Trump Tower Developer Wants to Make Georgia the Next Dubai

When Archi Group’s Ilia Tsulaia acquired a development parcel in the heart of Tbilisi in 2023, he said he sought out a brand that would bring worldwide attention to Georgia.

If attention was the goal, Archi Group picked the right partner. Tsulaia tapped the Trump Organization 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 last month, featuring Eric Trump via video, traditional Georgian dancers with daggers and a video animation of Trump Tower playing to the song “Y.M.C.A.”

No other brand could generate the same level of attention for the project as Trump, Tsulaia said.

The Trump brand is “why we are talking today, right?” Tsulaia said to The Real Deal in an interview over Zoom. “If I brought Four Seasons, for example, in Georgia, you would not ask me why.”

Tsulaia has big plans for the project, which he hopes will transform Tbilisi into a destination for wealthy buyers. But much of the interest in the project has focused on Archi’s partnership with the Trump Organization, and in the U.S., the potential for conflicts of interest has drawn scrutiny.

Trump stepped away from his family’s business prior to his first term, handing the management of the company over to Eric and Don Jr. and pledging to stop pursuing foreign deals. That pledge didn’t extend to his second term. The Trump Organization has offered its brand to developments in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman, sparking criticism that Trump’s partners and investors could be seeking to buy influence with the administration.

The Tbilisi project has raised similar concerns because of its ties to politically connected figures in Georgia. The project will be built on land formerly owned by the family of Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s prime minister from 2012 to 2013 and founder of the Georgian Dream party. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Ivanishvili in 2024 for undermining Georgia’s democracy and the “Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation.”

In 2023, Archi and its development partners agreed to buy the land for the planned mega-development for up to $85 million from a foundation controlled by members of Ivanishvili’s family, according to the Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson for the project said all the payments were made by July 2026.

The Journal also recently reported that Tsulaia was part of a group that went to Washington, D.C., last year to push for better Georgian-U.S. ties with lawmakers and administration officials.

Eric Trump told TRD last month that “[Trump Tower Tbilisi] has nothing to do with the influence of a government or the influence of my father.” Tsulaia, a former member of parliament the Journal described as “aligned” with the Georgian Dream party, said the partnership with the Trump Organization was solely a business decision.

“From the first meeting with the Trump Organization and its representatives we only discussed business,” said Tsulaia. “We have never talked about politics.”

Building the next Dubai

For Tsulaia, the draw of the Trump name is straightforward: It could help attract international buyers to a market where luxury real estate is still in its infancy.

Archi Group is the largest developer in Georgia, controlling about 18 percent of the market in the former Soviet republic wedged between Asia and Europe. The country is not part of the European Union and its accession bid to join has stalled, but its economy grew 7.5 percent last year.

Georgia has also emerged as a tourist destination, drawing a record 5.5 million international tourists in 2025. Visitors can wander Tbilisi’s fourth-century fortress or the cobblestone streets in the old town and marvel at both classical and “Soviet Modernist” architecture.

But Tsulaia’s company is pitching a different version of Georgia: a sprawling six-tower mega-development designed by Gensler with glass skyscrapers and Miami-inspired shopping centers. Archi and its social media team have drawn parallels to Dubai.

“Still thinking about the opportunities that you missed while Dubai was booming?” asked a woman in a Facebook video walking through Tbilisi. “Then don’t wait until everyone starts talking about Georgia.”

To be the next Dubai is a lofty ambition for any luxury market. The Gulf city and Emirate recorded 500 property sales exceeding $10 million in 2025, making it one of the world’s most active luxury markets.

Tsulaia has even compared the Trump Tower in Tbilisi to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world.

“The Burj Khalifa is in downtown Dubai and is the main iconic building of downtown Dubai,” said Tsulaia. “We are doing a new project downtown Tbilisi. So it was also an inspiration.”

Tbilisi’s residential prices are far lower than Dubai’s, and those of most other luxury destinations. New residential condos or apartments go for less than $200 per square foot. In Downtown Dubai, the median apartment price per square foot is about $820 per square foot, according to Engel & Völkers. The median condo price in Manhattan was $1,575 per square foot based on TRD’s data analysis.

Trump Tower Tbilisi will command a substantial premium for the market with studios expected to go for $290,000, or $650 to $1,000 per square foot, according to a release.

The asking prices would put the development in a different league from most of Tbilisi’s residential market, testing whether an internationally recognized brand can command Dubai-level prices in the Georgian capital.

Unlike New York and Dubai, Tbilisi is not an established financial hub or destination for wealthy residents looking to park cash. Alex Sapir, a Trump Tower Tbilisi co-developer, previously told TRD that when he mentions his family from Georgia, most people think he’s referring to the U.S. state.

But Tsulaia said he has already tested the market for luxury-branded residences in Georgia. Archi partnered with hospitality brand Swissôtel on a hotel-residential development in Kobuleti, Georgia, on the Black Sea. It has also worked with the Marriott brand Le Méridien on an upcoming project in Sioni, Georgia. Tsulaia said the building sales are going “very well,” with about 80 percent of purchasers coming from outside of Georgia.

Israeli buyers make up a large chunk of the deals, according to Tsulaia. Israelis accounted for 12 percent of apartment purchases in Tbilisi in major developer’s projects in 2025, according to investment research firm Galt & Taggart. The flight from Tel Aviv is only about two and a half hours. Georgia also boasts low taxes and the individuals generally avoid paying capital gains taxes on real estate held for more than two years.

Still, the Trump name is no guarantee of success.

The Trump Organization’s previous attempt to lend its brand to a luxury tower in Georgia ended because of conflicts of interest concerns. A Trump-branded residential tower in Batumi, on the Black Sea coast, was canceled during the transition to Trump’s first term.

A Trump-branded project in neighboring Azerbaijan also failed and the New Yorker characterized it as Trump’s worst deal. The Trump Organization pulled its name from the project in 2016, and a portion of the 33-story building caught fire in 2018. The tower was rebranded under Ritz-Carlton and opened in 2022.

But Tsulaia sees little reason Tbilisi can’t compete with the world’s top luxury destinations. He’s betting the location helps too.

“You know, Trump Tower is next to Central Park in New York, right?” he said. “And also in Georgia, we have our Central Park, which is not less nice than New York Central Park.”