'Lightning rod': Donald Trump's neighbours vote to strip his name from their building

President Donald Trump gestures to supporters in Palm Beach, Florida on January 20. Photo / AP

The residents of a South Florida condo complex want former president Donald Trump's name officially removed from their home following the siege at the US Capitol earlier this month.

The board of the Trump Plaza condominium voted unanimously last week to change the legal name of the 32-storey, twin-tower complex in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The #Trump name has been dumped from a signature West Palm Beach condominium in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. #Capitol, @acloughpbp reports. https://t.co/zGRA9FdJGQ

— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) January 26, 2021

Residents still have to vote on a new name, with submissions due at the end of February.

The complex sits on the Intracoastal Waterway, just a few miles away from the Mar-a-Lago private club on Palm Beach, where Trump is now living. Units at Trump Plaza start around US$1 million and top out at over US$4m (NZ$1.3m-5.5m).

Signs with Trump's name have been gone for months, and legally changing the name will sever the final connection to the former president.

"The Trump brand is damaged, so rebranding the complex is a wise move," said Burt Minkoff, a Palm Beach real estate agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Trump Plaza signs on the roofs were removed in 2017 as part of a renovation, and residents voted last February not to replace them. Trump Plaza signs at street level were removed in June in the wake of protests against police violence following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Trump Plaza is just a few miles from Mar-a-Lago, where Donald Trump now lives. Photo / AP

Minkoff said the Trump name had been a problem for a while, but the January 6 attack on the Capitol made it "a real lightning rod".

Trump had told supporters shortly before the attack to march on the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Electoral College votes that declared President Joe Biden the winner of the November general election.

Some real estate agents have already been mentioning on listings that the building is no longer owned by Trump.

It actually hasn't been since 1991, when Trump handed the complex over to lenders. He had borrowed millions to buy the complex several years earlier but struggled to sell units amid an economic downturn.