Did Trump Build Trump SoHo? The Tower Behind the Dominick Hotel at 246 Spring Street

By Solomon Rokowsky

The tower at 246 Spring Street, seen from Spring Street. Photograph by Beyond My Ken, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The answer is no. Donald Trump did not build Trump SoHo. The 46-story glass tower at 246 Spring Street was developed by Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization, who bought the site and brought Trump in, in the words of a 2007 Real Deal profile, for “star power.” Trump's company licensed the name and ran marketing and operations. The tower opened in 2010, lost the Trump name in December 2017, and is now the Dominick hotel. A sale in October 2025 points to another change of name, covered below.

Who actually built Trump SoHo?

The Real Deal reported in October 2007 that Bayrock Group, whose managing partner was Julius Schwarz, and the Sapir Organization bought the 25,000-square-foot site at 246 Spring Street in September 2005 for $72 million. It had been a parking lot. The same article says Trump was brought into the project for his name.

A press release from May 2010 calls the project a joint venture of Sapir, Bayrock and a Trump Organization affiliate. The Real Deal wrote in March 2010 that the project was a joint development of Bayrock and Sapir, with the Trump Organization handling marketing and operations. The two descriptions differ on whether a Trump affiliate was an owner or only an operator. Either way, the sources agree on the main point: the developers were Bayrock and Sapir, and Trump's company was a partner or manager, not the builder.

The lot at 246 Spring Street, June 2006. Photograph by TonyTheTiger, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Who designed it?

The 2010 press release says the tower was designed by Handel Architects and describes it as a 46-story silver-glass building. The interiors were by the Rockwell Group, which David Rockwell leads. At opening, the hotel's restaurants and amenities included Quattro, a spa, Bar d'Eau and Kastel The 2010 release does not say which of them still operate.

Trump SoHo under construction, January 2008. Photograph by Anonitect, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Why did construction take so long?

The Real Deal's March 2010 article says the project was delayed by zoning lawsuits and by a fatal crane collapse in 2008. The website 6sqft, writing in 2017, describes instead a worker who fell 42 stories. These are different accounts of a death at the site, and this article cannot say whether they describe the same event. Two other points from 6sqft are worth noting. A hidden burial ground belonging to an abolitionist church was found during construction, and a 2011 investigation into the project's condo sales was dropped.

6sqft also repeats a claim about Russian oligarchs and the project's money. This article does not use it, because the source offers no evidence for it.

The Spring Street entrance when the building carried the Trump SoHo name. Photograph by Beyond My Ken, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

When did Trump SoHo open, and how many units does it have?

The Real Deal and the 2010 press release say the building officially opened on April 9, 2010, with closings on condo units following. Commercial Observer, reporting on the 2025 sale, says it was built in 2011. The sources disagree on the year and this article follows the opening date given by the 2010 sources.

The unit count also varies. The Real Deal and Bloomberg say 391 units. Cain, the buyer in 2025, and Commercial Observer say 390 rooms. The sources do not explain the difference between units and rooms.

Why was Trump SoHo a condo hotel, and what did the zoning allow?

Julius Schwarz of Bayrock told The Real Deal in 2007 that the plan was a hotel-condominium from the start. He said New York had never had an all-condo hotel, and called the structure “a financing mechanism,” because lenders would not underwrite a straight luxury hotel. The site, he said, was in a manufacturing area where residential buildings were not allowed but a transient hotel was. After negotiations with the Department of Buildings, the developers agreed to a restrictive declaration that lets owners buy units but bars them from occupying a unit more than 29 days in any 36-day period, or more than 120 days a year.

Schwarz also said the developers bought air rights soon after buying the land, both to build higher and to keep neighbors from building higher. The Real Deal said the tower would be the tallest structure between Lower Manhattan and Madison Square Park. Prices at the 2007 sales launch were about $3,000 a square foot, which the magazine said put a 422-square-foot studio above $1.25 million. Trump told the crowd he wanted to thank the protesters outside for helping the project, which had 3,200 names on its waiting list. In December 2009, according to the 2010 Real Deal article, Trump won a legal fight against the SoHo Alliance, a community group that had challenged the right to build a transient hotel there, and the group appealed to the Board of Standards and Appeals.

Why did Trump SoHo become the Dominick?

The restaurant Koi closed in April 2017. On December 20 and 21, 2017, the hotel was renamed the Dominick, according to 6sqft. The owner at that point was CIM Group, which, according to The Real Deal, got the property through foreclosure. Bloomberg reported in February 2019 that the owners paid fees to end the Trump license. The same article reported that the lobby kept its travertine-and-gold look, that the main restaurant had closed long before because of slow business, and that business improved after the rename: revenue per available room rose more than 20 percent from a year earlier, the average nightly rate rose $51, and the hotel booked 7,000 more room nights in 2018 than in 2017. Bloomberg called it a 391-room, 46-story hotel.

The tower after the rename, as the Dominick hotel. Photograph by Kidfly182, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.

What is it called now?

Cain International announced on October 14, 2025 that it had bought the Dominick. Commercial Observer and The Real Deal put the price at about $175 million, while one other account says $170.3 million. Cain's release and an Ennismore document describe plans to rebrand the hotel as Delano SoHo New York with Ennismore. When this article was checked, the hotel's own website still used the name the Dominick. A rebrand may be under way, so check the hotel's website for the name currently in use.

Where can you eat or drink at the Dominick?

The hotel's website lists several places. Mezzanine is a contemporary American restaurant on the second floor of the hotel, according to its site. El Ta'Koy is described on the dining page as closed for the season, while the El Ta'Koy page itself lists hours of Monday to Sunday, 8 AM to 10:30 PM. Both statements appear on the official site at the same time, so this article cannot say whether it is open today. Café Mezz is listed with hours of Sunday to Wednesday, 3 PM to 10:30 PM, and Thursday to Saturday, 3 PM to 12 AM. In-room dining is listed with breakfast from 6:30 AM to 11:30 AM and all-day service from 11:30 AM to 10:30 PM. Hours and openings change, and the hotel may rename its venues if the rebrand goes ahead, so confirm with the hotel before you go.

Who owns the Dominick today?

According to Cain's October 14, 2025 release, Cain acquired the hotel. The sources read do not say whether any units are held by individual owners, so this article does not describe that.

Sources

• The Real Deal, Trumping the SoHo Skyline (October 2007)
• The Real Deal, Trump SoHo gets official April 9 opening date (March 18, 2010)
• PR Newswire, Trump SoHo New York to Begin Closings (May 2010)
• 6sqft, In the middle of the night, Trump SoHo gets rebranded as the Dominick Hotel (December 2017)
• Bloomberg, Trump SoHo hotel was struggling, then it changed its name (February 27, 2019)
• Cain International, Cain acquires the Dominick Hotel (October 14, 2025)
• Commercial Observer, Cain buys the Dominick (October 2025)
• The Real Deal, Two luxury Manhattan hotels trade (October 14, 2025)
• The Dominick, Dining
• The Dominick, Café Mezz