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30 sue Donald Trump for failed tower project

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By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2009

TAMPA - More lawsuits are piling up in the wake of the failed Trump Tower Tampa.

This week, 30 individuals and companies filed a joint suit against The Trump Organization and Donald Trump personally, claiming they were duped into investing millions of dollars in the project in 2005, thinking Trump himself was building the property.

"In truth," the suit claims, Trump "only sold the 'Trump' name to use in inducing buyers to purchase units," in the 52-story tower that would have gone up at 103 Ashley St.

The real developer was SimDag/Robel LLC, something not fully revealed until 2007, and Trump was merely leasing his name to the project, they claim in a suit filed in Thirteenth Judicial Circuit court. That arrangement only became public in May 2007 amid media reports, the suit notes, and Trump himself sued SimDag in May 2007, seeking "millions of dollars in unpaid fees" from his name-leasing arrangement.

An attorney for The Trump Organization said the developer was disclosed.

"Mr. Trump was not the developer of the project, did not enter into contracts with any of the buyers and did not receive deposits from any of the buyers," said Alan Garten, assistant general counsel. "Mr. Trump licensed the use of his name to the developer, Simdag/Robel LLC, to brand the project – no different than any other luxury real estate brand. This was clearly disclosed to the buyers in both the purchase contracts they signed and the property reports they received, each of which expressly identified Simdag/Robel LLC as the project's developer and seller of the units."

Among the plaintiffs are Deborah and James Frederick of Cocoa Beach, who invested in one unit, and lost $103,300 in the project, most of their life savings, according to officials with Clark & Martino, the law firm involved.

The site remains vacant, as construction never reached above ground level. Besides this lawsuit: Colonial Bank, which financed part of the project, attempted to sell the waterfront downtown Tampa site at a foreclosure auction at the courthouse but ended up buying the land back. The developer, SimDag, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reached a mediated agreement with Trump.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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