Having upped sticks to New Jersey for the summer, as he does every year, Donald Trump has been residing at his Bedminister estate until Mar-a-Lago reopens in the fall. A golfing retreat that he bought for a reported $35 million in 2002, the palatial property has a fascinating tale to tell. As Trump prepares to return to the Sunshine State in the coming weeks, click or scroll on to see inside this incredible luxury mansion and discover its secrets, from lawsuits to Secret Service scandals...
After it was snapped up by Trump National Golf Club, the Bedminster estate was transformed into a luxury club and golf course – it opened in 2004, just in time for that year's Fourth of July celebrations. Spread over 600 rolling acres of New Jersey countryside, Bedminster offers no end of world-class amenities. It boasts a 36-hole golf course designed by renowned architects Tom Fazio and Tom Fazio II, a 16-acre practice facility, an indoor golf learning center and even equestrian facilities.
In 2016, NJ.com estimated membership for Trump National Golf Club Bedminster to cost around $300,000 – and it comes with lots of perks. As well as world-class golf, members also have access to a heated swimming pool, eight tennis courts, a basketball court, a state-of-the-art fitness center and even a helipad for flying visits.
Members can also rent one of five luxury cottages or 11 suites during their stay. In 2020, plans were put forward for the construction of five new cottages and the expansion of an existing cottage to the township's land use board, though it's not clear if permission has yet been granted. The renovations have led to speculation that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, could be looking to make Bedminster their home. The estate holds a special place in the couple's heart after they wed within the grounds in 2009.
Not just a corporate venture for Donald Trump, he has also used Bedminster for presidential business too. Just two weeks after his election win in November 2016, he reportedly invited the club's wealthiest members to help him interview candidates for positions in his administration.
Bedminster was the location for his presidential coordination team, and Donald Trump has said it’s an ideal location for coordinating business because it costs less to operate out of than New York. “I have a place there that costs almost nothing because it’s hundreds of acres and security, and they don’t have to close up streets," Trump said during a 2017 Fox News interview about his reasoning for staying at Bedminster. However, Trump's use of private, non-secure locations for official business often caused concerns regarding security on sensitive intelligence and influence in administration.
While Donald Trump pushed hardline immigration policies throughout his presidency, the New York Times reported that the club employed people who were in the country illegally. Though there is no evidence that Trump or the Trump Organization executives knew of the two employees immigration status, Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, said in a statement provided to CNN. "If any employee submitted false documentation in an attempt to circumvent the law, they will be terminated immediately."
Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s stay at his luxurious golf retreat has not been without controversy. On July 07, 2021 Trump held a press conference with executives from the America First Policy Institute to announce a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, Google, and their CEOs, claiming that he was wrongfully censored. The former president was suspended from his social media accounts in January over public safety concerns in the wake of the Capitol riots, led by his supporters. But with the lawsuit deemed "doomed" we can only wait to see what the results may be.
And there's been further controversy, as records released in July 2021 indicate Donald Trump charged the Secret Service nearly $10,200 for its use of guest rooms at his New Jersey golf club in May. The charges totaled $10,199.52 for an 18-day stay – that’s about $566 per night at the resort. The Secret Service also released documents including a “hotel request” form that covered the period from 28 May to 1 July, as well as bills indicating $3,400 worth of resort charges for January, February and early May.
The agency has not disclosed the reason behind those charges, which were placed before Trump’s arrival. The release of these bills come as New York state prosecutors announced criminal charges against the Trump Organization over its business dealings. The company and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg have now been charged with tax-related crimes.
Donald Trump's spending has also made headlines earlier this year. According to reports from The Guardian, Trump billed the Secret Service more than $40,000 of taxpayers' money for accommodation for his own security team detail at Mar-a-Lago. Former presidents are provided with Secret Service protection for life, but not one to play by the books, there are no other examples of past presidents billing the Secret Service such a large amount.
In January the PGA stripped Bedminster of its role as host of the 2022 championship tournament after the violent attack on the US Capitol carried out by the then-president’s supporters. The organization tweeted: “Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster,” PGA CEO Seth Waugh told the Associated Press. “The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.” Trump has held multiple campaign events at the Bedminster course over the years, including his appearance at a largely mask-free fundraiser in October 2020 held just hours before he announced his coronavirus diagnosis.
Donald Trump may have donated his $1.6 million salary as president, but that represented just one-tenth of a percent of the money he made while in presidency. During his four-year term in office, Trump reported making between $1.6 and $1.79 billion, with $620 million coming from three of his golf courses in the United States, his Mar-a-Lago resort, and his hotel in Washington. Yet, Trump reportedly paid just $750 in federal income taxes for his first year in office. However, despite this, Trump appears to be less wealthy today than when he took office. According to Forbes the ex-president is currently worth $2.4 billion, reflecting a drop in net worth from $3.1 billion.
Since leaving the White House, the Florida estate has been his permanent home but with the Palm Beach resort closed from May through the summer, when hurricane season and stiflingly hot temperatures rock the region, he has decided to head back to New Jersey. He reportedly intends to move all his business dealings to Bedminister and stay at the golf resort until Mar-a-Lago reopens in the autumn.
Read on to tour the rest of Donald Trump's property portfolio, from his childhood home to Mar-a-Lago, plus more extravagant million-dollar estates...
After a controversial term in power, Donald Trump handed over the White House to the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden. However, before his political career, the billionaire businessman snapped up a whole load of real estate both for personal and business use. From his childhood home to global golf courses and his famed Mar-a-Lago estate, click and scroll to take a look inside Donald Trump's real estate empire...
Born on 14 June 1946, for the first four years of his life, Donald Trump lived in a modest but quaint mock Tudor mansion located in the leafy and upscale Jamaica Estates section of the borough of Queens. After attending the Kew-Forest School, the young teenager was enrolled at the New York Military Academy aged 13.
Trump's childhood home was built in 1940 by the future president's real estate developer father, Fred, who founded The Trump Organization in 1923. Notably normal and unpretentious, this perfect family home has five bathrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, a roomy living room, a dining room and a library. It was last sold in 2017 for $2.1 million.
While there were rumors swirling that Trump wanted to buy his childhood home, The Guardian reported that it was bought by a mystery Chinese investor in 2017 and then listed on Airbnb several months later. Available to rent for $727 a night, the New York Times reported that the house seems to be empty most of the time.
After failing to sell at auction in 2018, the house was put back on the market for $2.9 million in February 2019, but it was mysteriously withdrawn without a sale. In November 2020, a GoFundMe page was set up by Trump fans to purchase the house as a thank you gift for the departing President before he left office in January 2021. The target was to raise $3 million, which is yet to be reached.
After attending the New York Military Academy in 1959, Trump moved to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to study business in 1966. By 1968, at just 22 years old, he joined the family business and began his journey into property development. Since then, Trump has developed real estate, hotels and even golf courses, amassing a business empire thought to be worth $3.1 billion.
After setting his sights on Manhattan, Trump began the construction of Trump Tower in 1979. The 58-story skyscraper, which was previously a department store, houses luxury residential complexes as well as retail spaces, including Donald Trump's personal residence in the penthouse triplex.
Also the home of the Trump Organization's offices, the tower is famous for its all-out luxury décor. The reception area boasts 240 tons of pink white-veined marble while four gold elevators serving visitors only, and a private elevator reserved for members of the Trump family.
Until 2019, Trump Tower was the official main residence for the family. When Donald was elected President, he made the move to the White House in Washington DC, while Melania and Barron stayed on until the teenager could finish school. Still in Trump's possession today, he stays at his penthouse apartment whenever he returns to New York. According to Forbes, the apartment is worth around $64 million, which is around 14% of Trump Tower’s value.
Often hidden behind closed doors, this rare photo shows a glimpse inside the penthouse suite. From the sparkling crystal chandeliers and 24-carat gold embellishments to the plush cream carpets, it shows Trump's penchant for luxury furnishings. Barron is said to have had his own floor of the building when they lived there full time.
