Getty Images
A judge Thursday that residents of a 324-unit condominium bearing Donald Trump’s name can choose to remove his name from the building. And for the sake of their property values, they may want to.
New York Justice Eileen Bransten said the licensing agreement between Trump Place, located at 200 Riverside Boulevard in Manhattan, and The Trump Organization doesn’t require the high-rise to display the Trump name. As a result, Bransten argued that the condo’s residents could move forward with removing the name from the building’s exterior, so long as they follow the building’s bylaws. Those rules require a two-thirds majority to approve the change.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization told MarketWatch that the company plans to appeal the judge’s decision. “The decision today by Judge Bransten was limited to a narrow technical issue of law, for which there is no precedent in New York,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Residents of Trump Place might have good reason to continue this fight though. President Trump’s election appears to have had a negative effect on the buildings named after him across Manhattan. In 2017, the average price per square foot was $1,741 for the 11 Trump-branded buildings located across Manhattan, according to a recent report from CityRealty, a New York real-estate firm. That’s below current market values for most similar condos of the same caliber, it said.
Over the past 10 years, buildings bearing the Trump name have not seen the same level of appreciation as other condo developments. On a square-foot basis, prices have only risen 14% since 2007, versus 56% for luxury condos in Manhattan and 51% across all Manhattan condos.
And that $1,741 per square foot doesn’t compare well to other developments. Not only is that far less than the average price per square foot for Manhattan luxury condos ($3,105), but it’s now also below the average across all condos in Manhattan ($1,864) regardless of “luxury” status.
Trump Parc, located at 106 Central Park South in New York, appears to have held its competitive market value in line with other buildings of its caliber, the report found. But CityRealty said it’s one notable exception.
The trends clearly point to the negative influence Trump’s political career has had on New York real estate bearing his name. “It’s not a good effect overall,” said Gabby Warshawer, director of research and communications at CityRealty. “Right now, if you look at the numbers and consider each building individually, they look like middle-of-the-road investments for Manhattan.”
But it’s not just the political controversy and President Trump’s comments about women before the presidential election that caused the Trump association to hurt these building’s real-estate values, Warshawer said, noting the Secret Service presence and frequent protests at some building as other deterrents for buyers.
Another factor, unrelated to Trump’s public image, is age. Most of the properties were built in the 1980s and 1990s — and now they’re having to compete with newer condo developments built in recent years. “There aren’t many buildings from that time period that are selling well relative to newer buildings,” Warshawer said.