Toronto’s Trump tower to drop name

One of the most recognizable and embattled names on Toronto’s skyline will soon be gone, after the new owners of the Trump International Hotel and Tower reached a deal with the company that bears the U.S. president’s name.

JCF Capital ULC will buy out Trump Hotels’ management contract allowing them to remove the president’s name from the Bay St. tower, a move one Toronto realtor called “long overdue.”

“Trump Tower . . . is a running joke in real estate, it’s synonymous with probably the biggest real estate failure in the city in recent memory,” said David Fleming, a Toronto realtor with Bosley Real Estate Ltd.

JCF Capital ULC and Trump Hotels, which never owned the building, announced the agreement Tuesday.

The release did not explain why JCF decided to buy out the Trump Hotels management contract.

The project has been shrouded in controversy, which include multiple lawsuits, since opening in 2012.

A name change could help shift the focus to the building’s features, said Marco Chiappetta, a realtor with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, who has listed one of the building’s one bedroom plus den condos for $1.6 million. “Right now the building features probably the nicest finishes in the city and not a lot of people know that,” he said. “A new name will freshen up the brand.”