Decades before the name Trump was connected to US politics, it was a name that spoke to great wealth and big business. Trump snapped up this mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut for his then-wife, Ivana and their two children, Donald Trump Jr and daughter, Ivanka. He paid a reported $4 million in 1982 to secure a trophy home in one of America's wealthiest towns.
Sitting on nearly six acres of lush green land, the property boasts sweeping views of Long Island Sound. In Trump's signature excessive style, the billionaire decorated the house in rich gold with lavish finishes throughout. A photo of Trump at home in 1987 shows the grand entrance with a double staircase and what looks like a hand-painted wall mural.
Trump can be seen here sitting in one of the reception rooms of the traditional 1930s house. Wood paneling, rich drapes and antiques surround him. According to a real estate agent who told the Wall Street Journal, the subsequent owners chose to remove a lot of gold leaf when they bought it.
When Ivana and Trump divorced in 1992, Ivana got the mansion as part of her settlement, and later when on to sell it for a reported $15 million in 1998. The current owners have been trying to sell the home since 2014 and have taken it on and off the market a number of times, but relisted it in February 2020 for $32 million.
Spread over nearly 20,000 square feet, the eight-bedroom waterfront estate also boasts eight fireplaces, a five-car garage, a plush movie theater and a pool house with a lavish inside swimming pool.
In 1985, after many years of trying to purchase it, Trump bought Mar-a-Lago for $8 million including the estate and all its contents. A bargain price, it was much less than what Mar-a-Lago cost to build, with the estate said to be worth $160 million in 2018 according to Forbes.
In the early 1990s, Mar-a-Lago was transformed into a members' club by Trump. As his empire ran into financial difficulties, Trump restored the mansion and with a view to creating a cash cow by opening it up to fee-paying members. At the wish of Palm Beach Council, and to gain permission for his new project, Trump promised a sensitive restoration. Some of the estate's contents were sold off at auction to make money but were replaced with reproductions, including a jewel-encrusted marble dining table and Louis XIV chests.
In typical Trump style, the restoration costs millions of dollars with a number of lavish additions including two swimming pools, a beauty salon, spa and a 20,000-square-foot ballroom. The Louis XIV-style space has $7 million in gilding and each of the gold basins in the bathroom cost $100,000 a pop.
This fairytale room was the childhood bedroom of Dina Merrill, the previous owner of Mar-a-Lago and was also Ivanka Trump's bedroom. Named the 'Baby House', the décor was said to be inspired by Sleeping Beauty and boasts a silver-plated four-poster bed and an opulent fireplace surrounded by grand rose motifs.
Aside from Trump's private apartments, Mar-a-Lago offers members access to two dining rooms, a beach club, pool and spa and guest suites. In 2017 an Associated Press investigation found that Mar-a-Lago had 78 counts of health code violations in the last three years, which included a range of issues from mold in the ice machine to dirty cutting boards and even chefs serving unsafe seafood to guests.
During his presidency, Trump visited Mar-a-Lago 32 times, spending a total of 142 days there. However, these jaunts didn't come cheap, costing on average $3.4 million each. His trips back and forth are said to have cost $13.6 million in taxpayers' money in 2017.
On 20 January 2021, the Trumps arrived at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida to head to their new official home at Mar-a-Lago. However, his permanent move didn't go down too well with his affluent neighbors according to CBS Miami. In December 2020, they sent a letter to the town council highlighting an agreement from 1993 that stops any club member from staying at the club for more than three weeks in a year.
Since Trump's rocky exit as POTUS, he has also lost all his presidency perks. A helipad, which was installed at Mar-a-Lago with a temporary permit while he was president, has now been removed. It was the only one of its kind on Palm Beach, which has a strict 'no helicopter' rule.
