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale
Earlier, in 1991 when in Cairns, documents also show he was sent bankrupt along with at least one other person by brewing business Castlemaine Perkins. A self-written article on Altus's website states Young was in "pubs and nightclubs" before being involved in property development. That bankruptcy was also legally completed.
President Trump, who founded the Trump Organization and turned over management to his sons, is also a real estate investor and never filed for personal bankruptcy. However, he has been the owner of several businesses that have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 reorganisation, including the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in 1991, Trump Plaza in 1992 and Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection means a company can remain in business while wiping away many of its debts.
Developers say the proposed new Trump Tower will be Australia's tallest building. Photo: Supplied: Altus Property Group
Young declined to comment, via a public relations specialist, about his own bankruptcies.
David Young has been declared bankrupt twice. Photo: Supplied: Altus Property Group
His own earlier article had described himself as before the GFC being a Surfers Paradise "cliché" of a "high-flying property developer and nightclub owner, living on the Gold Coast in beachfront luxury, partying too often, and even driving a Ferrari".
He added he was no longer a cliché, now driving a Toyota HiAce van. In the time when he stepped back from on-hand developing he described learning "a lot about the good and bad of property developing by being a trouble-shooter [consultant] on other companies' projects".
He further wrote he got back into developing in 2023 and decided to focus on housing construction quality.
He is now the sole director of Altus Property Group, which started in 2023 and lists four property projects. One project is currently selling in Gracemere, just south-west of Rockhampton in central Queensland, offering house and land packages from $674,000. Another project is proposed in the region, as are two in Moree, northern NSW.
Senior property industry sources were not aware of Altus, and questions existed about the difficulty of moving into such a big hotel project.
Altus and Young declined to comment to questions about capabilities, how much in funding was locked in and contractual arrangements.
Sienna is one of the developments by the Altus Property Group in Gracemere, near Rockhampton. Photo: Supplied: Altus Group
Young, in a statement, said the business was "now deeply into a process of design, engineering, construction and fit-out that will cost a shade under $1.5 billion".
He said the building would be Australian-owned, with an Altus subsidiary making fit-out decisions. The deal with the Trump Organization was for a "hotel management agreement and brand licensing agreement", he wrote on LinkedIn.
The funding model Young described steers away from traditional banks, saying the "project is entirely funded by private investors who come from Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and the United States".
"They have contributed a mix of debt and equity (in the form of convertible notes).
"It gives my organisation access to 'patient capital' insofar as we don't have to rush to make presales as we would with Australian bank finance."
- ABC
