'There is chaos in this building.' A debate over Trump's brand divides Connecticut tower residents.

Residents of the Trump Parc building in Stamford, Conn., will vote Tuesday on a new condominium board. Residents of the Trump Parc building in Stamford, Conn., will vote Tuesday on a new condominium board. Photo: Photo By Bryan Anselm For The Washington Post. Photo: Photo By Bryan Anselm For The Washington Post. Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close 'There is chaos in this building.' A debate over Trump's brand divides Connecticut tower residents. 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD, Conn. - The latest bellwether election testing President Donald Trump's popularity is playing out here largely in secret, inside the city's tallest building.

Among the voters: a billionaire in the penthouse whose wife is in Trump's Cabinet and residents on floors below who want to crowbar the president's name off the Trump Parc Stamford.

The "Trump" brand has already been stripped off buildings in Toronto, Manhattan and Panama since the president's election, chipping away at the reach of his real estate empire.

Taking it down in Stamford would be especially awkward because the resident who owns Trump Parc's priciest condominium is Trump friend and professional-wrestling mogul Vince McMahon - the husband of Linda McMahon, who heads the U.S. Small Business Administration.

So Tuesday's vote to elect a new homeowners board that will govern the 34-story glass tower - a body that could lead a fight to take off Trump's name - is anything but the typical humdrum condo-board affair.

The turbulence at Trump Parc has been driven not only by discontent with the Trump company's management of the building but also by the fact that some residents believe the affiliation with the president is hurting the value of their condos.

"A lot of people are unhappy," said Saul Cohen, a retired businessman who lives on the 21st floor. "There is chaos in this building. It's kind of a reflection of what is going on in Washington."

The president's son Eric Trump, who helps run his company, has personally waded in, visiting the building late last year as disgruntlement over the Trump company's management grew. He recently invited the current condo board members to Trump Tower in Manhattan and pledged new resources to help update the building's look.

In an email to The Washington Post, Eric Trump said improvements are in the works. "Our design team is working with the board on an unbelievable hallway renovation," he wrote.

It remains to be seen whether that will quiet the brewing rebellion. In interviews, half a dozen residents said they are waiting to see what the Trump Organization does to improve the building. But several also said that while they welcome cosmetic changes - particularly the riddance of a much-derided patterned blue hallway carpet - that does not address the big issue. Some people don't want any connection to President Trump, they said.

The Trump Organization does not own the 170-unit tower but is paid to manage it and for the use of the Trump name. According to the president's 2017 financial disclosure form, his company earned between $100,000 and $1 million in licensing royalties from the Stamford building.

Cohen said that when he and his wife moved in almost a decade ago, the brand was associated with luxury. But he said "Trump" now connotes divisiveness and raises "questions about immorality and ethics."

Tuesday's election is not a direct vote on whether to take down the Trump name, but it will determine how many Trump allies or critics are on the building's governing board. The voters are a diverse group, with Republicans and Democrats and people of various races and religions, as well as voters who are foreign-born.

Some owners are staunchly against any change.

"I love the name. I want to keep it. It's associated with elegance," said Lee Perloff, a retired accountant who lives on the 20th floor. "People are in awe of it when I tell them where I live."

"There are insanely anti-Trump people in the building," he added, noting that other Stamford properties are also selling slowly.

Several board candidates reached by The Post declined to comment for the record. One noted that it was a very sensitive time because of the pending election.

The Trump Organization's history of fighting former partners in court has heightened tensions among Trump Parc condo owners. Company officials declined to comment on what penalties could be levied if the building's board seeks to terminate its contract.

A copy of the original licensing agreement obtained by The Post states that Trump had "the highest reputation" and that the agreement could be terminated only for very limited reasons, including if Trump went bankrupt or "is convicted of a felony in a non-appealable decision."

Tuesday's vote comes as the tax assessments and appraisal values of many units have dropped below what they were before the 2016 election, according to city records. Many real estate agents now de-emphasize the building's name in sales ads, instead touting the address, "1 Broad Street."

The building has been hurt by an overall soft market for high-end housing in Stamford, but several real estate agents said Trump Parc has an extra burden - a shrinking number of people willing to live in a Trump-branded building.

In 2015, 22 units in the building sold for an average price of $1.05 million, according to a Post analysis of city property records. In 2016, there were 20 sales at an average of $914,900. In 2017, there were eight sales averaging $881,563.

Some owners said they would like to sell but fear they would lose money if they put their units on the market now.

In an email to The Post, the Trump Organization said the Stamford tower "has continued to be one of the most sought after luxury buildings in Connecticut and beyond. Our expert management team does an outstanding job of delivering white glove service to all of the wonderful residents and their families."

Vince McMahon's penthouse unit has had a pronounced drop in value. He purchased it for $4.1 million in 2009, drawing attention to Trump Parc as the brand-new building was trying to attract buyers. The price was $1 million above the appraised value that year, according to public records. In 2017, the appraised value of McMahon's unit was down to $1.98 million.

McMahon declined to comment on the amount he paid for the unit or the debate over the Trump name. A spokesperson for Linda McMahon at the Small Business Administration declined to comment.

A longtime Trump friend whose company, WWE, is headquartered in Stamford, Vince McMahon made a fortune staging pro-wrestling extravaganzas. Trump famously appeared in his 2007 "Battle of the Billionaires" fight at WrestleMania, in which the real estate mogul slammed McMahon to the floor and later shaved his head.

Between 2007 and 2009, the McMahons gave $5 million to Trump's charitable foundation. Linda McMahon, a co-founder of WWE, contributed $7.5 million to back Trump's White House run.

Trump was not originally affiliated with the Stamford project, which was called Park Tower in plans filed with the city by its developers. But before it opened in 2009, Trump's company signed on to manage the building.

The Trump Parc name has drawn disdain in this city of 128,000, which has sizable Hispanic, black and Asian populations and is just north of New York City.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, members of the local Muslim community asked the building to drop the Trump affiliation after the then-candidate called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

The move drew support from Gov. Dannel Malloy, D, who called on Trump to waive any financial penalties the residents might incur, the Connecticut Post reported. One of the developers, Thomas Rich, noted at the time that the decision was out of his hands, since the control of the building had shifted to the condo owners.

In the aisles of the Target store behind Trump Parc, and in the booths of Curley's Diner, a few blocks away, the president's building draws sharp reactions.

"Some people cut through the alleyway just to avoid seeing it," said Christian Krog, a University of Connecticut student who recently joined a rally in front of Trump Parc to protest the Trump administration's immigration policies.

The location, he said, attracts critics of Trump who see it as "an avenue to protest and directly express grievances towards the president."

Inside the building, neighbors have been buttonholing condo board candidates in the hallways in recent days, quizzing them about soaring parking fees (a problem unrelated to Trump management) and broaching the most divisive issue - Trump.

Because of the unusual interest in the board election this year, some residents said that, for the first time, they asked who would be counting the paper ballots. They were assured an attorney for the homeowners association will be present at Tuesday's vote.

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The Post's Alice Crites, Jonathan O'Connell and Steven Rich in Washington contributed to this report.