Trump: Golf deal delay is par for the course

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Charlotte golf fans and celeb watchers alike will be interested to know that there’s really nothing new to report on the Trump organization’s possible purchase of The Point Lake and Golf Club up in Mooresville.

This week, Eric Trump and I spoke over the phone. (Amazingly, you just call his office, tell them you are a reporter and they put you through to Eric.) I called because I was wondering what had become of the potential deal that had been announced a year ago. Eric, the third and youngest child of The Donald and Ivana, confirmed for me that talks are ongoing between the Trumps and The Point.

The Trumps are “certainly still interested” in the course along Lake Norman, Eric said. But I couldn’t get him to say much more about what’s going on with the negotiations.

I tried. Believe me.

For example, when I asked him what was keeping the deal from happening, Eric said there was no one thing holding it up, per se, and he told me I might be reading into things a little too much.

Oh, Eric.

Such deals simply have a lot of moving parts, he said, adding, “We’ve been exploring it. We’re still working (on it).”

So, a year later, nothing has changed with the deal, if you can even call it that.

Young Eric — he’s 27, although he likes to round his age up, so at first he’ll say he’s 28 — handles an important job for his famous pop: the acquisition of golf clubs.

The Trump organization owns 12 courses, Eric says, although the Trump website lists 10. The Donald, according to Eric, really, really loves the game of golf.

But none of those courses are in the Carolinas. If you want to play on a course owned by the “foremost golf course developer in the world” — I found that modest description on the Trump organization’s website — you’ll have to go to New York, New Jersey, Florida, Philadelphia, California or Washington, D.C. Or, if the U.S. isn’t good enough for you, you can tee off on a Trump course in Scotland or Puerto Rico.

One day, The Point might join that group, but not even a Celebrity Apprentice can say when, or if, that will happen.

But here’s what we do know:

Crescent Communities, which is part of Charlotte-based Crescent Resources, controls The Point. Crescent has had some bankruptcy issues to work through. On June 10, 2009, it filed for Chapter 11 protection in Austin, Texas. A year and a day later, it announced that it had emerged from Chapter 11. Has any of that been stalling the deal with the Trumps? Who knows?

At some point, Crescent will give control of the club to the club’s members, who actually own The Point. The word on the street is that there’s a provision for the club to take on as much as $5 million in debt — it would be paid to Crescent — when that transfer takes place. Rumor has it that whatever Trump will cough up to buy The Point will be used in part or in full to cover that $5 million.

But that’s just hearsay.

When I asked Crescent to tell me about the latest on the Trump talks, a spokesman sent me a two-sentence response that said Crescent “is working diligently to transition control of the club to its members” and that there has been no change of ownership of The Point.

I’ve also heard that some — maybe even half — of the club’s members are not cool with the Trump deal. But that, too, is only a rumor, one dismissed by Eric.

“The members of the club have been absolutely terrific,” he said.

Eric, who was quite friendly despite my desperate attempts to find out whatever I could about the deal, did admit that if the Trumps got their hands on The Point the property would be upgraded.

“We have the ability to make things really incredible,” he said.

Spoken like a true Trump.

Editor Deon Roberts can be reached at [email protected].