Former President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas on Jan. 12, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
A Trump palace in St. Martin has cut its asking price again, from $16.9 million to $15.5 million. Once listed at $28 million, the Trump Organization has been trying to sell the property since at least 2017. It was around that time that the price dropped to $16.9 million. After years of sitting idle, the price fell again to $15.5 million. The exact date of the recent reduction remains unclear, but it seems to have taken place in the end of 2021 or beginning of this year.
There has been limited interest in the property over the years. A Chinese billionaire took a look with his broker in 2018, according to the broker, Mario Molinari. When they pulled up to the grounds, a manager was on site. “You can’t see it today, because you need to get prescreened,” the manager told the broker and the billionaire, whose name Molinari refused to divulge. The billionaire spoke up from the passenger seat, asking whether it was Trump’s house, even though he already understood that it was. When the manager replied in the affirmative, the billionaire snorted, “It’s too small for me.”
Another real estate agent on the island, who asked not to be named, said he showed the property to a European investor about six months ago. Jonathan Schaede, a third broker, said one of his French clients had a friend who looked at the house, but nothing came of it. “I think the price could have had a lot to do with it,” Schaede said.
The property is nice, with two villas, a 100-yard golf hole, tennis court, gym and pool. Local brokers, however, think it’s worth closer to $11 million, $4.5 million less than the Trump Organization is asking, even after the two price reductions. The place includes some features that may be more appealing to Trump than other potential owners, like an abundance of gold-accented details and an eight-foot boundary wall.
The Trump Organization has been renting out the property while it sits on the market. According to financial disclosure reports that Trump filed as president, which list income amounts in broad ranges, he received $100,000 to $1.2 million of rent via St. Martin real estate from January 2017 to January 2021. Sent a list of questions about the property, Lesley Reed, the listing agent, deferred to the Trump Organization, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Arun Jagtiani, a fourth broker on the island, said he wouldn’t be surprised if Trump, who purchased the property in 2013, strikes a deal in the coming months. “For them, maybe there’s got to be a little embarrassment that it has been on the market that long,” Jagtiani said. “St. Martin doesn’t sell many properties at $10 million, but [Trump] has sold many properties upwards of that price, or his organization has, so you would think within their network, they could have found a buyer.”