Bloomberg: “The Trump Organization’s website has long listed the Trump World Golf Club in the expat hub of Dubai as ‘coming soon.’ But four years after it was supposed to open for business, the 18-hole course designed by Tiger Woods faces yet another delay in the city already dealing with a glut of development, this time until at least 2022, according to a senior employee involved in the operation. When it opens, the project will test whether Trump’s corporate brand holds the same allure in a region where the former U.S. president has enjoyed broad support. And it comes as the company is figuring out its path forward with Trump out of office.”
“Grafted onto the desert and ringed by a luxury housing development, the golf course doesn’t yet display any of the typical, gold-emblazoned Trump signage. Instead, the name that’s ubiquitous is Damac Properties Dubai Co., the local developer and Trump partner that’s building the surrounding community, Akoya Oxygen. While some homes in the development are occupied, vacant lots and empty homes can be seen sprinkled through neighborhoods with names like Mimosa, Amazonia and Zinnia. The golf course is mostly done, according to Bryon Bell, president of Tiger Woods’s TGR Design. But construction of the clubhouse is on pause for now, according to the person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The cause of the delay is unclear, even among top-level people working on the project, though some have been told it’s Covid-related, the person said.”