When Archi Group’s Ilia Tsulaia acquired a improvement parcel within the coronary heart of Tbilisi in 2023, he stated he sought out a model that might deliver worldwide consideration to Georgia.
If consideration was the objective, Archi Group picked the precise associate. Tsulaia tapped the Trump Group as its branding partner for a 62-story condo tower to anchor a $2 billion mega-development. The partners announced the banner project with a launch party final month, that includes Eric Trump by way of video, conventional Georgian dancers with daggers and a video animation of Trump Tower taking part in to the track “Y.M.C.A.”
No different model may generate the identical degree of consideration for the mission as Trump, Tsulaia stated.
The Trump model is “why we’re speaking at the moment, proper?” Tsulaia stated to The Actual Deal in an interview over Zoom. “If I introduced 4 Seasons, for instance, in Georgia, you wouldn’t ask me why.”
Tsulaia has huge plans for the mission, which he hopes will remodel Tbilisi right into a vacation spot for rich consumers. However a lot of the curiosity within the mission has targeted on Archi’s partnership with the Trump Group, and within the U.S., the potential for conflicts of curiosity has drawn scrutiny.
Trump stepped away from his household’s enterprise previous to his first time period, handing the administration of the corporate over to Eric and Don Jr. and pledging to cease pursuing international offers. That pledge didn’t prolong to his second time period. The Trump Group has provided its model to developments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman, sparking criticism that Trump’s companions and traders may very well be looking for to purchase affect with the administration.
The Tbilisi mission has raised related considerations due to its ties to politically related figures in Georgia. The mission might be constructed on land previously owned by the household of Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s prime minister from 2012 to 2013 and founding father of the Georgian Dream get together. The U.S. Treasury Division sanctioned Ivanishvili in 2024 for undermining Georgia’s democracy and the “Euro-Atlantic way forward for Georgia for the good thing about the Russian Federation.”
In 2023, Archi and its improvement companions agreed to purchase the land for the deliberate mega-development for as much as $85 million from a basis managed by members of Ivanishvili’s household, in accordance with the Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson for the mission stated all of the funds had been made by July 2026.
The Journal additionally just lately reported that Tsulaia was a part of a bunch that went to Washington, D.C., final 12 months to push for higher Georgian-U.S. ties with lawmakers and administration officers.
Eric Trump advised TRD final month that “[Trump Tower Tbilisi] has nothing to do with the affect of a authorities or the affect of my father.” Tsulaia, a former member of parliament the Journal described as “aligned” with the Georgian Dream get together, stated the partnership with the Trump Group was solely a enterprise resolution.
“From the primary assembly with the Trump Group and its representatives we solely mentioned enterprise,” stated Tsulaia. “We have now by no means talked about politics.”
Constructing the following Dubai
For Tsulaia, the draw of the Trump identify is easy: It may assist appeal to worldwide consumers to a market the place luxurious actual property remains to be in its infancy.
Archi Group is the biggest developer in Georgia, controlling about 18 % of the market within the former Soviet republic wedged between Asia and Europe. The nation shouldn’t be a part of the European Union and its accession bid to hitch has stalled, however its financial system grew 7.5 % final 12 months.
Georgia has additionally emerged as a vacationer vacation spot, drawing a document 5.5 million worldwide vacationers in 2025. Guests can wander Tbilisi’s fourth-century fortress or the cobblestone streets within the outdated city and marvel at each classical and “Soviet Modernist” structure.
However Tsulaia’s firm is pitching a special model of Georgia: a sprawling six-tower mega-development designed by Gensler with glass skyscrapers and Miami-inspired procuring facilities. Archi and its social media workforce have drawn parallels to Dubai.
“Nonetheless excited about the alternatives that you simply missed whereas Dubai was booming?” requested a girl in a Facebook video strolling via Tbilisi. “Then don’t wait till everybody begins speaking about Georgia.”
To be the following Dubai is a lofty ambition for any luxurious market. The Gulf metropolis and Emirate recorded 500 property gross sales exceeding $10 million in 2025, making it one of many world’s most energetic luxurious markets.
Tsulaia has even in contrast the Trump Tower in Tbilisi to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest constructing on the earth.
“The Burj Khalifa is in downtown Dubai and is the primary iconic constructing of downtown Dubai,” stated Tsulaia. “We’re doing a brand new mission downtown Tbilisi. So it was additionally an inspiration.”
Tbilisi’s residential costs are far decrease than Dubai’s, and people of most different luxurious locations. New residential condos or flats go for lower than $200 per sq. foot. In Downtown Dubai, the median condo worth per sq. foot is about $820 per sq. foot, in accordance with Engel & Völkers. The median condominium worth in Manhattan was $1,575 per square foot based on TRD’s data analysis.
Trump Tower Tbilisi will command a considerable premium for the market with studios anticipated to go for $290,000, or $650 to $1,000 per sq. foot, in accordance with a launch.
The asking costs would put the event in a special league from most of Tbilisi’s residential market, testing whether or not an internationally acknowledged model can command Dubai-level costs within the Georgian capital.
Not like New York and Dubai, Tbilisi shouldn’t be a longtime monetary hub or vacation spot for rich residents trying to park money. Alex Sapir, a Trump Tower Tbilisi co-developer, beforehand advised TRD that when he mentions his household from Georgia, most individuals assume he’s referring to the U.S. state.
However Tsulaia stated he has already examined the marketplace for luxury-branded residences in Georgia. Archi partnered with hospitality model Swissôtel on a hotel-residential improvement in Kobuleti, Georgia, on the Black Sea. It has additionally labored with the Marriott model Le Méridien on an upcoming mission in Sioni, Georgia. Tsulaia stated the constructing gross sales are going “very effectively,” with about 80 % of purchasers coming from exterior of Georgia.
Israeli consumers make up a big chunk of the offers, in accordance with Tsulaia. Israelis accounted for 12 % of condo purchases in Tbilisi in main developer’s tasks in 2025, in accordance with funding analysis agency Galt & Taggart. The flight from Tel Aviv is simply about two and a half hours. Georgia additionally boasts low taxes and the people usually keep away from paying capital positive aspects taxes on actual property held for greater than two years.
Nonetheless, the Trump identify is not any assure of success.
The Trump Group’s earlier try to lend its model to a luxurious tower in Georgia ended due to conflicts of curiosity considerations. A Trump-branded residential tower in Batumi, on the Black Coastline, was canceled through the transition to Trump’s first time period.
A Trump-branded mission in neighboring Azerbaijan additionally failed and the New Yorker characterised it as Trump’s worst deal. The Trump Group pulled its identify from the mission in 2016, and a portion of the 33-story constructing caught hearth in 2018. The tower was rebranded below Ritz-Carlton and opened in 2022.
However Tsulaia sees little motive Tbilisi can’t compete with the world’s prime luxurious locations. He’s betting the placement helps too.
“You understand, Trump Tower is subsequent to Central Park in New York, proper?” he stated. “And in addition in Georgia, we now have our Central Park, which isn’t much less good than New York Central Park.”
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