As Donald Trump's business record gets ripped apart on the campaign trail, he is increasingly pointing to his work as a developer in the city as he tries to win over voters. Grace Rauh filed the following report.
Near the top of his big economic speech, the Republican nominee for president read from a New York Post column, "How Donald Trump Helped Save New York City."
"This is a direct quote. In other words, it's not from me," Trump said.
The piece, in part, praised Trump for kick-starting neighborhoods almost given up for dead with new development projects beginning in the late 1970s.
"Almost as by force of sheer will, he rode to the rescue," Trump read.
As business failures like Trump University and his Atlantic City casinos generate headlines, Trump is embracing his developer roots on the campaign trail.
"I apologize if I have anything to do with that," said Steve Cuozzo, the Post columnist who penned the story Trump shared with the world.
"He prides himself on being a deal-maker. He was the worst deal-maker that ever lived. Look at his track record," Cuozzo said. "But he did know how to design and locate and build new buildings."
Cuozzo says Trump doesn't get the credit he deserves for being what he calls a great New York developer. He says projects like Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue had a real impact.
"World's most famous shopping street was a disaster. Empty storefronts," Cuozzo said. "No one had built anything new along here in years. And Trump comes along, takes this prime location and put up a building that is not great architecture but is great fun and expressed great confidence in the city."
But that assessment is not shared by all who closely followed Trump's moves during that period.
"To suggest that 56th and Fifth was ever a blighted area rescued by Donald Trump is to defy any sort of understanding of New York real estate, said Wayne Barrett, who wrote a biography of Trump.
"Him as a protector of the city is a ludicrous notion," Barrett said. "Everybody who knows anything about him knows that the only thing he is looking for is the next dollar."
But with Trump's more recent business ventures getting ripped apart, his brick-and-mortar legacy here in the city may be what he ultimately relies on as he tries to make a deal with voters for the White House.