Page 32 - Midas Touch

from some people to my proposed development of this land, and great
enthusiasm from others. It was the perfect recipe for a saga—so much so
that a Scottish author wrote a book about the process I went through. He
had enough material to fill hundreds of pages. (For those of you who are

into golf or great stories, the book is titled Chasing Paradise by David
Ewen, and the subtitle is “Donald Trump and the Battle for the World’s
Greatest Golf Course.”)

I had to deal with business leaders, government supporters, and the locals.
Even Sir Sean Connery got into the action by supporting me when I was
facing a lot of opposition. Some people were sure I would ruin this land
and not preserve it.

It became a story of international interest, which had its pros and cons. A
popular American magazine had a cover story on one of the locals who
didn’t want to move from his house, which brought him fame and
recognition as never before. His house, and whether he moved or not,
wasn’t of great consequence to our building project, but it became a great
source of publicity for the owner as well as for the project itself.

The environmental statement for this land took up two five-inch-thick
books. Everything in there had to be addressed, along with the business

issues of the development. This site is of historical significance to
Scotland, and it would be an expensive development for me at nearly one
billion pounds (£). However, the construction project would create
approximately 6,230 short-term jobs, and the development itself would
support 1,440 long-term jobs.

Our research, both business and environmental, was extremely detailed.
We worked with the Scottish National Heritage and spent countless hours
working out every detail. To give you an idea of the scope of this project,
Trump International Golf Links Scotland will include a golf academy, 950
condominiums, 500 houses, a 450-room hotel, 36 golf villas, and
accommodations for 450 staff members. That’s in addition to the golf
links. It’s an enormous development and there wasn’t anything easy about

getting it going.

While I was going through all this, I remained positive and knew that I had
the tenacity that Robert speaks about regarding the Midas Touch. I knew I
was in for some challenges—years of them—but I also knew that, with