The Trump Organization had sought management control of the public waterfront property for 99 years, in exchange for making $10 million in improvements. But it withdrew the offer after a county official recommended that the unsolicited proposal be rejected.
Donald Trump has withdrawn his proposal to take over management of Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne, the public waterfront golf course owned by Miami-Dade County (Fla.), the Miami Herald reported.
The move came after Trump’s bid hit a snag last week when County Commission Chairman Jean Monestime recommended rejecting Trump’s unsolicited proposal. The recommendation was likely to pass at the commission meeting scheduled for May 5th, the Herald reported (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2015/04/29/trumps-proposal-for-crandon-golf-at-key-biscayne-fla-faces-hurdle/)
Ed Russo, a Trump aide heading the effort, notified Monestime of the withdrawal in an e-mail late on Friday, May 1 and asked for the item to be pulled from Tuesday’s agenda, the Herald reported.
“Please let this letter serve to represent a withdrawal of our offer to make multi-million dollar improvements to the Crandon Golf Course, clubhouse and related facilities,” Russo wrote. “Mr. Trump felt that this would be a wonderful development for the community, especially after the rave reviews he received for the rebuilding of Trump National Doral.”
Trump had planned to spend $10 million on upgrades at Crandon —a rehab opponents have said is unnecessary for the well-regarded course—in exchange for a management deal that would give him control of the course for 99 years, the Herald reported. Trump had discussed the idea with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez previously and submitted his proposal last summer. The Herald made the bid public in February. (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2015/02/23/trump-promises-to-turn-crandon-golf-at-key-biscayne-from-terrible-to-world-class/)
Monestime had the power to make a recommendation after Gimenez recused himself from the matter because his son is a lawyer and registered lobbyist for Trump in Doral, the Herald reported.
Russo told the Herald that Monestime’s recommendation did not come as a surprise.
“I talked to Chairman Monestime several times during this process, and the county appears to want to establish their own RFP (request for proposals) regarding the improvement at Crandon,” Russo said. “It may work out better. It may be a better process.”’
Monestime’s office had not commented on the possibility of public solicitation for an operator for Crandon, the Herald reported.
Such a change would need more than a public bid and county approval, the Herald reported. Due to an agreement with the Matheson family that once owned the land, family member Bruce Matheson has authority over park decisions. Matheson recently questioned why the park needed to be revamped, citing a recent ranking of local golf course by the South Florida Business Journal. In those rankings, the Herald reported, Crandon came in third, with the rest of the top five slots filled by Trump courses.
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