Former President Donald Trump is once again a private citizen, which means he can again resume running his Trump Organization and myriad businesses under that umbrella.
Trump's golf operation comprises nearly a dozen-and-a-half golf courses, resorts and private clubs he owns in the United States, Ireland and Scotland. It also includes course-management deals to operate a pair of courses in Dubai, with Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, opening shortly after his inauguration in 2017.
The second Dubai course, Trump World Golf Club, however, has been lagging behind its originally planned 2017 opening date. Now, according to Bloomberg, the facility will not open until at least 2022.
The golf club, designed by Tiger Woods' TGR Design firm, is mostly finished but needs a clubhouse and some finishing touches to open. The bigger hold-up, however, is the glut of real estate for sale in Dubai and calls from Emirati leadership to put a pause on new home construction until the market can absorb and sell through the existing inventory. This includes the 55-million-square-foot Akoya Oxygen planned community in which the Trump World Golf Club sits.
Damac Properties Dubai Co. has developed the planned community, which is supposed to offer a mix of luxury housing and amenities. However, few homes in the community are owned and occupied, and there are many vacant lots throughout the development.
The Trump brand has a degree of support in the UAE, particularly for his administration's work on an accord with Israel to normalize relations. The Abraham Accord followed years after Trump's name was temporarily removed from the project when, as a candidate, he supported an outright ban on Muslims from entering the United States.
Property values have fallen dramatically in the UAE in the last half-decade, by nearly one-third in some parts of the market.
