Trump towers become Bahia Grand

The Trump towers have a new name, “Bahia Grand Panama” which was announced by operators of the former Trump Ocean Club Friday, March 9th, 2018.

Bahia Grand Panama has a website and is expecting reservations, where it also announces that the hotel is “under new management”

Despite the new name, the Trump Organization has not yet admitted defeat. Lawyers of the Trump Organization in Panama say that they will be taking legal action and move to restore the Trump name on Panama’s luxury hotel. “we will be presenting legal actions seeking to restore the Trump name to the hotel and demand that the temporary administrators post a bond to guarantee payment for any damages done to its clients." Said the Britton and Iglesias, firm in a statement released Friday. 

The Trump Organization reported that they will use the Panamanian justice system to request the removal of the hotel’s sequestration, while the new administration continues to de-trump the hotel, removing all Trump branded items from shampoos to mouthwash. 

While arbitration is ongoing between the Trump Organization and Ithaca Capital, which owns 200 of the hotel’s 369 condo units (a company founded by an Oxford University-educated lawyer, Orestes Fintiklis), the future for the hotel remains unclear and confusing. 

Who is Fintiklis? 

The eccentric business/piano man has some strong ties to Panama. Born in Cyprus and educated in Europe, Fintiklis who is 39-years-old has some big-name friends in Panama, including Hugo Torrijos, great nephew of Gen. Torrijos, Panama’s former military ruler.

With 11-years working in high-end real estate, Fintiklis has rub shoulders with private equity firms like Dolphin Capital Partners, who developed a luxury eco-resort in the Pearl Islands. He has partnered with Panamanians like Guillermo St Malo Eleta, an executive of the Eleta Group and has friends like Alberto Vallarino, a former bank owner and Minister of Economy and Finance. 

During arbitration, Fintiklis hired Morgan & Morgan, a 90-year-old Panamanian law firm, regarded as “the most influential in the country with a dozen offices in Latin America, Europe and Asia.” 

"You put those names together and that’s quite a lineup," explained Bobby Eisenmann, owner of La Prensa and the well known Real Estate development Coronado.