Trump lops 13 floors off Toronto condo

Developer says slow sales and technical problems are reasons for reducing height of luxury condo to 57 storeys from 70

Donald Trump’s Toronto tower is taking just a little off the top. The Trump International Tower ““ which was to be a 70-storey, five-star, $500-million project at the corner of Bay and Adelaide Sts. ““ will now be 57 storeys. Gone are 11 residential floors and two from the hotel, though the new plan does call for an increase in the overall number of units.

Rumours have gone on for months that sales are not going well. Trump himself told the Toronto Star’s Tony Wong in March it has taken longer to sell out in Toronto than any Trump towers in other cities.

Trump spokesperson Howard Tikka, speaking from Phoenix, Ariz., this week, initially conceded slow sales may have contributed to the whittled-down height. He later added “sales have really done well for us, though initially, of course, we hoped to sell more.”

When pressed further, Tikka says the height reduction ““ and related decrease in the size of many of units ““ relates to the speed of the building’s two elevators and some other technical issues.

“The more residents we had, the more the elevators were going to be used and that wasn’t what we wanted in an exclusive building like the Trump,” says Tikka, who estimates total pre-construction sales at $275 million with 80 per cent of the hotel-condo suites accounted for.

At 70 storeys, the Trump tower was touted as the tallest residential building in Canada when it was announced in 2001.