Trump Asks to Make Palm Beach Golf Course Into a New Camp David

President Donald Trump is seeking approval from local officials in Florida to designate his West Palm Beach golf course into a permanently-designated presidential retreat that would host summits, world leaders and current and former occupants of the White House.

“Just like Camp David, Windsor Castle or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” according to a September letter from a lawyer representing Trump, Harvey Oyer, to the Palm Beach County commission. The letter, which outlines the proposal, was viewed by Bloomberg.

Trump said Wednesday that the military and Secret Service asked him to make the golf course into a retreat. A White House official familiar with the plans confirmed the request to turn the facility into a space for high-level meetings and presidential golf sessions.

“They could spend the weekend there, like a retreat, like sort of a Camp David retreat, and they asked if I’d be willing to do it, and I said I would be,” Trump said at a press conference at the White House. He also highlighted the course’s security features and proximity to the airport.

The potential presidential golf course adds to a slew of Trump efforts to use his name to memorialize his legacy. In Florida, a road to his residence at Mar-a-Lago bears his name, as does the airport, which now goes by Donald J. Trump International instead of Palm Beach International.

In Washington, Trump has threatened to scrap efforts to renovate the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts unless his name is added to the building. The US Institute of Peace headquarters already bears his name.

At the golf site, the Trump family operates a club that would potentially benefit if the course becomes a major presidential hub. The retreat would have a separate entrance from the club, the Washington Post reported.

Oyer said Trump’s company would pay for construction of a presidential lodging facility at the course and that the president would be out of office before the project is completed. Access to the club’s facilities would be provided at “no cost to the federal government,” Oyer said. The plans were first reported by the Palm Beach Post.

Trump’s presidency has had a profound impact on Palm Beach County, a relatively small community 70 miles north of Miami that’s historically known as a haven for retirees and winter retreat for the wealthy. Besides the renamings, residents are constantly reminded of Trump’s presence with frequent road closures, blocked waterways and his now-permanent helipad.

Residents on the island of Palm Beach and on the mainland of West Palm Beach were incensed when the FAA rerouted the flight path to avoid flying over Mar-a-Lago, a change the agency is seeking to make permanent even after Trump leaves office.

Palm Beach County owns the land where the golf course is located and leases it to Trump. Under the proposal, Trump would give the county rights to the portion needed for the presidential retreat facilities, and the county would then lease that property to the federal government.

Oyer said that the presidential golf course would “further cement Palm Beach County on the global stage and do so in perpetuity.”

In December, Trump will host G20 leaders at another of his golf courses, the Trump National Doral just west of Miami.