The Trump Condo-Hotel project on Ft. Lauderdale Beach has been moving along....slowly.  It's had numerous delays and the new 'opening' date is supposed to be sometime in late 2009.  Why does it take so long?  Well construction has been slow on the property for one.  The main reason....as Sun-Sentinel is reporting is to do with the condo portion of the project.  The developers sent a letter out to all investors on May 13th that states that they must all close on their units this month.  If half of them do not...they "do not envision that the hotel will open".



That's a pretty bold statement.  The letter also said that residents of the condos cannot move in until the hotel opens.  To make matters even more worse...they said that the Trump group might even pull the name from the project.  They are claiming that developers defaulted on agreements.  Sounds more like Trump is running scared.  Many of the potential new 'residents' are trying to sue the devlopers to get their 20% deposits back too, claiming false advertising and misleading info.  Way to go Trump.

The property looks pretty far along...so there is no way to know what will happen.  Trump is asking quite a lot from condo buyers.  Imagine putting up the deposit and learning that the property will no longer carry the Trump name...or maybe won't even open.  I can't see the property being abandoned outright though.  It's too far along in the process and in a great location.  I could maybe see it being in a holding pattern for another year...maybe even sold to another hotel developer.  You know...so what if Trump pulls the name?  His name has been associated with a lot of negative press in the past few years and the guy is kind of a jerk anyway.  The Trump properties are dry and boring as dry toast too.  Maybe another owner/developer can take it over and create some excitement. 

It should be interesting to see what happens.  Will this remain in the Trump family?  Will this still be a condo-hotel?  Will it open in 2009?  Will it open at all?  Only time will tell.