Mar-a-Lago isn't the only extravagant home linked to the Trump's in Florida. This little-known home in the sunshine state is reportedly owned by a company related to Donald Trump and his family. Eric Trump, the third son of Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. ran a limited liability company called 1125 South Ocean LLC. The company snapped up the home in 2018 for just short of $18.3 million from Donald Trump's sister, retired judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
Not long after the family bought the home, it was listed to rent for $100,000 a month on Trump International Realty. The price was soon reduced to $65,000 in 2019, maybe due to the lack of tenants. However, the home was listed for $49 million in March, which will give the family a huge profit from their purchase price.
Old listing images show the traditional décor before Melania got her hands on the interiors. With furnishings and fixtures that needed an upgrade, the public spaces face out onto breathtaking ocean views. This more recent listing shows how the interiors have changed with this room now boasting paneled walls and chic neutral furniture.
The eight-bedroom, eight-and-a-half bathroom home is spread over 10,455 square feet and boasts a whole host of luxury features including sleek marble floors, ocean-facing balconies, a library and a wet bar.
The home is set on just over half an acre of land that includes 194 free of prime ocean frontage, swimming pools and terraces. The house has also been listed as an asset of Trump's in financial disclosure statements released during his time during office as well as having ties to his sons.
After snapping up Mar-a-Lago, Trump bought his Seven Springs estate in 1996 for a reported $7.5 million. As always, a firm focus was on golf and Trump's aim was to build a Trump-branded golf course on the estate. However, plans were dashed by protests but despite the setback, Trump kept the property as a retreat for his family.
Reached via a sweeping driveway and surrounded by manicured lawns, the 5,000-square-foot mansion boasts three swimming pools, a carriage house and 15 bedrooms. Surrounded by 230-acres of land, it would have made the perfect setting for Trump's proposed golf course.
The grand interior, of course, follows the lavish style that the Trumps favor with marble floors stone staircases and high molded ceilings. Built in 1919 by Eugene Meyer, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, today the home is full of modern amenities including a bowling alley and two staff wings.
But this luxurious piece of real estate is currently part of an investigation surrounding Trump's businesses. The former president reportedly valued the property at up to $291 million but having failed to develop the estate, he is alleged to have inflated the assets to help secure loans and other financial benefits.
If Trump is known for anything, it could be argued that it is for his love of golf. In New York, Florida, New Jersey and even Scotland you can find properties and putting greens that form part of the Trump Golf empire. Another arm of the Trump Organization, it was created in 1999 and has gone on to build and own 17 courses worldwide.
In 2006, Trump purchased Balmedie, a 1,400-acre plot just north of Aberdeen, Scotland, with plans to turn it into yet another luxury golf course. However, turning the unspoiled stretch of coastline into a high-end golf course didn't run smoothly...
Just one of many hurdles for Trump to overcome, Scottish fisherman Michael Forbes, who had lived on his 25-acre farm his entire life, refused to sell his home to the billionaire. Located right in the middle of the planned second hole and hotel site, the real estate rebel was offered $578,000 and a job on the golf course paying $64,000 a year but still declined and refused to give up his home.
The proposal faced more uncertainty when in 2007 the plans were ruled against by Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure services committee. After an intervention by the Scottish government in 2008, Trump was finally given the go-ahead to start turning the ecologically sensitive site into a golf course.
Finally in October 2009 work on the site started and in 2012 it opened to the public. The billion-pound project includes two golf courses and a luxury 16-room hotel known as Macleod House. The estate reportedly cost Trump $60 million to buy and a further $200 million was spent on the new golf course.
In May 2011, Trump coughed up $6.2 million, plus $1.7 million in equipment and inventory for this 776-acre vineyard home in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2012, he then went on to splash out $6.7 million for Albemarle House, completing his acquisition of the entire estate.
In 2015, Trump opened the estate as a bed and breakfast. The 26,000-square-foot mansion today is still full of historic details and boasts hand-painted plaster ceilings and wallpaper, antique mantels and 150-year-old English oak.
The sprawling grounds of the estate feature exquisitely manicured English gardens, fishing ponds, and an outdoor pool and hot tub surrounded by outdoor lounge areas, and not to mention Virginia's largest vineyard. It's another jewel in the crown of Trump's incredible real estate empire.
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