[trumptoronto]

http://www.thestar.com/business/201...fits-overstated-to-woo-buyers-court-told.html

Not true. But, that is what these particular buyers are saying through their lawyers in court. They simply wish to get out of their contracts that they signed. We were always very careful how we discussed and presented the hotel condominium units for sale.

And in fact, the court recently made a ruling and did not support their positions: http://www.thestar.com/business/rea...estors-lose-legal-fight-to-rescind-deals.html

Bottom line, purchasing any real estate has risks involved. And in order to make money in real estate, it usually requires holding onto the property for several years. There is not an instant return. And with hotel properties in particular, it takes a good three years or so until the property builds up its client-base and occupancy rates.

There have been times that the hotel has been sold out. And there are times when it is not. It's no different than any other hotel property, regardless of the luxury-level. There is a lot of competition out there and all hotels struggle to fill rooms at all times during the year. The hotel has been ranked as one of the top two hotels in the city since it opened. And has been awarded five-stars two years in a row. So obviously, the hotel is doing something right.

It's a great property and I will always be very proud of what we created.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

Unfortunately, conjecture and baseless speculation are TKE's bread and butter. I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if he were able to provide reliable information supporting his claim.

I guess I made one too many negative comments about aA, huh? You've been following me around ever since.[ /QUOTE]

So ....... that link to the blog you were referring to?

 

[UrbanAffair]

TrumpToronto, Any idea about the light line or night line or whatever it's called? I care little about the hotel itself, and even less about the tarnished trump brand, but would love to see build stay true to its obligation to fix and light up the public art component.

 

[trumptoronto]

TrumpToronto, Any idea about the light line or night line or whatever it's called? I care little about the hotel itself, and even less about the tarnished trump brand, but would love to see build stay true to its obligation to fix and light up the public art component.

Unfortunately, I do not know. I know there were some unexpected technical issues that they've been struggling with for a while, but I haven't been with the development for a couple of years. It's a different team there now and thus I'm not as dialed in as I once was.

I would like to see everything finished and working as well. But I do know these lawsuits have taken up a lot of time and expense for Talon; as well as the negative press. Between Heydary and the Toronto Star, the very biased (and often inaccurate) and negative reporting has certainly hurt the development immeasurably. They know how to ride the rails between libel and legal quite well. Sue Pigg in particular loves to highlight the fact that the Trump Hotel Collection brand name is licensed, but it's no different than nearly every other hotel property that licences its name to developers/owners (Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La, Marriott, Holiday Inn, etc. all do the exact same thing with their hotels). And that fact was made very clear in all contract documents. Most hotel companies own very few of the properties that bear their name. It would be nice to see an article in The Star that is actually balanced and a clear representation of fact. But that's not what The Star does these days.

I've truly enjoyed all of the years of conversations everyone has participated in here on the forum. I've missed it.

 

[UrbanAffair]

Thanks for your response. I can't speak to the Star's reporting, but I appreciate the response nonetheless. I wonder (and wonder only as I have no proof of this) perhaps whether the brand itself has attracted the "type" that might have at first been really enamored with the trump brand, but even more so with the idea of Trump himself. I am thinking of the instant gratification new money tacky type, or people similar to the Donald in many ways. Perhaps their expectations got the better of them and they got upset that what was envisioned in their minds wasn't what was delivered right away? At the same time, is it not possible that what was delivered was not what was promised? Just my thinking here...and nothing personal as I was just as excited as many were when this was being built. Personally, I appreciate Trump Toronto even coming on this forum, as it sort of is like walking in to a nest of vipers in some ways. At least we are getting a good source of updates!

 

[wopchop]

TrumpToronto, Any idea about the light line or night line or whatever it's called? I care little about the hotel itself, and even less about the tarnished trump brand, but would love to see build stay true to its obligation to fix and light up the public art component.

Unfortunately, I do not know. I know there were some unexpected technical issues that they've been struggling with for a while, but I haven't been with the development for a couple of years. It's a different team there now and thus I'm not as dialed in as I once was.

It has also been a long time since I was involved with the project (man, time flies) but here is what I know. There were technical issues with the design of the lightline. This created a delay while a solution was being worked out. In the meantime, the tower continued to progress, until it eventually got to the point where the suspended access stage at the northwest corner had to be removed. This was around the same time as the scaffolding surrounding the onion dome came down, as the stage was suspended through that scaffolding. After this happened, the only access to the northwest corner would be via the building maintenance unit. You can see the counterweights of the BMU in Marcanadian's photo on the previous page. That BMU was non-operational at that time and for quite a while after substantial completion.

The BMU is also required to do a lot of glass changeouts on the west and north elevations, which I'm pretty sure have still yet to be done.

Since it has been a long time, I'm not sure when or even if it is fully operational. I've personally never seen it operating where a stage is dropped down an elevation.

