For the second time this year, Trump family-run-company ‘Trump Organization’ has been bought out of their contract from Trump SoHo hotel and condominium tower. Licensing and management of the hotel have been bought by New York property’s owner.
The Trump name will be removed from the tower located at Lower Manhattan by the end of this year by a Los Angeles based investment firm, CIM Group, said in a statement from the Trump Organization on Wednesday. Earlier in the year in June, Trump name was dropped from another Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Toronto while a year ago Trump Place apartment complex in Upper West Side also did the same with residents showing dissentient with the President.
Trump Tower SoHo, source: Bloomberg
Even with the hotel’s prime location and prestige, Trump SoHo hotel has failed to attract guests and condo sales. Trump’s right-wing rhetorics and liberal political stance have deterred patronage in states like New York, L.A and elsewhere. Since taking office, Trump hotel’s luxury room average prices have dropped by 20 percent whereas in Las Vegas hotel room’s are 64 percent cheaper than in January.
With allegations and ongoing probe of Russian interference in U.S 2016 presidential elections, the SoHo hotel had its ties with Russian investment. Bayrock Group, one of the partnering firms of the SoHo project had previously tried to link Russian investors with Trump for deals in Moscow and one of the Bayrock’s chief was a career criminal named Felix Sater with close ties with Russian-American crime groups.
The hotel had its fair share of bad rep and controversy in the past, with allegations of fraud against Mr. Trump’s three children which were settled in 2011 and more recent fraud suit probe by a New York City prosecutor which was later dropped after $32,000 campaign contribution from a lawyer representing Trump Organization.
Trump Place Manhattan, source: CNBC
With the recent closure of the sushi restaurant, falling room rates, lack of investment and termination of management contracts, the hotel has weathered fair share of turmoil since being bought from foreclosure by CIM Group three years back.
Trump family owned hotels and resorts around the world are showing mixed results, golf courses in Scotland, New York, and Los Angeles are reported to have dwindled in profits according to government’s financial records. But his luxury hotel in Washington D.C seems unaffected with lobbyist and diplomats staying in the capital for business.