For those of you who need a reminder here's me and Donald nine minutes apart. From his mecca to mine .... straight down the river to the key to the fortune.
Trump Tower Condo Buyers Sue, Doubt Completion
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By SHANNON BEHNKEN The Tampa Tribune
Published: Feb 14, 2007
I guess this relates to my personal struggle, as well. Should I start suing??
Again????
TAMPA - Two buyers in the stalled Trump Tower Tampa condominium say it is impossible for developers to finish the 52-story tower by the time their contract mandates. The buyers want their money back and have sued to get out of the deal. (Could it be because the City of Tampa can't get all the properties they need for his casino at the Dog Track by my house locked up ???) See my posts on Selective Code Enforcement and Hillsborough County Property Appraisers for more info as they update.
The buyers' attorney, Thomas Long, said his clients don't believe the riverfront condo will be built and feel misled. The fact that the developers don't have financing more than two years after announcing the project, combined with unresolved ownership issues and problems with unstable ground at the site, make it unlikely the tower will be completed by the December 2008 deadline stated in the contract, he said.
In recent months, developers said it would be mid-2009 before they finish construction.
"When you do a high-rise, particularly on land on the riverfront in a marshy area, you better make sure you can build it - before you start collecting the profits," said Long, of the Tampa firm Barnett, Bolt, Kirkwood, Long & McBride.
The developers named in the suit, Tampa-based SimDag LLC and Orlando-based private equity firm Mirabilis Ventures, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The suit was filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court on Jan. 31 and says the buyers were lured into purchasing a $1.4 million condo because they believed Donald Trump owned "a substantial stake" of the project.
"Donald Trump has boasted that his partnership with SimDag is more than a licensing or marketing arrangement," the suit states.
Long said his clients, Louis Ricci and Joe Shultz, both of Walton County, near Pensacola, have since learned that the developers paid the real estate mogul for the naming rights of the building.
"If you look at the Web site, it says Trump is a partner," Long said. "Now, we don't know where Donald Trump fits into this deal."
Trump has said that SimDag, the original developer, paid him an undisclosed sum in exchange for naming rights. As part of the agreement, the developers must build the tower to certain specifications and standards of the Trump brand, but no one from the Trump organization is involved in the construction process.
Trump said Monday he is frustrated with the lack of progress at the site, at 111 S. Ashley Drive. Trump has 72 condo projects in various stages of development and said the Tampa project is the only one not moving forward. It is unclear how many are licensing agreements and what his involvement is in those projects.
Trump revealed Monday by telephone that The Related Group, a Miami developer partnering with Trump on three towers in South Florida, wants to purchase or to become a partner on the Tampa project. (Most of the people currently invested around my neighborhood have home addresses in Miami. The one I am especially concerned with leaps into my yard on occasion right through his back window but dang, they're nice people, I'm sure. Just bein friendly and all. Right before the suits start flying for endangering my property and minor children)
Trump tried to buy out SimDag last fall, but the developer instead sold to Orlando developer Mirabilis. SimDag remained as a partner. At the time, Mirabilis said it had also purchased SimDag's Antigua Bay project in Clearwater and planned to buy seven to nine other SimDag developments.
David Hooks, Trump Tower Tampa spokesman, said he was unaware of the lawsuit and could not comment. Trump could not be reached.
Darryl C. Wilson, a professor of property law at Stetson University, said the suit sounds weak on the surface.
"It's pretty difficult for them to get any relief right now because there hasn't been any breach of contract at this time," Wilson said. "You have to give them a chance to fulfill their contract."
The plaintiffs, who purchased a unit through their company, NLR T LLC, made a 20 percent deposit in August 2005. The suit sayshe deposit consisted of $148,200 cash and a letter of credit in the same amount.
Wilson said it may be too early for others to sue, but if these plaintiffs are awarded their money back, "it would certainly open the floodgates for other buyers to follow."
The suit is the latest in a series of issues surrounding the $260 million riverfront project.
SimDag has dismissed two contractors and passed on at least $40 million in construction increases to buyers who have contracts to purchase. Expected completion dates have been pushed back numerous times.
The project is being rebid to subcontractors, and some companies that have completed work say they haven't been paid. Four have filed liens on the property totaling $3.3 million.
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