As trumptoronto says, there were also a number of liens and lawsuits ongoing at that time (and some still ongoing), which delayed completion of outstanding work significantly.

 

[khris]

So does anyone know where that leaves us for the near future?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I walked by last Sunday after spending the afternoon down at Queen's Quay and was amused by the plaque on the Bay Street side at street level commemorating "Night Line", dated 2012. Never noticed that before.

 

[trumptoronto]

Thanks for your response. I can't speak to the Star's reporting, but I appreciate the response nonetheless. I wonder (and wonder only as I have no proof of this) perhaps whether the brand itself has attracted the "type" that might have at first been really enamored with the trump brand, but even more so with the idea of Trump himself. I am thinking of the instant gratification new money tacky type, or people similar to the Donald in many ways. Perhaps their expectations got the better of them and they got upset that what was envisioned in their minds wasn't what was delivered right away? At the same time, is it not possible that what was delivered was not what was promised? Just my thinking here...and nothing personal as I was just as excited as many were when this was being built. Personally, I appreciate Trump Toronto even coming on this forum, as it sort of is like walking in to a nest of vipers in some ways. At least we are getting a good source of updates!

In all honesty, the property as delivered, was even better than what was originally envisioned. There were many changes over the years to the interior design, but the final constructed property came out even better than the renderings. I think the biggest issue for many purchasers was the fact that their financial situations may have been different at the time of purchase vs. the time of occupancy. The extremely tightened mortgage market post-2009 also made it very difficult to obtain mortgages for the hotel condominiums above the 70% LTV mark. And in fact, there were some purchasers who were upset about 70% (which was actually fantastic for hotel condominiums in any market condition). For most purchasers though, 50% was the top range for many banks. Canadian banks (and government) made it quite difficult to obtain jumbo-loans for our purchasers. And unfortunately, that was something that was out of our control.

I can't speak to the intentions of purchasers or why they bought. Trump-branded properties are some of the best in the world, and I think Trump Toronto is a leading example of that. It is a very well made building, designed with a great deal of thought and built to the highest standards. We promised a five-star property and that is exactly what was delivered (and achieved). It was never designed to be the type of property that you flip. And perhaps, in the height of the real estate market craze, that was their hope. But, this type of property is one that you hold onto over time. All good things take time.

 

[ProjectEnd]

So ....... that link to the blog you were referring to?

Crickets...

 

[TorontoNick]

I don't usually walk past Trump at night, so I'm not sure the state it's usually in but I snapped a couple of cell phone pictures of the much discussed light as it was to be seen on Sunday around 11.

 

[alklay]

They can put a man on the moon but they cannot fix a fricken light? This is definitely a money problem (as are the rest of the defects on the exterior of this building). And I do not want to hear the excuse "but its a great hotel" one more time.

 

[CITY_LOVER]

In all honesty, the property as delivered, was even better than what was originally envisioned. There were many changes over the years to the interior design, but the final constructed property came out even better than the renderings. I think the biggest issue for many purchasers was the fact that their financial situations may have been different at the time of purchase vs. the time of occupancy. The extremely tightened mortgage market post-2009 also made it very difficult to obtain mortgages for the hotel condominiums above the 70% LTV mark. And in fact, there were some purchasers who were upset about 70% (which was actually fantastic for hotel condominiums in any market condition). For most purchasers though, 50% was the top range for many banks. Canadian banks (and government) made it quite difficult to obtain jumbo-loans for our purchasers. And unfortunately, that was something that was out of our control.

I can't speak to the intentions of purchasers or why they bought. Trump-branded properties are some of the best in the world, and I think Trump Toronto is a leading example of that. It is a very well made building, designed with a great deal of thought and built to the highest standards. We promised a five-star property and that is exactly what was delivered (and achieved). It was never designed to be the type of property that you flip. And perhaps, in the height of the real estate market craze, that was their hope. But, this type of property is one that you hold onto over time. All good things take time.

Trumptoronto, we understand what you're saying about how nice the inside is and how difficult it was to get this building erected given the physical site constraints (amongst other issues), and how the lawsuit issue may have finally been resolved (and all this is great), however, now more than ever before, the focus by members here will be on the nightline and the fixing of the exterior. So, please, is it possible to stop bringing up the positives of this building? We all know it but it doesn't reduce the impact of the painfully obvious shortcomings/massive delays of its exterior. Thanks.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Given what the namesake has said over the past little while, you'd think that living in a Trump is increasingly a liability. Then again, maybe not.

AoD

 

[stjames2queenwest]

The portion of the light that is working is nice. Purple and teal are a good combo. It's just a shame you have to be at that intersection to see it.
Personally I think it says something that trump toronto comes on here and addresses our comments. You don't see anyone else doing that when we bad mouth other projects.

I actually like this tower... I just wish it didn't say trump at the top.