One of Vancouver’s most beleaguered properties is hoping their ‘Trump card’ will pay off and help developers resurrect a dream.
Donald Trump and his family are in Vancouver Wednesday for the launch of what’s expected to be called the Trump Tower. ‘The Donald’ isn’t investing in the project, as he’s only allowing the family name to be used for marketing purposes.
The developers first tried marketing the residences at the Ritz Carleton before the recession in 2008, the lowest priced condo started at $1.4 million with the penthouse expected to go for $28 million. But that project disappeared after the worldwide financial crisis in 2008.
“It’s a concept that’s never found the right timing,” says Gordon Price, SFU City Program. “It’s never been able to match up with where the market is with a product that will work. At this point they’re struggling to find the right kind of brand.”
The project has now been downsized and developers are hoping for a glimmering skyscraper that will have 63 storeys and compete with ass well as come eye-to-eye with Vancouver’s current highest landmark, the Shangri-La.
“I think it really solidifies the downtown area as a luxury brand area,” says Charles Gautheir, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. “Branding it a Trump building is only going to add to the cache of the area.”
In the 1980s, this site rested on the remnants of the previous Vancouver Art Gallery and then was marketed as a high-end club with a Whistler connection; which failed. Then the Ritz Carleton proposal came and failed.
If it fails again, it could prompt someone in the project’s office to repeat trump’s famous line from his TV series, The Apprentice – “you’re fired.”
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