TORONTO -- A Canadian judge on Thursday approved the sale of the Donald Trump-branded Toronto hotel and condo tower to its main debt holder after no other bids were submitted for the troubled building.

Justice GlennHainey of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the $298 million Canadian (US$223 million) "stalking horse" bid from San Diego investment firm JCF Capital ULC.

The Trump Organization had a business relationship with developer Alex Schnaider, a Russian-born billionaire who built the tower, which went into receivership last year. Schnaider's company, Talon International, defaulted on a loan from an Austrian bank, which sold the loan to JCF Capital.

The building was not owned by the U.S. president but his organization licenses its name and operates it.

JCF Capital made it known to the court it was prepared to own the property if no other bidder came forward with an amount in excess of the indebtedness

The 65-story tower in Toronto's financial district opened in 2012 and is and is comprised of 211 hotel rooms and 74 private residences.

The building has also been the target of a lawsuit from individual investors of units who allege they were misled by Trump and Talon. Investors said they were led to believe the residential units, which were to be rented out as part of the hotel, would generate returns ranging from 7.74 per cent to 20.9 per cent, but instead they lost money. A court ruled in favour of the investors last year.