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Letter to the editor

Trump Tower partners fire back

Two file suit claiming the mogul broke a confidentiality pact.

By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 13, 2007

In May, Donald Trump sued his Tampa business partners, accusing them of flubbing construction of Trump Tower Tampa, the luxury condominium high-rise that was supposed to make them all millions of dollars.

On Wednesday, two of those former partners returned fire and 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 back-and-forth 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, to consist 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 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 Wednesday's court filing, 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.

In an interview with the Times Wednesday, Trump wasn't buying that argument.

"Look, SimDag is the developer of the site and we franchised the name to them," Trump said.

Less combative than the corporate tyrant he likes to play on TV, Trump added some parting words: "It's too bad how things turned out."

James Thorner can be reached at thorner@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3313.

[Last modified September 12, 2007, 23:22:01]