Trump International Hotel and Tower is still part of the family brand, despite broker RKF’s recent decision to leave the Trump name out of marketing material for its vacant ground-floor retail space.
Perhaps to emphasize that point, Donald Trump Jr. paid a visit to the city Thursday, meeting with Alderman Brendan Reilly to discuss potential tenants for its 66,000 square feet of riverfront commercial space at 401 N. Wabash Ave., according to the Chicago Tribune.
President Trump’s son, who is executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said he didn’t want to have “loud nightclubs” on the river and that any food and beverage tenants should be “respectful to the river and neighbors,” Reilly recounted, according to the Tribune.
Trump acknowledged the brand was contentious in Chicago, Reilly said, adding that the Trump Organization would meet with him again to vet potential tenants. The meeting comes as President Trump was in Wisconsin to attend the groundbreaking of
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn’s new plant there.
The space has been marketed as retail and restaurant space, conference space for the hotel above, and office space. The two men did not discuss politics, and Reilly said he did not suggest removing the president’s name from the tower.
A pair of other Trump-branded hotel have already removed POTUS’ name from the buildings, although neither was owned by the company — the CIM Group-owned Trump Soho in New York and the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel in Panama City, Panama. [Chicago Tribune] –Dennis Lynch