Missing Bench May Cost Trump Tower $10,000 (Updated)

Pictured: Trump Tower. Image via Google Maps.

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the owner of 5th Avenue's Trump Tower — the campaign headquarters and home of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — may lose $10,000 because of a bench.

According to city zoning rules, the lobby of Trump Tower is public space (or as its technically known, privately owned public space) meaning it must be used for the public's benefit.

As DNAinfo previously reported, years ago, the company replaced two large benches in the lobby with merchandise kiosks selling Trump-branded apparel and mementos. (Earlier this year, they also stocked "Make America Great Again" campaign hats.)

But because those kiosks were for private, not public, benefit, they violated the lobby's zoning rules. The issue remained unresolved for years, but returned to the city's focus last year following an inspection by the Department of Buildings (DOB).

Earlier this year, Trump Tower paid a $4,000 fine for the kiosks and removed them. But they never put back one of the missing benches, as required by the law, resulting in another violation.

“The building owner has provided no proof that the required bench has been replaced," DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky explained Thursday.

A hearing on the matter was set for June 23 at the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), which handles such matters.

But OATH spokeswoman Marisa Senigo confirmed that Trump representatives never showed. The mandatory fine for missing an OATH hearing, she confirmed, is $10,000.

Trump spokesman Michael Cohen attributed the skipped session to "a scheduling error."

"Upon receipt of the notice of default, a rehearing will be immediately sought where evidence of compliance will be demonstrated," Cohen said.

Senigo said Trump Tower has 45 days to reschedule the hearing, at which time it can dispute both the original bench violation and its additional penalty. If it does so and wins a judgement in its favor, Senigo said, both violations will be wiped from the books. But if the company takes no action, its $10,000 OATH penalty will be referred to civil court.

The DOB has also promised to be vigilant.

"Our enforcement actions will continue until the owner upholds their agreement with the city," Rudansky said.