by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 1:47 PM ET, Tue November 28, 2017
Wallowing in a damaging downturn, the owners of a Trump International Hotel in Panama say they'd like the U.S. president's name stripped from the building.
The same group is also seeking to oust the Trump family's hotel management company, which operates the lavish 70-story waterfront building, Associated Press reported.
The move comes amid the building's struggles with sagging occupancy rates.
"They were given 30 days to cure," Jeffrey Rabiea, a New York businessman and owner of three units in the building, told the Associated Press.
Trump Organization officials confirmed the effort to remove the president's name from the Panama property and to sever ties with the Trump management company.
A statement issued by the Trump Organization described the action as a contract violation.
"Not only do we have a valid, binding and enforceable long-term management agreement, but any suggestion that the hotel is not performing to expectations is belied by the actual facts," the Trump Organization said in a statement reported by Associated Press.
The building's property owners had previously paid at least $32 million to be associated with Trump's brand.
Up until just a few months ago, owners at the 369-unit building did not have enough votes to control management aspects of the property, according to various reports. However, in August, the Miami based investment firm Ithaca Capital Partners purchased 202 condos, a conference center and restaurants in the property, thereby gaining a voting majority.
Just two months later, Ithaca announced a plan to remove the Trump Organization's directors from the hotel board and eliminate the U.S. President's overall presence at the property.
Despite the Trump Organization's claim that the property is doing just fine, owners say occupancy is so low they're not able to even cover maintenance costs. Ithaca has begun a search for a new company to operate the hote, one that would provide the building a different name and brand.
One owner, who purchased a unit in the building as an investment, said Trump has alienated Latinos and that has impacted the value of the condominiums.
"I bought there because I thought Trump's name made it a safe investment," Al Monstavicius, a retired doctor, told Associated Press. "But Latinos are a real problem for him in Panama."
Monstavicius, whose penthouse hotel suite has dropped to 30 percent occupancy over the past few months, voiced support for Trump's removal from the building.
The bad feelings are not a new development among the building's property owners. As early as October 2015, the owners dismissed Trump's manager for mismanagement of the property, according to Newsweek.
The Panama building's effort to remove the name is part of a growing trend amid hotels the president is associated with. Just days ago Trump SoHo hotel in New York paid to get Trump's name off the property. Earlier this year a hotel in Toronto also removed the U.S. president's name.
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