In all the years with the project and on this forum, this is the first I've heard of purchasing the National Club. To the best of my knowledge, that was never nor has ever been in the plans. We have much respect for the National Club and they have been very gracious hosts for many of our events over the years.
Regarding sales, I keep hearing about poor sales... that's been the story from the beginning. Yet, we sold... and sold... and sold.... and sold enough to get the building financed and under construction. Many people also said: "it's never going to get built." In fact, many folks on this forum. And here we are, over 40-stories and in the home stretch.
When we made the move to add smaller residential suites to building, it was mainly a result of customer demand. Our largest suites (2200-4000-sq ft.) were in fact some of the first sold in the building. The hotel condominiums were selling very well, but folks also wanted residential suites that were a little bit smaller than the 2200-sq ft. suites we originally started at. They wanted that in-between size. So, we adjusted our design to accomodate. In my opinion, I think we simplly added too many floors of the smaller suites. Unfortunately, that meant increasing from 109 units up to nearly 150 residences on 35 floors... with just four elevators to accomodate. It was a very real problem and one we were hoping our engineers could figure out to make it work--and even then, it meant wait times at the elevator of nearly two minutes--which simply isn't acceptable for a luxury property like this. We couldn't add more elevators--with 15,00-s.f.we didn't have the floor-plate for it, so that wasn't an option.
In the end, I think it also gave us more time to add details to the building that we wouldn't have had time to do prior. The interior design of the property today is far more stunning than it was originally imagined. The hotel and the public areas of the property are especially beautiful. Having visited and stayed at a couple of other Trump properties, I think this building takes the Trump brand up a notch--and that's saying something. For folks who have commented here about business travelers not staying at the property, they will. But we're not talking about the Holiday Inn, Residence Inn, etc., type of business traveler. This an upper end property. And will attract the same level of business travelers who stay at Trump International in NYC and Chicago. Two hotels who have frequently been awarded as the top business hotels in North America. The location of this property is perfect for a business traveler to Toronto. Yorkville is nice, but with so many neighborhoods downtown taking shape and coming into their own, Yorkville isn't the centre of it all anymore. Look at the Film Festival and how it has slowly migrated down to the King St. area with the opening of the Festival Centre. Things change and this city is always evolving. But Bay Street, is and will continue to be the centre of business in the city.
And as we're nearing the completion of the building and a very succesful 2010 for the property, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your enthusiasm and interest in the building over the years. It's been great fun to see all the photos, video and opinions shared--positive and negative! Cheers!
