It looks like Donald Trump will get to build his 45-story Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium at 246 Spring Street. Though the city hasn't officially issued construction permits, the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation heard from city officials that the hotel would be allowed, and made its grievances known.
The Trump SoHo would be part hotel, where owners only stay there for a certain number of days during the year and the apartments/rooms are rented out (like a hotel) during the other part. Thus it is a transient hotel, a convenient loophole in an area that isn't zoned for residential. Community groups opposing the project gave the Sun some good zingers:
"How can you say someplace where the owner of the room can stay there for 150 days a year is a transient hotel? Either they are totally disingenuous, or they have their heads in the sand on this one." - Andrew Berman of the GVSHP
"When Trump comes downtown, that's when its time to leave,. We don't want his tacky buildings down here. Donald Trump is an uptown guy." - Sean Sweeney of the SoHo Alliance
Politicians are looking to restrict the maximum number of days an owner can stay; the Villager reports one proposal is owners can live there for 29-30 days, must leave for 5-10 days before returning, maxing out at 90-150 days a year. But Berman says that it's hard to enforce the number of days owners are present, and says, "We feel the city is using the restrictive declaration to shield itself from a legal challenge."
Here's the Trump SoHo website. When the project was announced months ago, Donald Trump Jr told the Post, "You're going to get incredible 360-degree views from about the 12th floor up. They're almost like the views in Jersey City of Manhattan, but you're still in New York."
