When the developers of Trump Soho built the 46-story hotel-condo in Hudson Square, they were allowed to build 20 percent bigger than zoning would typically allow by vowing to build an 8,161-square-foot plaza. According to the Villager, one year after the building opened, the developers now want to take back some of that space for outdoor seating for the Quatro restaurant on the hotel’s ground floor. Trump Soho representatives presented the plan before Community Board 2, which plays an advisory role in the City Planning Commission’s decision, arguing that the plaza attracts little public use and the cafe would invite people into the public space. Comments

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[Updated 1:15 p.m., April 15, 2011 from a previous version of the story] Trump Soho hotel-condo recently entered discussions with a number of brokers, including Prudential Douglas Elliman, on a potential deal to replace Prodigy International, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Developers and lenders have been in furious discussion about how to revive sales at the luxury tower, located at 246 Spring Street, following a 2010 deal with Los Angeles-based CIM Group to recapitalize more than $295 million in debt.

When asked about this last week, Elliman declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Trump Soho denied the move. “There has been no change in the sales and marketing team,” the spokesperson said.
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Rodrigo Nino of Prodigy International and the William Beaver House

William Beaver House, the André Balazs-designed Financial District condominium that was just bailed out by the Los Angeles-based CIM Group, is going partially rental under its new ownership.

The 333-unit tower, which had been facing a foreclosure lawsuit prior to the takeover, was part of a three-piece deal in which CIM agreed to buy the debt on two troubled Sapir Organization buildings (Trump Soho and Beaver House) and take an equity stake in another (11 Madison Avenue), sources said. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier today, CIM purchased the loan on over 200 unsold condos at the Beaver House and subsequently took ownership through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
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From left: the Centurion, Jersey City’s Soleil Lofts and Toby’s Estate

Australian coffeemaker Toby’s Estate is looking to set up shop in New York City. The company, which currently runs six cafés in Australia and is working on new locations in Paris and Singapore, is seeking retail shops with between 1,500 and 2,500 square feet of space and at least 15 feet of store frontage. Meanwhile, the developers of Jersey City’s Soleil Lofts are offering buyers hundreds of dollars in gifts if they sign contracts at the 38-unit police precinct-to-condominium conversion by Jan. 31, 2011, and I.M. Pei’s the Centurion is about to cross the 50-percent-closed threshold. Click here for more. TRD [more]

Donald Trump, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

The developers of the embattled Trump Soho condominium-hotel are offering to refund buyers as much as half of their deposits if they agree not to join a lawsuit that accuses them of “fraudulent misrepresentations and deceptive sales practices” at the 46-story Spring Street building, according to the Wall Street Journal. Only those buyers who haven’t yet closed would be eligible for the refund, though it is unclear how many have been offered. “They must think the fraud lawsuit has legitimacy and that they will
have to settle for more than 50 percent,” said attorney Pierre Debbas,
whose former client was offered a refund at the building. Or, he said,
the refunds could mean that the developers could be planning to convert
the entire project to a hotel. [more]

From the September issue: “Sold” means “sold” — except when it doesn’t. That’s the argument behind a new lawsuit involving the Trump Soho. The condo-hotel development, which has endured fickle buyers, community backlash and an unforgiving sales market, now faces a lawsuit that brings one central question to light: What does “sold” really mean? The suit, filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court, pits 15 buyers against Trump Soho developers and marketers, both past and present. The plaintiffs claim that the Trump Soho team misled them in the press — and in person — by reporting inflated sales figures, which they say lowered the value of their investments. The plaintiffs are backing up their claims by pointing to an amendment to declare the condo-hotel development’s offering plan effective, filed with the attorney general’s office this spring. The amendment was filed with 15 percent of the building’s 391 units in contract. So, if there were 50 percent or more units “sold” (as the buyers say was reported in the press), the plaintiffs ask: “Why weren’t they included in the amendment?”

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Trump Soho

In the wake of yesterday’s lawsuit filing alleging a misrepresentation of sales figures, the head of marketing at the Trump Soho condo-hotel has co [more]

Trump Soho and Rodrigo Nino, president of the building’s exclusive brokerage, Prodigy International

Trump Soho may be less than 16 percent sold — despite previous claims — but city records show that the 46-story condo-hotel has succeeded in closing on its first two units, Curbed reported. One buyer, Yunhee Chung of Great Neck, N.Y., bought unit #2003 for $1.283 million. Another, Uxona Iberica Sociedad Limitada, paid $1.207 million for unit #2908, for which the contract was signed in October 2007. While the original listing is not available, asking prices would indicate that the closed units were studios around 420 square feet. Though the property’s developers claimed to have sold more than half of Trump Soho’s total inventory nearly two years ago, The Real Deal first reported the discrepancy in sales numbers based on documents from the state attorney general’s office earlier this month: just 62 of the building’s 391 units are under contract. [Curbed]

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Renderings from the Trump Soho hotel

The controversial Trump Soho has scheduled its first round of unit closings by mid-April, not long after it officially opens April 9, The Real Deal has learned. The high-rise condo-hotel has been delayed due to years of legal wrangling with community opponents that have challenged the property’s zoning, a fatal 2008 crane collapse at the site and a weak credit environment that slowed financing. “Trump Soho, the first downtown property for the Trump Hotel Collection, is opening April 9, 2010,” according to an e-mailed statement from the developer. “The closings will begin after the hotel opens.” The 46-story property at 246 Spring Street, at the corner of Varick Street, broke ground in 2007 and was previously scheduled to open in the fall of 2009, then on Feb. 1, 2010. [more]

In a bid to attract more foreign buyers, the developer of Midtown condominium-hotel Cassa has hired brokerage Prodigy International to handle sales, replacing new development firm the Marketing Directors. Developer Solly Assa, a head of Assa Properties, told The Real Deal today that Prodigy is now the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the 48-story glass tower, located at 70 West 45th Street. “We’re targeting more of an international client,” he said. “Prodigy is really catering to international consumers.” Assa said that the Marketing Directors sold nearly 40 percent of the project’s 57 condo units since sales began in June. The building was designed by Cetra/Ruddy and TEN Arquitectos, the Mexico City firm headed by Enrique Norten. When completed this spring, it will house 166 hotel rooms operated by Desires Hotels. [more]