Gooch Ware "G" Travelstead (March 1938 – October 19, 2021) was an American property developer and entrepreneur. Born in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

in 1938, he was the head of First Boston Real Estate, a subsidiary of

Credit Suisse First Boston Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) was the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York. The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 1 ...

, Travelstead was the original designer and promoter of the

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

financial estate in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Family

Travelstead came from a Kentucky family. His grandmother Nelle Gooch Travelstead was the daughter of a prominent Democrat state politician and was a teacher. His father Will Gooch Travelstead was an engineer and businessman who owned Travelstead Construction Company in Baltimore, Maryland. He was involved in the construction of many projects such as the World Trade Center building, and also was the subcontractor for the construction of Cape Kennedy. He and his first wife were the parents of two children, G. Ware Travelstead and Malcolm Travelstead. After retiring in 1975, Will Travelstead returned to Bowling Green, Kentucky and lived in a vacation home until he could complete renovation of the old family home, Travelogs. Will Travelstead died in 1981.

Career

During the 1980s Credit Suisse First Boston made him the head of their real estate division, which provided US$37 million in financing for Travelstead's projects. Among these projects, Travelstead was the original promoter of the London Docklands project, convincing the Lower London Development Commission to start the project. Travelstead promoted the development of Barcelona's run-down port area in the run up to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

of 1992, working with Bruce Graham of

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by enginee ...

to create the scheme which later became Porto Olimpico. He was behind the design and development of the

Hotel Arts The Hotel Arts is a 44-storey, 483 room luxury hotel on the seafront of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is operated by Ritz-Carlton. History Contrary to popular belief, it was not built to service the 1992 Summer Olympics, though its const ...

, a 45-storey, 600-room luxury hotel, together with Japanese company

Sogo is a department store chain with a significant presence in Japan. It operates a network of branches in various countries and has a long history dating back to 1830 when it was founded in Osaka by Ihei Sogō. The company is known for its retail ...

. However, later the hotel was acquired by

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

. In the early 1990s Travelstead proposed a 74-story tower at 383 Madison Avenue. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, the building was to have an elegant crown of screens at the top and to be about the same height as the

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is a , Art Deco skyscraper in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, it is the tallest brick building in the world wit ...

. Unfortunately he was unable to acquire sufficient "

air rights In real estate, air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the Earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by oth ...

" to build the tower - and embarked on an innovative attempt to acquire such rights in a swap from

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

. The City of New York opposed this development and changed the rules to prevent this from being attempted again. Without the air rights the building was unviable and his development partners pulled out in 1993. The new

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...

headquarters was built on the 383 Madison Avenue site. Travelstead died on October 19, 2021, at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Travelstead, G. Ware 1938 births American businesspeople in real estate 2021 deaths

Family

Career

See also

References