(Adds comment from Trump and Talon lawyers on details of
contract)
By Ethan Lou
TORONTO, May 27 (Reuters) - Toronto's Trump tower is close
to being sold, a lawyer for its owner said on Friday, adding
that the buyer could choose to drop the name, which has become
more controversial since billionaire Donald Trump became the
presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee.
The Trump organization disagreed, saying the building must
continue to carry the name.
Symon Zucker, who represents Talon International Development
Inc, said the 65-storey hotel and condominium tower in the
city's financial district has found a potential buyer and the
sale will conclude "hopefully shortly."
The building is operated for Talon by the Trump Hotel
Collection, presided over by Trump and his children.
Zucker said the current contract with Trump Hotel is
"exclusive with Talon" and that "the new owner can if he wishes
retain a different manager and change the name of the hotel."
Zucker declined to comment on the potential new owner's
intentions or the specifics of the deal.
Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten disagreed,
saying the agreement is valid for "another 16 years" and calling
Zucker's view "100 percent false."
"The management's agreement between Trump and the condos
would remain in full force and effect," he said in an email. "We
are not going anywhere."
Garten said if the new owner wants to change the name of the
tower, the Trump Organization would take "swift and appropriate
action to prevent it and hold them liable for damages."
Talon Chairman Alex Shnaider has been trying to change the
building's name through arbitration, though the sale is
unrelated to that effort, said Zucker, who called the sale a
routine business decision.
"Alex is moving on to other deals," he said. "This is just
one more thing he's bought that he's going to sell."
Zucker said the deal was done through the real estate firm
CBRE, which declined to comment.
The luxury building has had problems, and the intersection
around it has been closed several times due to falling or
unstable glass. The tower is also the subject of a Canadian
lawsuit against Trump and associates by disgruntled investors
who say they were misled in their deals.
A judge ruled against the investors, and a Toronto court is
scheduled to hear their appeal in June. Zucker called their case
"frivolous."
(With additional reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto;
Editing by Dan Grebler and David Gregorio)