Toronto’s Trump International Hotel & Tower is finally up for sale, and the beleaguered building may lose its presidential brand under new ownership.
The sale includes 211 hotel units, 74 condo units and most of the tower’s retail and commercial space, including the America restaurant on the 31st floor.
The property’s court-approved receiver has set a minimum sale price of $298 million for the 65-storey tower, and the company behind the sale says there is “substantial levels of interest from all over the globe.”
“Opportunities to acquire such a prominent trophy asset in Toronto’s financial core are extremely rare,” said Bill Stone, executive vice-president of CBRE, the commercial real estate company behind the sell-off.
“It’s a superb location and one of the best luxury hotels in Canada.”
Much like its namesake, the luxury tower, located in the heart of downtown Toronto at Bay St. and Adelaide St. W., is no stranger to controversy. The building opened in 2012 after numerous delays and construction issues, including police reports of glass falling from the 34th floor and damaging cars below.
In 2015, the building’s developer was slapped with a $2,000 bill after police were forced to close roads around the high-rise as a precaution while a swaying spire was inspected. Later that year, a cracked window triggered a similar closure.
Protestors angry about the President-elect’s call to ban Muslims have gathered outside the Trump-branded towers in Vancouver and Toronto, and local politicians in both cities have called for the name to be changed.
A change in ownership could mean a name change. Symon Zucker, a lawyer for the building’s developer, Talon International, told the Washington Post that the building’s new owners will get to decide whether or not to keep the tower’s Trump brand.
