In May, Donald Trump sued his Tampa business partners, accusing them of flubbing construction of Trump Tower Tampa, the luxury multifamily condominium high-rise that was supposed to make them all millions of dollars. The St. Petersburg Times now has reported that two of those former partners have sued Trump, accusing the New York tycoon of failing to uphold his end of the bargain. Jody Simon and Robert Lyons, two of the original partners of tower developer SimDag LLC, accused Trump of breaching a confidentiality agreement by going public with the lawsuit.
Reached on Wednesday through his New York office, Trump kept his reaction to the claim made by Simon and Lyons brief: "We'll see."
The legal battle comes at a sensitive time for Trump and SimDag. Both parties are negotiating to see if they can salvage construction of the $300-million, 52-story skyscraper that has been delayed for two years. The project of 190 condos costing between $700,000 and $6-million, was supposed to be the deal that transformed downtown Tampa into a center of luxury multifamily living.
But SimDag has struggled to find financing in the sluggish housing market. In late August, SimDag president Frank Dagostino said he was pursuing last-ditch financing with a New York hedge fund, a deal contingent upon Trump dropping his lawsuit. Trump contends SimDag breached its original licensing agreement with him by missing its construction deadline and failing to pay $1-million in fees for the use of his name.
But in the latest court filings, Lyons and Simon suggested Trump shared blame. Trump's lawsuit said SimDag had "sole and exclusive responsibility" for designing, marketing and building the project. Lyons and Simon argued Trump had "significant review and approval" over design, construction and marketing. Trump disagrees.
On the project’s website, the developers apologized to unit buyers stating that “there are several dynamics involved with this deal that have delayed our [financing] commitment letter. One of these issues was our lawsuit with the Trump Organization.”
Source: St. Petersburg Times