TAMPA - Even a power name like Trump may not be enough to save a luxury condo project in Tampa's sluggish downtown real estate market.

It takes money. Money from lenders. Money from buyers.

In the end, SimDag LLC, the local developer trying to build Trump Tower Tampa, couldn't come up with enough from either source, and Donald Trump now says he wants to terminate his contract with the developer and pull his name off the building.

'How many chances could I give' SimDag? Trump asked The Tampa Tribune in a telephone interview Wednesday. Trump filed a lawsuit Friday seeking more than $1 million in unpaid fees from the developer.

So the question is: Does it matter now who tries to build the project?

Trump's lawsuit, combined with a slow market flooded with new condos, could make it difficult for any condo developer to build there for a while, real estate and banking experts say.

'In this real estate downturn, Tampa has been one of the hardest-hit markets in Florida,' said Jack McCabe, of McCabe Research Consulting in Deerfield Beach. 'And any time you have a negative stigma like this site has, it takes some time before people are willing to overlook it.'

Trump said Wednesday that the project should have been a success and he'd like to see a condo tower on the site eventually. He said he'd still like to be involved, if the price is right.

'I think that's the best site in Tampa,' he said. 'The market isn't as good in Tampa as in other cities, but this is the best time to start planning a project because it may be a good market again when you're ready.'

SimDag, through a spokesman, declined comment.

The $300 million, 52-story Trump Tower Tampa was announced for a site at 111 S. Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in early January 2005, at time when Tampa's condo market was coming alive. Developers were proposing new projects every month. If any of them would make it, experts said at the time, it would be the one bearing Trump's name.

The Trump name was so valuable to SimDag that the company agreed to pay $2.8 million and turn over 50 percent of the profit on the 190 condos that were selling for $700,000 to more than $6 million, court documents show.

However, the developer ran into problems with unstable ground, rising construction costs, and buyers dropping out.

The contract with Trump required SimDag to start building by April 27, 2006, and to have sold at least 70 percent of the condo units by April 27 of this year.

Even during the condo frenzy when the Trump tower was announced, lenders typically required developers to sell a set amount of units before getting financing. In the current market, however, some lenders require close to 100 percent sales. Now many lenders aren't lending for condo towers at all.

National City Mortgage, which is involved in several condo towers in downtown Florida cities, has stopped partnering on others for now, said Paul Ramos, state manager for the company.

'Banks may still lend on condo projects, but they want to know what your market is going to be,' Ramos said, noting that his mortgage division still works with individual condo buyers but limits the number of units it will finance in each condo project.

Mike Larson, a Jupiter-based real estate analyst with Weiss Research, has watched the Trump project in Tampa closely. He said he thinks the site will sit empty for at least a year before new plans emerge.

'I think it's fair to say the timing is just off and the developers have missed the boat,' Larson said. 'Any builder will tell you they have some feature, or in this case the Trump name, but it comes down to demand. If you didn't have your project already in the pipeline a few years ago with the whole thing lined up, it's likely not to get built now.'

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or

sbehnken@tampatrib.com.