Georgian officials and business representatives unveiled the Trump Tower project in Tbilisi during a launch ceremony on September 15. The event was attended by Georgian Dream leaders, executives from The Trump Organization and its Georgian partners, while Eric Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son and the organization’s executive vice president, addressed the event remotely.
The plans by the Trump Organization, a real estate conglomerate founded by U.S. President Donald Trump and managed by his family, to build a Trump Tower in Tbilisi together with local partners were first revealed in April. The Trump Tower will be a 62-storey, 282-meter-high skyscraper, set to become the first Trump-branded project in the South Caucasus and the tallest building in Georgia.
It is planned to be one of six skyscrapers to be built as part of the Downtown Tbilisi development project, involving around USD 2 billion in investment and 600,000 square meters of construction. The Trump Tower is expected to be completed by 2031, while the wider Downtown Tbilisi project is expected to be completed by 2033, officials announced.
Local partners in the project include Biograpi Living (part of Invia group), Archi Group, Finvest Georgia, and Blox Group, while another partner is the New York–based Sapir Organization.
The September 15 ceremony took place in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda Park, with organizers noting higher-than-usual turnout, leading some of the guests to stand on their feet. Among those addressing the event were GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, GD Economy Minister Kvrivishvili, Archi Group co-founder Ilia Tsulaia, Invia founder and CEO Levan Pkhakadze, as well as Trump Organization’s Executive Vice Presidents Lawrence J. Glick and Ron Lieberman also in attendance. The event also featured a drone show, fireworks, and Georgian folk dance and music.
The project will “give Tbilisi new appeal alongside the world’s leading urban centers,” Kobakhidze said, addressing the ceremony. “This large-scale cooperation is absolutely natural and logical,” he went on, describing Georgia as “a natural connecting bridge between Europe and Asia in many respects.”
“We have a consistent policy and an open economy, and as a result, Tbilisi, and our country in general, is becoming one of the most reliable and attractive destinations for global investors,” he added.
Kobakhidze further said that the project would stimulate the country’s economy by creating “thousands of jobs” and “multi-year contracts for the Georgian construction sector.”
Eric Trump, who was unable to attend the opening ceremony in person, joined the event virtually.
“We look at the economy; we listened to the Minister of Economy: GDP growing by 10 percent annually,” he said, according to the Georgian simultaneous interpretation of his remarks. “Georgia is growing faster than any other country in Europe, compared with other countries around the world,” noting Georgia’s “cultural aspect,” “natural beauty,” and the transport situation, with the country being the “crossroads.”
“We build the best buildings in countries where there is great hospitality,” he further stated, adding, “I really want us to have outstanding buildings in different countries around the world. My father supports this.”
The project is set to be implemented in the area adjacent to Tbilisi’s under-construction Central Park (the former hippodrome territory). In an article published on September 13, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, among others, that “the project has given financial benefit to the family of a Georgian billionaire sanctioned by the U.S. in late 2024: Bidzina Ivanishvili.”
Citing Georgian corporate records, WSJ said that “when the developers struck a 2023 deal to buy the land from a foundation controlled by Ivanishvili’s family, they agreed to pay the foundation up to $85 million at a later date.” The outlet, citing “a spokeswoman for the project,” also noted that “the developers paid in installments over time, and the deal was fully completed in July.”
The opening ceremony comes amid continued uncertainty in U.S.-Georgia relations, which have gone through a period of tensions and a diplomatic freeze, followed by more recent efforts to restore contacts, including visits by U.S. State Department representatives to Tbilisi in spring.
The Georgian Dream government has repeatedly said it wants to reset relations with Washington “from a clean slate” and restore the countries’ strategic partnership through a “specific roadmap.”
The Biden administration suspended the U.S.- Georgia strategic partnership in November 2024 following the GD government’s decision to abandon the country’s EU bid until 2028, which triggered widespread protests. Later that year, Washington imposed sanctions on Georgian Dream founder and billionaire honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili. The Trump administration has yet to reverse those decisions.
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