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Buyer Sues Trump, Tower Developers Over Marketing

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

TAMPA - Another lawsuit has been filed against the developers and others involved in the troubled Trump Tower Tampa project by buyers seeking their deposits back.

Jugal Taneja and Manju Taneja of Largo claim in their suit that they were misled to believe that real estate mogul Donald Trump was a partner in the condo tower project. They later learned that he only licensed his name to local developer SimDag LLC, the suit states.

"Mr. Trump has a reputation and my clients were relying on his expertise," said the Tanejas' attorney, Dean Papas of Gray Robinson in Tampa. "The truth is all he did was take money out of it."

The suit, filed Monday in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, names Trump, SimDag and each of the original individual development partners.

Trump and Kathy Rentas, an attorney representing SimDag, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In the suit, the Tenejas claim the defendants signed a confidentiality agreement "to keep the true relationship between Defendant Trump and the remaining defendants a secret." By doing that, the sellers and Trump violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the suit contends.

In conversations with the Tanejas and in marketing materials, the suit claims, the defendants stated that Trump was a "partner" in the project.

One brochure, for example, featured a statement signed by Trump that said, "I am very proud to partner with SimDag/RoBel in presenting the Trump Tower Tampa," the suit says. Another promotional sheet, entitled "The Partners," featured photos of Patrick Sheppard, Howard Howell, Jody Simon, Robert Lyons, Frank Dagostino – and Trump, according to the suit.

The Tanejas' suit comes on the heels of a judgment issued last month by Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Frank Gomez. He ruled SimDag must pay $587,916 to ADAJA Properties LLC, a Tampa company that purchased two condos. SimDag failed to respond to the suit.

SimDag's attorney, Kathy Rentas of the law firm Becker & Poliakoff, told the Tribune at the time that the response wasn't filed because she didn't know about the suit. She said she planned to ask the judge to set aside the default and vacate the judgment.

Two other buyers also have filed suits against the project, seeking deposits back. Those suits are pending.

The $300 million Trump Tower was announced in early 2005 as a luxury 52-story high-rise on the Hillsborough River downtown. The project never went vertical. The developer struggled to obtain construction financing and ran into trouble with unstable soil beneath the site and rising construction costs.

In May, Trump sued seeking to terminate his licensing agreement with SimDag. That's when Papas, the attorney for the Tanejas, said they discovered the licensing agreement.

The Tanejas put down a 20 percent deposit, or $528,000 on a $2.64 million unit. Half was put in escrow and the rest was available to the developer to use for construction costs. Papas said SimDag has agreed to return the escrow portion of the money – as the original contract mandates – to anyone wanting to drop out of the purchase agreement.

SimDag LLC recently told buyers that it has received a "commitment agreement" for a loan from a New York hedge fund and still wants to build the tower. The company has not said since whether the deal has been signed or not.

Meanwhile, Don Wallace, a Pinellas County resident who says his wife and two partners also put a deposit on a condo, is trying to organize a meeting later this month for buyers to discuss options.

"Yeah, we can get our escrow money back, but that's still a big hit to take," Wallace said, referring to contract provisions which allow the developer to keep half the deposit if a buyer drops out of a contract.

Reporter Carol Gentry contributed to this report. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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