UWS Condo Building Removes 'Trump' Name: Reports

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — After a lengthy process that included a legal battle with the Trump Organization, an Upper West Side building is finally removing the Trump name from its facade, according to multiple reports.

Workers were seen removing "Trump Place" from the facade of 200 Riverside Boulevard on Thursday. The removal comes just one day after the condo board informed its residents that a vote resulting in nearly 70 percent of condo owners in favor of ditching the branding, the New York Times first reported.

The condo board at 200 Riverside Boulevard first proposed removing the Trump name in 2017 after condo owners voiced concern about President Donald Trump's unpopularity in New York City and divisive campaign rhetoric, the Times reported. A February 2017 vote resulted in 63 percent of condo owners in favor of the removal, according to the report.

The move kicked off a legal battle between the condo board and the Trump Organization — which is currently run by the president's sons Donald Jr. and Eric. Earlier this year, New York State Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten ruled that 200 Riverside Boulevard was not required to use Trump's name in branding the building.

The 48-story residential building — known as Trump Place — originally entered a licensing deal with Trump in 2000. Unlike many Trump-branded buildings, 200 Riverside is not owned by the Trump Organization. Three of 200 Riverside's neighbors — 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard — removed Trump's name from their buildings in 2016 after more than 600 residents signed a petition saying they were embarrassed to live in a building with Trump's name.

The Trump Organization said in a statement that it was "confident" that an appeals court would overrule Justic Bransten. The statement described Bransten's ruling as "limited to a narrow technical issue of law, for which there is no precedent in New York," in a statement sent to Patch in May. The Oct. 1 appeal deadline came and went with no action taken by Trump's legal team, the Times reported.

The ruling implies that buildings with similar licensing deals with the Trump Organization could follow suit and drop the president's name. Other New York City buildings have also dropped Trump's brand since the Queens real estate heir launched a successful campaign for president. In December of 2017 the Trump SoHo hotel was renamed The Dominick after the Trump Organization was bought out of the business.

Patch's request for comment from a Trump Organization spokesperson was not answered. Patch will update this article if it hears back.

Read the full New York Times article here.

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