Trump Soho Hotel Parts Ways With President's Organization

SOHO, NY — The Trump Organization is being bought out of its management contract at the Trump Soho, the high-end Manhattan hotel that's faced a dip in revenue since its namesake was elected president, the company announced on Wednesday.

The Trump Soho at 246 Spring St. will no longer be run by the Trump Organization. Like many of its hotels, it was managed by and named after the Trump Organization but not owned by the company outright.

The company said on Wednesday that it would be bought out of the remaining term of its management and license agreement. The real estate company the CIM Group is the majority owner of the property.

The Trump Organization said the transition would be complete by the end of the year, though details about the buyout were not immediately available. The New York Times was first to report news of the Trump Organization's departure on Wednesday. The newspaper said the CIM Group was paying the Trump Organization to end the contract early. The price of the buyout was unclear.

The 7-year-old hotel, which stands 46-stories tall, has seen a dip in business since Donald Trump was elected president last year. Koi, a sushi restaurant located within the Trump Soho, shut its doors in June after it reported a drop in business after the election.

"Before Trump won we were doing great. There were a lot of people we had, our regulars, who'd go to the hotel but are not affiliated with Trump," a busser and host at the restaurant said earlier this year.

The hotel itself has seen fewer bookings and reservations since November 2016, according to multiple reports. WNYC reported in May that bookings for corporate events the Trump Soho had decreased, as had room reservations.

The property has also also faced scrutiny over the business dealings of Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. In 2010, the Manhattan district attorney's office investigated claims that the siblings had misled prospective buyers of condominium units at the Trump Soho. The case was eventually dropped, with no criminal charges filed, after Trump's longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz donated $25,000 to the re-election campaign of district attorney Cy Vance, according to a joint report from ProPublica and WNYC in October. Vance has denied that the donation affected his prosecutorial decision.

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch.

The Trump Soho is not the first of Trump's real-estate properties to change management since the U.S. presidential elections. The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto has been renamed after the Trump Organization was bought out in July.

Image credit: Drew Angerer / Staff / Getty Images News