The furies unleashed by Donald Trump’s rise to the U.S. presidency are shaking Vancouver, where a gleaming new Trump International Hotel and Tower is about to open.
The mayor wants its name changed. A city councilman calls it “over the top, glitz and glamor” that clashes with Canadian values. And the property developer who built it sounds traumatized by the whole affair.
The 69-story building designed by one of Canada’s most renowned architects has drawn praise for its sleek, twisting design. Prices for the condominiums have set records.
But Trump’s politics, especially his criticism of immigrants, has caused such outrage that the mayor won’t attend the grand opening next week. Even the Malaysian developer has had second thoughts about the partnership.
Joo Kim Tiah, who, like the U.S. president, is the son of a prominent businessman who got into global real estate, said he found it “extremely stressful” when Trump’s statements about Muslims, Mexicans and women, among other things, made him extremely unpopular in Vancouver, one of the world’s most diverse and progressive cities. Unfortunately, it was well after he signed the licensing deal to use the Trump brand.
“I was terrified,” Joo Kim of Holborn Development told The Associated Press. “The people who ran the city were not happy with me. I was scared, but I think they understand. They understand that I’m trapped into — not trapped, locked into — an agreement.”
The developer said he would have had no legal grounds to back out of the licensing deal, the terms of which have not been publicly released. “There would be severe legal implications,” he said.
The hotel and residence will have its grand opening on Tuesday, with Trump sons Donald Jr. and Eric in attendance.
Located along an upscale six-lane downtown thoroughfare, the tower is the second-tallest in Vancouver and offers majestic mountain and ocean views.
The Canadian project has generated much more debate, however, because of its location in a place that prides itself on multiculturalism. Forty-eight per cent of Vancouver’s residents are foreign born.
Mayor Gregor Robertson, among others, has urged the developer to drop the Trump name. “Trump’s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world,” he said in a letter.
City councilman Kerry Jang said the tower, which he calls a “beacon of racism … intolerance, sexism and bullying,” is out of place not just because of the views of the person whose name adorns it but for a style that he said clashes with low-key Canada. “It represents a brand that’s over the top, glitz and glamor,” Jang said. “It’s not our thing. ”
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark also said the Trump name doesn’t represent the values of a city that is known for its support of environmental causes and open drug policies.
Donald Trump Jr. brushed off his father’s Vancouver detractors in an interview with CTV television last year, calling them “ridiculous” and “disgusting.”
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