MANHATTAN — The Trump SoHo will be sold following a flurry of lawsuits, but billionaire TV star and would-be politician Donald Trump says the luxury "condo-hotel" will maintain its standards of excellence.
“We look forward to whoever the new owner will be and we will continue to do an outstanding job in managing the hotel," Trump said in a statement.
"The condo-hotel property is being taken to market as an entire property through a competitive marketing process," said Jeffrey Davis, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels which is co-broker of the sale.
Jones Lang LaSalle and Eastdil Secured are now co-brokers for the 48-story tower, Davis said. The property was developed by The Sapir Organization and Bayrock Group.
Sapir Organization president Alex Sapir told Bloomberg in a story published Wednesday that individual units of the property would be auctioned, which Davis said Thursday was inaccurate.
The property will still be known as the Trump SoHo, said Davis, who declined to comment on its asking price.
The announcement of the sale of the 246 Spring St. building follows a February 2010 federal lawsuit against Sapir and Bayrock by 10 buyers of the high-end suites.
Buyers said developers lied about the number of units that had already sold in an attempt to boost sales, claiming that as much as 60 percent of units had sold, when the actual sales figure was closer to 16 percent, according to the New York Post.
The disgruntled buyers settled out of court in November 2011 for $2.84 million — 90 percent of their original $3.16 million total deposits — the Post reported.
Eighty-five of the units have sold since December 2007, according to property data website StreetEasy.com, and 42 units are for sale now. Prices range from $995,000 for a 425-square-foot studio to $8.74 million for a 2,300-square-foot two-bedroom.
Locals and community groups opposed the size of the Trump SoHo beginning in 2006, when Donald Trump announced his plans for the development on his television show "The Apprentice."
To comply with zoning regulations that allow commercial, not residential use, occupants of the condo-hotel are allowed to occupy their pied-à-terres for only 120 days a year and for no more than 29 days at a time.
The property is being marketed in Asia, the Middle East and Russia, Sapir, who did not return a request for comment, told Bloomberg.
