Trumping

Auctions Verboten

Sept 22, 2013 snippet from Kim Magi of TheStar.com (full story here)

A unit in Toronto’s troubled Trump Hotel up for auction Sunday only received one bid and below the minimum offer.

Kashif Khan, managing director of Toronto-based Ritchies Auctioneers, said the $550,000 bid will be taken to the owner of the unit."

“At that price, we can’t close the deal . . . but we will be presenting the offer to the seller,” he said. “We don’t know (if he will accept) — crazy things happen.”

The owner of the unit, a local real estate broker, commissioned Ritchies weeks ago to sell the suite at a 30 per cent or more discount after seeing about a dozen other units in the hotel stalled on MLS for months. A similar unit in the tower, located on the corner of Bay and Adelaide Sts., is currently listed by developer Talon International at $1.6 million.

Earlier this week, a number of people expected to make an offer on the 950-sq-ft hotel suite, but Khan said the last-minute location change of the auction saw their anticipated number drop by two-thirds.

The auction was supposed to take place in the hotel’s ballroom, but Trump executives said they didn’t want a sale of a unit in the building to happen on site.

Gazundering rules were first reported here. Auctions are now  
verboten.

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