Call it Skybnb. The Trump SoHo is a glimmering high-rise located at 246 Spring Street in NYC’s famous SoHo neighborhood. It opened in 2010 with an interesting idea: the developers set aside 390 “condo-hotel” apartments for people to buy, with the idea that when the jet-setting buyers weren’t using their apartments, the Trump SoHo could rent them out as hotel rooms–and share the profit with the owners. Like a super high-end Airbnb.
Besides having some tax incentives structured in, the plan was irresistible to developers: why sell something once, when you can sell the same thing over and over? In the end it wasn’t a very appealing deal, reports Jessica Dailey at Curbed. The development’s lender, CIM Group, “is taking control of the building through a foreclosure and will auction off the property.” Fewer than a third of the available condo/hotel apartments sold. Trump’s company is merely the building’s manager, not an investor–Trump continues to make money licensing his name and running the hotel. But the Skybnb model, where you rent out your glamorous room with a view to weary travelers just didn’t work at this level.
