Another Condo Wants to Dump the Trump Name

In a sign that the President of the United States may indeed be a “stable genius,” a lawyer for Donald Trump has threatened an Upper West Side condo board that it would be a “flagrant” breach of a licensing agreement if the board goes ahead with its plan to remove the president’s family name from the facade of the building known as Trump Place.

Trump attorney Alan Garten has written a letter to the condo board at the 48-story, 376-unit luxury condo tower at 200 Riverside Boulevard, warning them to end the campaign to dump the Trump name. Garten wrote that the building would face “substantial liability” from DJT Holdings, the Trump company listed on the licensing agreement, which the condo board signed in 2000.

“We are not aware of any circumstances under which the condominium would have the right to terminate the license agreement and will defend our rights vigorously,” Garten tells the New York Post.

The license agreement, which describes Trump as a “worldwide renowned builder … who enjoys the highest reputation,” gives Trump’s DJT Holdings LLC the right to exit the deal if the building enters bankruptcy, becomes “destroyed,” or stops being a condominium. 

Garten’s threats are an attempt to stem a tide that has swept the New York real estate world since Trump’s inauguration last January. Three other Trump properties – at 140, 160, and 180 Riverside Boulevard – removed the Trump name from their facades last year. More recently, the Trump name was stripped from the financially troubled Trump Soho condo/hotel tower. Even a hotel in Toronto got in on the fun by erasing the Trump name from its façade.

Garten’s threat of legal action came to light when the Trump Place condo board filed papers in Manhattan Supreme Court, seeking clarification on whether they have the right to dump the Trump name.