Trump Organization, a real-estate firm owned by the current U.S. president’s family, plans to build a “first in the region” Trump Tower in Tbilisi with local partners, the group announced in its press release.
The news comes as the Georgian Dream government continues efforts to reset relations with Washington amid persistent uncertainty surrounding the bilateral ties. The United States, under the Joe Biden administration, suspended its strategic partnership with Georgia, a traditional ally, in November 2024 during the Tbilisi protests and later in the same year imposed sanctions on the ruling party’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili. The Donald Trump administration has yet to reverse those decisions.
The plans mark “the first Trump branded project in the region,” Trump Organization said in its press release dated April 17, noting that the Tbilisi tower “signals the city’s emergence as a key business hub and gateway to international business in Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as its growing profile among global buyers of luxury properties.”
The project, an approximately 70-storey skyscraper, is set to become Georgia’s tallest building, overlooking Tbilisi’s Central Park, which is currently under reconstruction, and bring together “luxury residences, high-end retail, world-class dining, and thoughtfully curated lifestyle amenities.”
The project is designed by California-based Gensler, with local partners including Biograpi Living, Archi Group, Finvest Georgia, and Blox Group. Another partner is the New York–based Sapir Organization, whose CEO, Alex Sapir, noted in a press release that his parents were born and raised in Georgia, and that the project would mark his first return to the country since the age of five.
Archi Group, one of Georgia’s largest real estate companies, was co-founded by businessman Ilia Tsulaia, who is considered close to the ruling Georgian Dream and served as its MP from 2016 to 2020. Prominent NBA player Zaza Pachulia became a co-owner of the company in 2019. Biograpi Living was co-founded by businessman Soso Pkhakadze, founder of Invia, a multi-industry investment holding previously known as Wissol Group. Pkhakadze, too, has repeatedly drawn scrutiny over his support for Georgian Dream policies.
“The Trump name is synonymous with some of the most luxurious real estate developments in the world, and Trump Tower Tbilisi stands as a continuation of that legacy,” Eric Trump, President Donald Trump’s son and Trump Organization’s Executive Vice President, is quoted in the press release. “We are proud to bring this globally recognized standard of excellence to Georgia and are especially pleased to collaborate with such respected and professional developers on this project.”
The statement says that additional details will be announced in the coming months.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which published an exclusive report on April 18, similar overseas ventures by the Trump firm have drawn criticism over “potential conflict of interest,” with Eric Trump earlier disputing the claims, saying the organization’s business dealings “are kept separate from administration policy.”
The announcement comes years after earlier, later cancelled plans to build a 47-storey Trump Tower in Georgia’s seaside city of Batumi. In 2012, then-President Mikheil Saakashvili unveiled the project in Batumi alongside Donald Trump. In 2017, however, the Trump Organization and its Georgian partner, Silk Road Group, announced the project’s official termination.
WSJ said in its April 18 report that at the time, Trump’s company “stepped back from that project along with numerous other foreign deals because Donald Trump said he wanted to avoid the appearance of potential conflicts of interests.”
The news also comes as political actors in Georgia, both from the ruling Georgian Dream and the opposition, seek to establish contacts with the Trump administration, amid its interest in South Caucasus transit and infrastructure projects and parallel uncertainty over Washington’s approach to Tbilisi.
On March 30, the U.S. State Department reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze spoke on the phone, the first such contact since the suspension of strategic partnership in 2024, to discuss “areas of mutual interest,” including “security in the Caucasus and Black Sea region.”
On April 7, the opposition Lelo/Strong Georgia party proposed naming the controversial Anaklia deep-sea port project afterTrump, to make it a “gateway of the Trump Route for the Western world,” amid concerns that a planned transit link between Armenia and Azerbaijan (Trump Route) could bypass Georgia.
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