Business Notes

Nothing unusual about taking a building condo to help pay the mortgage. But Donald Trump raised eyebrows last week when he announced plans to convert most of New York City's 84-year-old Plaza Hotel into condominiums to pay off his $300 million loan on the place. He plans to charge an average of $1,600 per sq. ft. for the luxury apartments, or about three times the price of other prime residential buildings in Manhattan -- and most of the apartments won't have kitchens.

Taking the landmark condo could bring the financially humbled developer $750 million, nearly twice what he paid for it three years ago. Trump is characteristically confident about the audacious plan, which he has not yet submitted to the attorney general's office for approval. "I've already been called by so many people looking to buy in," he bragged. "It's going to become a great success." Ex-wife Ivana may feel considerably less bubbly about the proposed conversion. She could lose her job as the hotel's president.