A tower of controversy

Photo: The Canadian Press

When developer Joo Kim Tiah announced in 2013 that his spiralling skyscraper project in Vancouver would bear Donald Trump's name, the main controversy was whether the glitzy luxury hotel was at odds with the city's reputation as a home of casual yoga-pants-wearing types.

A lot has changed since then.

Vancouver's Trump International Hotel and Tower has transformed into a potent symbol of Trump's candidacy and presidency, observers say. Protests over U.S. policy inevitably end up on its doorstep and provincial and city politicians have said the Trump name doesn't represent Vancouver.

"It's more than a beacon of racism," said Coun. Kerry Jang, who has urged the developer to drop the Trump brand. "It's a beacon of intolerance. It's a beacon of sexism and bullying. That's just not Vancouver."

The $360-million hotel and condominium development, with a unique twisting design by late architect Arthur Erickson, had a soft launch last month. Protests are being planned on social media to greet Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, at the grand opening Feb. 28.

Tiah, the president and CEO of Holborn Group, is the son of one of Malaysia's wealthiest businessmen. The Trump Organization does not own the tower, but licensed its name for branding and marketing, while the Trump Hotel Collection operates the 147-room hotel.

The building's more than 200 condominium units sold out last year, the National Post reported. Tiah told the newspaper in November that the media had a "vendetta" against the U.S. president and rejected suggestions that the Trump brand had taken a hit.

But in Vancouver, known for its multiculturalism and progressive politics, Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric has given the tower an uneasy place in the city's skyline.

After Trump's call in 2015 for a "complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the U.S., a petition urging Holborn Group to dump the Trump name attracted 56,000 signatures. Mayor Gregor Robertson joined the chorus of residents in a passionate letter to Tiah in December 2015.

"Trump's name and brand have no more place on Vancouver's skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world," Robertson wrote.

Tiah was unavailable for an interview, but told the Post that removing the Trump name would have led to "enormous financial and legal ramifications." Talk Shop Media, which handles media relations for the opening of the tower, did not return requests for comment.

Hundreds marched past the tower in a raucous protest after Trump's election in November as well as during last month's Women's March. Someone briefly changed its name to Dump Tower on Google Maps.