Trump International Golf Club, which leases public land in West Palm Beach, Florida, is requesting rent relief from Palm Beach County after COVID-19 forced President Donald Trump’s resort to temporarily close.
Ed Raymundo, the director of finance at the resort, sent a letter to the county’s real estate director Ross Hering on June 5 claiming that the mandated closure of the golf club, which pays the county $88,338 per month, in March caused a “significant impact” on the resort’s operations.
Therefore, Raymundo wrote, the club requests an “abatement of annual rent on a day for day basis.” He did not specify how much of a rent reduction Trump’s resort, which reopened in early May, seeks.
According to the Palm Beach Post, which first reported the news Tuesday evening, county officials have not responded Raymundo’s request. The Palm Beach County Commission, which approves rent deferrals, has allowed other tenants to defer payments amid COVID-19.
Trump International Hotel, the President’s hotel in Washington, D.C. that is also on public land, made a similar request to the General Services Administration (GSA) in April regarding its lease, claiming that the property had taken a financial hit from the outbreak.
“Can I get that for less?” is the first line in a price negotiation.
“No.” is the correct answer if you have pricing power.
“I always f–k the counties where I build stuff. I just cheat 'em like it’s nothing, then f–k 'em at the end. They let you do it when you’re Current Occupant.”
This is exactly how I would expect a business to behave. On the surface, such a request is reasonble.
But when the business is owned by the president of the United States–and no business should be–I’d expect that they’d pay a little attention to appearances, and back off. I mean, the county’s revenues will have been hit hard by the lockdown, too.
The eviction sale is going to be lit!
My suggestion would be that the county should end the lease.