TIJUANA — Waves crash against a rocky shore while a couple stroll hand in hand on the beach. Poolside, a bartender is mixing up a batch of margaritas.
Then comes Donald Trump, smooth and confident, singing the praises of the new Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico north of Rosarito Beach, an area he touts as "the next Cabo."
"I'm very proud of the fact that when I build, I have investors that follow me all over," he says in the eight-minute marketing video produced for potential buyers. "They invest in me. They invest in what I build, and that's why I'm so excited about Trump Ocean Resort.
"This is going to be something very, very special."
So special that 80% of the first phase sold within hours in a 2006 presale. Many of the buyers were Southern California residents looking for affordable oceanfront vacation property.
But three years later, the only progress is a gigantic hole in the ground and a heap of dirt.
Instead of a 525-unit luxury vacation home complex with pools and tennis courts, this project is shaping up to be a legal battle of Trump proportions.
Dozens of angry buyers have sued Trump for failing to complete the project. He, in turn, sued the Los Angeles-based builders, saying he had only lent his name to the project, and it was the developers who allowed the project to fail.
To the buyers, the heart of the dispute is this: If Trump is identified as a project's builder, is he liable if the actual builder fails?
Yes, says Hamed Hoshyarsar, a Northridge accountant who bought one of the units.
"That's the reason why we went with this project: Trump's name was on it," said Hoshyarsar, 30. "If we would have known he just licensed his name and he wasn't the developer, then we wouldn't have bought it."
Now he changes the channel when Trump appears on television.
"I can't believe a person with the reputation of Donald Trump and all that he represents on 'The Apprentice,' that he let this happen to us," Hoshyarsar said. "It's unbelievable."
Trump said in an interview that sales contracts made it clear that he was not the developer. He said he licensed his name because the developer had a "good reputation" and had been a reliable partner in a similar project on Waikiki Beach.
"The documents state very clearly that we were not the developer," Trump said. "We're looking into the whole situation, because it doesn't make me happier than it makes them. I don't like to see people lose money."
