Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Scotsman reports:
In what would be one of the most ambitious and expensive foreign projects undertaken by Donald Trump’s family business since he assumed the presidency, his company has commissioned a detailed masterplan to develop as many as 225 properties, as well as leisure facilities and shops, on an expanse of rolling farmland adjacent to Turnberry’s lauded Ailsa course, a four-time host of golf’s Open Championship.
Given the Trump Organisation has yet to formally submit a planning application, it has not announced the project or publicised its intentions. But Scotland on Sunday has obtained a series of documents prepared on its behalf by an architectural practice and one of the nation’s leading planning lawyers. Together, they spell out the company’s grand ambitions for the 114 year old resort, arguably the most prestigious of all Trump’s properties.
And where’s all this money coming from?
EXCL The Trump Org is planning a new “world class coastal retreat” in Scotland. It says it’ll meet growing demand for “investment opportunities” & mark its entry into the retirement property market. But there are Qs over the development & Trump’s finances. https://t.co/hAgZrgYTT5
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020
Here’s a thread, with pics by my colleague @2point8_photos, spelling out some of the issues in play. The most obvious one is that this retreat, if approved, would represent one of the most ambitious and expensive projects undertaken by Trump’s firm since he became president. pic.twitter.com/qZAlPmUWtx
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020
It would also offer an unprecedented opportunity for individuals, investors & companies to buy into Trump Org’s vision of hundreds of properties peppering a picturesque part of Scotland’s west coast – further stoking tensions between Trump’s private interests & his public office
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020
The coastal retreat would comprise swaths of private homes, retirement villas, holiday homes available to buy or rent, luxury apartments, and rental cottages, all sited on farmland adjacent to Turnberry’s Aisla course – his most prestigious overseas asset. pic.twitter.com/2Bt8WlimVh
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020
Since Trump bought it in 2014, Turnberry’s incurred losses of £42m+. It’s reliant on £114m+ in loans from a NY revocable trust he set up. Yet Trump Org seems determined to spend more £££ on an asset which stubbornly refuses to turn a profit. It is an interesting business plan.
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020
.@patrickharvie, one of Trump’s arch critics in Scotland, told me: “[Trump’s] personal finances have never been transparent … rather than letting him help himself to another piece of Scotland’s tourism industry, we should be going to court to seek an Unobtained Wealth Order”
— Martyn McLaughlin (@MartynMcL) July 11, 2020