[4] In April 1990, the American Broadcasting Company decided to sell two full blocks on the East Side of Broadway between Sixty-Eighth and Sixty-Ninth Streets.
A syndicate led by William Zeckendorf Jr. and Martin J. Raynes fell apart because they were unable to secure funding, and the latter was driven to bankruptcy in 1991 after the real estate downturn.
Jeffries came up with a novel way of financing the project by developing a mixed-used, urban entertainment, retail, office, and residential complex and pre-selling different segment of the building to various owners, both individuals and corporations.
[4][5][7] By 1991, he secured financial commitments from Sony (whose space later was sold to Loews Theater), LA Fitness, Gap Inc., United States Postal Service, as well as J.P. Morgan & Co. as future tenants of Millennium Tower.
[5] The announcement of Millennium Tower brought controversies over its density, height, and design, that Brendan Gill described the 'immense structure' as 'grossly over-scaled' and objected to the 'exceptionally busy' mix of uses.
[5] The Millennium Tower was, nevertheless, a commercial success that attracted celebrity tenants such as Howard Stern, Liam Neeson, Jon Bon Jovi, and Regis Philbin, earned over a quarter billion dollars and inspired other real estate developers to follow suit.
[21][22] Through Millenium Partners, he owns the Hotel St. Moritz, which he developed into The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park, as well as condominiums and led to a turnaround of its status, attracting prominent tenants such as Jean-Marie Messier, Sidney Kimmel, Larry Ellison, and Mitchell Rales.
[30] They married in 1989 and their reception attracted a high-profile crowd include UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Senators Chris Dodd and Larry Pressler, author Jerzy Kosiński, songwriter Ahmet Ertegun, and Donald Trump.