DONALD TRUMP PLEASE PURCHASE IMG BOLLETIERRI TENNIS ACADEMY FROM FORSTMANN LITTLE TODAY!! THEY ARE RUNNING IT INTO THE GROUND FIRING EVERYONE AND LOOKING DESPERATE, WE NEED YOUR HELP! GET BACK IN THE TENNIS GAME THIS WAY!!!
Trump's most artful deal - a vast tennis club he leases above Grand Central Terminal for a tiny fraction of the going rate - is about to end.
Trump has held the lease with Metro-North for 30 years, paying one-twenty-fifth of the going rate - without a single rent hike.
He pays $4 a square foot, while the average rent in the landmark terminal for restaurants and other retail shops is $99 a square foot, a railroad spokeswoman said.
The space is occupied by a little-known two-court tennis club and lounge where New York's elite - ranging from actors to top tennis pros - pay $170 an hour.
"It's very sad that it's over; it's a great place," Trump said Wednesday night.
"I played there. A lot of stars like Robert Duvall and Dustin Hoffman have played there, but times change," said Trump, whose lease ends Memorial Day.
The elegant club is complete with sauna and has been graced at times by John McEnroe and Serena and Venus Williams.
Its perfectly maintained claylike courts are on the third floor of the terminal near Vanderbilt Ave.
"It was a terrific deal over the years," he said, adding that the space was a "disgusting mess when I took it over and fixed up the club."
Trump's deal began as a 20-year lease. It expired 10 years ago and has been on a month-to-month basis for 10 years as a succession of Metro-North administrations tried to decide what to do with the gorgeous space.
While railroad employees are rejoicing over the prospect of a new rest area, veteran patrons of the tennis courts, called The Tennis Club, are seething.
"I've been playing here for years, and I wish they could have kept it," said Barry Berkman, a lawyer who noted there are no other tennis facilities in the area.
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