Trump to market condo project on ‘Apprentice’

updated 7:10 p.m. ET April 11, 2007

LAS VEGAS - Donald Trump is using his assistant-grooming reality show to sell units in his second Las Vegas condominium tower.

For a one-hour episode of “The Apprentice” scheduled to air Sunday, contestants were tasked with devising a marketing plan for Trump Tower II, which like its predecessor will be 64 stories of gold glass just off the Las Vegas Strip, developers said.

The challenge is formidable. Las Vegas’ once-hot condo market has cooled in the past year, leaving dozens of projects stalled in blueprint stages and many condo buyers wanting out.

Trump’s Las Vegas projects are partnerships with casino owner Philip Ruffin, owner of the New Frontier hotel-casino next door.

Both towers include about 1,300 luxury condominium units, with a hotel rental option, at prices ranging from $700,000 to $7 million.

Tower I is expected to cost $600 million and be completed in early 2008. Tower II, targeted for completion two years later, is estimated to cost $700 million. Gross sales on the towers are projected to reach $2.5 billion, making it Trump’s largest project to date, said Jack Wishna, a dealmaker involved in the project.

Regardless of the plans contestants devise, “The Apprentice” episode is itself a shrewd piece of marketing, Wishna said.

“It probably would cost us $60 million if we were to advertise for a full hour on prime-time TV,” he said.

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