Trump SoHo Hotel Ditches the Name 'Trump'

It's not really in Soho, and now the Trump SoHo won't go by the name Trump either.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Trump Organization, which licensed its name and managed the hotel/condo located near the mouth of the Holland Tunnel, announced it was taking a buyout from the building's current owners, to take effect by the end of the year.

The owner of the building, CIM Group, has millions in government leases and owns a publicly-traded company regulated by the federal government. The Trump organization refused to say how much it was paid, creating a historically unprecedented situation: a company with government business has made an unknown payoff to the President's company.

Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said that the Trump businesses that appear to do well are "the ones that Trump personally attends." Others appear to be suffering, he said, creating an appearance that customers are buying access.

The Trump SoHo has been hemorrhaging business since Trump announced his presidential campaign. After the inauguration, the once-busy corner of Spring and Varick street emptied out. NBA players, limos, rope lines, paparazzi all disappeared as the name "Trump" became increasingly toxic among people who wanted to be in lower Manhattan.

Room rates hovered around $300 per night, far below the $900 per night once projected by the building's developers. Events and weddings dried up, as couples and companies became fearful that their venue would cause strife. In May, the bar ran out of ingredients, and then abruptly closed. 

WNYC, ProPublica and The New Yorker reported last month that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. dropped a felony larceny case against Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump after a visit from a major campaign donor, Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz.  Prosecutors in his office had obtained what Vance called "damning" emails but Vance decided the case was flawed, and didn't pursue it.

The building had already had a history of controversy. One partner, Russian emigre Felix Sater, had been convicted of slashing a man in a bar fight with a margarita glass, and of a pump and dump fraud scheme.