John Robert Wiltgen, of John Robert Wiltgen Design, has done interior design work for several units in the building and said the chatter he’s heard in the building is mixed.
“If they voted for Trump, the name is a positive; if not, it’s a negative,” he said.
Entrepreneur Jack Thompson purchased his unit in the Trump building prior to the election without considering politics. He lives in Dallas but was coming to Chicago frequently for business and staying in the Trump hotel. As he shopped for a condo in the building, he was drawn to one unit because of its Beatle decor in one room. He’s now adding to that design.
“It spoke to me so much and I said I have to have this,” he said. Trump’s politics wasn’t the driver behind his decision to buy in the building, but Thompson figures his investment could be valuable in the future because of the president. “If all the dude does is make China free up their currency, he will go down in history as an important president,” Thompson said.
Ajay Goel, on the other hand, is an entrepreneur at a marketing firm and a renter in the Trump building. He was tempted to leave Trump tower when his lease recently came up for renewal because of the controversy. But he said there were 36 units up for rent — “the highest ever in the building” — giving him the ability to negotiate a steep 7.5 percent decrease for his two-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot condo. The deal was so good, he decided to stay.
“My landlord knows that the value of the Trump brand has eroded,” he said.
Walker has a client who purchased a two-bedroom unit soon after the opening of Trump tower in 2009 “because she loved Trump,” but she’s never lived there and has been renting it out. After raising the rent continually over the years to $8,000 a month, she recently decided to reduce the rent to $7,500 because of the supply of rentals in the building and downtown, Walker said.
The average price of condos for sale in the building, however, does not reflect competitive pressures. In fact, the average sale price was $1.16 million for the last six months compared with $1.08 million during a comparable time last year, Walker said. And owners during the past six months sold their units for 93.7 percent of their list price. During a comparable time last year, it was 91.8 percent.
Lissner said the average sales price per square foot during the last quarter of 2016 was $861, an increase over the $840 during the first two quarters of the year.
Walker said she thinks owners of condos in Trump Tower often do not feel the urgency to sell because they own the units as part-time residences or investments. Yet Wiltgen wonders if some units already are coming onto the market because owners want to sell before the price drops as people move into the newest luxury building, the Wanda Vista tower, which is scheduled to open 2020. For clients seeking luxury, he said, the newest building tends to be the attraction.
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