Developer pressured to dump Trump

A coalition of religious leaders spearheaded by Norwalk Islamic Center, and some Stamford residents, is calling on developer and condo board of Trump Parc to change the building's name. A coalition of religious leaders spearheaded by Norwalk Islamic Center, and some Stamford residents, is calling on developer and condo board of Trump Parc to change the building's name. Photo: Michael Cummo, Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Michael Cummo, Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Developer pressured to dump Trump 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — A luxury high-rise carrying Donald Trump’s name in Connecticut is turning into a towering controversy.

Members of Fairfield County’s Muslim community and others are urging the developer of Trump Parc, a 35-story monolith in downtown Stamford, to remove the real estate mogul and GOP presidential frontrunner’s name from the building.

They say that Trump’s push to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., should be condemned by the property’s one-time operator, F.D. Rich Co.

But Thomas Rich, the president and chief operating officer of Stamford-based F.D. Rich, said in an email Wednesday that control of the building and its name are out of his hands, having shifted over to the condo owners two years ago. He would not disclose the financial terms of the naming rights deal with the Trump Organization, which he said manages the 170-unit building.

“I can only say that the reason that we entered into a licensing agreement with Donald Trump over nine years ago had solely to do with his name having been synonymous with luxury in the condominium space,” Rich said. “I can also say that the building has a wide cross section of resident owners that represent a variety of races, religious backgrounds and political affiliations.”

The building, which opened in 2009 and is the tallest in Stamford, is part of a vast real estate portfolio monetizing the Trump name. The footprint of Trump’s real estate empire extends from New York City to Rio and from Istanbul to Stamford.

Penalties for renaming

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was Stamford’s mayor when Trump helped break ground on the tower in 2007. On Wednesday, the Democrat called on Trump to waive any financial penalties on real estate owners and developers who decide to drop Trump’s name from their properties.

“Listen, if I lived in a Trump building, I would want the name changed, too,” Malloy told Hearst Connecticut Media. “I had one Trump tie and I got rid of it. If I had the opportunity to use a Trump toilet, I’d take the option to use something else. He should be ashamed of himself.”

Trump’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday.

Farhan Memon, a board member of the Al Madany Islamic Center of Norwalk, sent a petition this week to Rich to drop Trump’s name.

“It’s a toxic brand that represents racism and bigotry and exclusion,” Memon said in an interview.

The petition was signed not just by Muslims, but by multiple people of different faiths, according to Memon, who said his attempts to speak to Rich by phone were unsuccessful.

“When Mr. Trump talks about a blanket ban on Muslims coming to the United States, hey, that means me,” said Memon, who was born in London, raised in Canada and is of Indian descent.

Rich is a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party and hosted Vice President Joe Biden at his home last year to help Malloy’s successful re-election campaign.

At Trump Parc, one-bedroom units currently start at $567,000, with one penthouse previously fetching $4.3 million. Among the building’s notable tenants is Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive and two-time Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. A request for comment was left Wednesday for McMahon.

Mushter Moin, a Muslim from Bangladesh who came to Stamford in 1991, said that if other major companies such as Macy’s and NBC can sever ties with Trump, so can the property’s developer.

“I wouldn’t want my city to be associated with someone like that,” Moin said. “He’s taking himself and the country to a dangerous area. Essentially, he’s preying on people’s biases. He’s pandering to it.”

Trump is known to command millions for the use of his name in real estate projects, which can include steep opt-out clauses.

“I think he owes ... the residents of those buildings the right to change the name without a financial penalty,” Malloy said.

Former Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, a Republican who immigrated to Stamford from Italy, also took part in the ground-breaking with Trump.

“Look, some people love the guy — you look at the national numbers —and some people hate the guy,” Fedele said. “Being an immigrant myself, I think if we start selectively picking nationalities out or religions out, what can that lead to? We all understand what the context of the message is, but the delivery, I don’t think, is appropriate.”

Polarizing politics

Many Republicans have tried to distance themselves from Trump since the tycoon on Monday recommended a closed-door policy for Muslims.

“We have no idea who is coming into our country, no idea if they like us or hate us,” Trump said at a campaign event in South Carolina Monday night. “I wrote something today that is very salient — and probably not very politically correct. But I don’t care.”

Joe Visconti, who ran for governor last year first as a Republican and then as a petition candidate, defended Trump.

“I think Trump will be proved right in the next few weeks and next few months with more terror attacks,” said Visconti, who is from West Hartford. “We’re really fighting Islam as a state, not as a religion. I don’t think he’s a bigot at all.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., panned Trump’s proposal on Twitter Monday.

“A religious bar at our borders violates our Constitution — and our values,” Blumenthal said.

At the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus, which is across from Trump Parc, Haarith Vohra, a Muslim student from Milford, had a negative reaction Wednesday to Trump’s name.

“It’s just, as an American, he’s not really a person you see as a leader,“ Vohra said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy

— Correspondent Liz Skalka contributed to this report.