Latin America: Territory of real estate failures for Trump?

Why a luxury hotel in Panama decided to withdraw the name of the president?

From an early age, Donald Trump understood that his name was a synonym of luxury, exclusivity, and success. The now president of United States has created a millionaire real estate empire selling his name to entrepreneurs around the world with the intention of raising expensive real estate projects under the magnate's signature.

Latin America has not been oblivious to this type of construction, which, to a large extent, end up on Trump's list of real estate failures.

A recent trade dispute between a businessmen from Panama and the Trump Organization revived the controversial economic activity of the president in Latin America. The luxurious 284-meter-high, 70-storey building that until a few days ago bore the name of 'Trump Ocean Club International Hotel' has ceased to be called that.

The dispute that began a year ago was led by the main shareholder of the building, Orestes Fintiklis, who, with the support of the rest of the owners, started a legal battle in order to expel the Trump Organization from the administration of the place arguing that the the agent's name was influencing the fall in revenue billed at the hotel in the last year.

Now, after 12 days of a business fight between the parties, the authorities of Panama forced the departure of the representatives of the organization of the American president of the building and removed the word 'Trump' from the name that the hotel bore.

The group, which appealed the decision imposed, said in an official statement that "Trump hotels have full confidence that not only will they be victorious, but they will recover all the damages, costs and expenses of lawyers, even those that arise from the events. from today".

This type of business has meant a multibillion-dollar economic accumulation to the American tycoon who sells his name for no less than 45 million dollars to entrepreneurs and investors who want to build real estate projects under the backing and successive 'assured success' of the Trump firm.

However, such projects do not always turn out to be a guaranteed gold mine; on the contrary, legal problems, money laundering scandals and a dark background of investors are part of the frequent scenarios that cloud such constructions.

Trump's real estate failures in Latin America

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency in the US, several hotels in Toronto and New York have removed their name from the buildings. Panama now joins this list and becomes one of the real estate failures of the tycoon in Latin American territory.

• Trump Towers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

In this case, one of the main investors of the project was accused by the Antifraud Office of Catalonia of being a money laundering vehicle for Russian oligarchs.

• Ocean Resort of Baja California, Mexico:

In 2006, hundreds of buyers filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump Organization and the real estate developer of the project, after having millionaire losses after investing in a failed apartment complex for which they paid close to 20 million dollars.

• Trump Farallón from the Dominican Republic:

A project that promised to become an exclusive complex of villas on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea ended in total failure and was never built after being canceled due to the 2008 financial crisis. Investors who bought 68 lots for a value between 2, 6 and 5.6 million dollars lost a large part of the money invested.

Latin American Post | Krishna Jaramillo

Translated from "Latinoamérica: ¿Territorio de fracasos inmobiliarios para Trump?"