The Trump family moves north. Donald, Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric are seen at the opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto four years ago. Donald Jr. and Eric will be in Vancouver on Feb. 28 for the opening of Trump Tower there. Local politicians once asked that Trump’s name be taken off the building.
The Trump family moves north. Donald, Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric…
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump will be on hand Feb. 28 in Vancouver, B.C., for the gala opening of the $360 million (Canadian) Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver, the first Trump-named property to launch since its namesake became president.
The 63-story hotel/tower was developed by the Holborn Group, which purchased the Trump branding and management. It features a 6,000-square-foot span designed by Ivanka Trump, 147 luxury hotel rooms and penthouses going for as much as $20 million each.
“It will be a spectacular addition to a very beautiful city,” Donald Trump said in 2013 when he went to Vancouver to launch the project.
Developers have touted it as “Vancouver’s landmark address” and an invitation on its website summons the well-heeled to “Join the Trump lifestyle.”
Not everyone has been that happy with the landmark.
“Trump’s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world,” Vancouver Mayor Greggor Robertson wrote in a December 2015 letter asking Holborn to find another name.
Joo Kim Tiah, CEO and president of Holborn Group, has posted photos on Instagram of his fun time at the Trump inauguration last month. The mementos, the Vancouver Sun reported, included a Liberty Ball identity badge, a ticket to the official inauguration ceremonies and a photo of Tiah.
The hotel may bear the moniker of a celebrated Vancouver architect, the late Arthur Erickson, but some believe the Trump name symbolizes values at odds with those of Vancouver.
“I think none of it reflects our tolerant, progressive, dynamic city. There is noting coveted about Mr. Trump’s open bigotry, disdain for the environment, promotion of inequality and contempt for others,” Adrian Dix, a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from Vancouver, said recently.
The tower at 1133 W. Georgia St., Vancouver’s second-tallest building, has already attracted a women’s march and other protests.
A construction worker, a naturalized Canadian citizen but born in Mexico, made his way to the top while the building was still under construction and unfurled a Mexican flag.
One online jokester temporarily renamed the site “Dump International Hotel and Tower” on Google Maps in November.
The London-based Financial Times has raised more serious questions about the hotel, managed by but not owned by the Trump Organization.
“The Vancouver development … highlights the potential for conflict for a sitting president who has refused to sever ties with his still-expanding business empire,” it wrote this week.
“Like some of Mr. Trump’s other properties, the Vancouver development raises the risk of violating the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibiting elected officials from receiving benefits from foreign governments.
“The hotel also invites scrutiny of (Trump’s) business partners such as the elder Mr. Tiah, who was convicted of providing a false report to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.”
Holborn Properties is based in Vancouver and is headed by Koo Lim Tiah. But it is supported by TA Enterprise, the Malaysia-based firm of his father, Tony Tiah Thee Kiah.
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