The Trump International Hotel & Tower has struggled since it opened almost a decade ago to find tenants for its first-floor commercial space.
Now brokers for the tower are trying a new strategy for leasing the space: Ditching the Trump name.
The massive Trump sign still adorns the side of the riverfront tower, but Crain’s reported that New York-based broker RKF makes no mention of the president’s name in a marketing flyer for the building, which they refer to simply as 401 North Wabash Avenue.
Plans for the first floor of the 92nd tower have changed almost as much as the president’s cabinet since the building opened, with the initial vision calling for retailers and restaurants. Then it was turned into conference rooms for the building’s hotel.
RKF then marketed it as office space, yet the only tenants are a gift shop and hair salon that occupy 1,000 square feet.
Now the brokers are pitching the 66,000-square-foot space as “the perfect entertainment and dining destination,” according to an RKF marketing brochure. But two photos of the tower in the brochure don’t show the building’s massive Trump sign.
An RKF spokesperson did not return phone calls, and Trump Organization representatives declined an interview request.
While the removal of the Trump name in the marketing flyer is only virtual, it has come off other buildings Trump developed. And last week a judge ruled residents of the Trump Place condominium building in New York could drop his name from it. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien