The owners of Toronto’s “Trump Hotel” just spent a reported $6M to get out of its deal with Trump and cleanse their property of his hated name; they will probably rebrand it as a “St Regis” hotel instead.
The agreement to remove the the U.S. president’s brand marks the first step toward revamping the property, which has faced a history of construction delays and lawsuits. Most recently, it’s been a site for protests against the Trump’s comments disparaging women, Mexicans and Muslims, even though his company has no ownership stake in the property.JCF Capital acquired the tower with the Trump brand and agreements in place last year from former owner Talon International, the developer run by Russian-Canadian billionaire Alex Shnaider. Since then, JCF has been in talks with hotel chains and the Trump Organization to complete an operating plan.
The tower was a tough sell under its Trump name: Talon struggled to sell the building after defaulting on its 2007 loan, and when JCF Capital acquired the loan on the property from lender Raiffeisen Bank International AG and launched a sale process for the building, it garnered no bids aside from its own.
Trump’s Company Gets Millions So Toronto Hotel Can Erase Brand
[Katia Dmitrieva/Bloomberg]