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Controversial redevelopment project abandoned
Plans to transform Belgrade's bomb-damaged General Staff building into a Trump International Hotel have unraveled after a corruption trial and public backlash, officials confirmed this week.
Symbolic ruins at the heart of the dispute
The Generalstab complex, a haunting relic of NATO's 1999 airstrikes, was slated for demolition under a 2024 deal with Jared Kushner's Affinity Global. The project aimed to replace the site-designed by famed Yugoslav architect Nikola Dobrović-with a luxury hotel, despite its protected cultural heritage status.
Government accused of manipulating heritage protections
Culture Minister Nikola Selaković faces trial for allegedly falsifying documents to remove the Generalstab from Serbia's protected buildings registry. Prosecutors seek a three-year prison sentence, while President Aleksandar Vučić has vowed to pardon him if convicted. The case triggered outrage among architects, veterans, and anti-corruption activists, who saw the project as an attempt to erase wartime history.
"The bombed buildings are a memorial to those who died in 1999. Destroying them would be an insult to their memory," said a veterans' group spokesperson.
Kushner withdraws amid legal and public pressure
Affinity Global cited a desire to "unite rather than divide" in its December 2025 withdrawal, though critics noted the deal lacked a competitive tender. The government's subsequent judicial reforms-fast-tracked without public consultation-further fueled accusations of political interference. The EU condemned the changes as a "serious step backward" for judicial independence.
Protests and political fallout
Demonstrators outside Selaković's trial held banners reading "We are all witnesses," reflecting widespread skepticism about the government's motives. Vučić, who once framed the project as a step toward U.S.-Serbia reconciliation, now calls the prosecution "shameful."
Meanwhile, Kushner has shifted focus to Albania, where Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed plans for a luxury resort on Sazan Island. Whether a Trump-branded hotel will emerge there remains unclear.
What's next
The Generalstab's future is uncertain. With the Trump project dead and heritage protections reinstated, preservationists are pushing for restoration, while the government has not ruled out alternative redevelopment plans.
