Trump Waits For Economy In Scotland

I had an interesting conversation recently with real estate impresario Donald Trump, who uses "The Greatest" in a sentence more often than Muhammad Ali. "What's up with the project in Scotland?" I asked. Here's what he said:

"We have all the permits and everything is ready to go, but I'm not going to build anything until the depression is over."

That's too bad, since I was really looking forward to visiting Trump International Golf Links, which is scheduled to have two world-class golf courses and a luxury hotel sited on 1400 acres of sand dunes at Balmedie Beach in the northeast part of the country.

Martin Hawtree is to design the courses. He's known for his expertise in links courses and worked on Royal Birkdale, Portmarnock, Lahinch and Carnoustie to name but a few. Tom Fazio II, nephew of designer Tom Fazio, did some original routing work on the Aberdeen property, but Hawtree took over when Fazio turned his attention to the New Course at Trump Bedminster.

Trump went through some battles to get permission to build on the property, fighting farmers and others who want to preserve the property in its present state. The chance to bring new tourist dollars to the area--with the accompanying jobs in construction and resort operation, won the day, however, and Trump's project is now clear for takeoff as soon as the economy permits.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo