Donald Trump is an expert at link bait.

First he puts his home in Palm Beach up for sale for a record 125 million dollars. Then after a couple of years of no action, he decides to announce to the world that he is going to turn the property into a hotel.

Now if you know anything about Palm Beach and zoning restrictions, the odds of Trump pulling this off are slim to none. In fact, if he pulled this off it would be a miracle. But if your goal is to get pithy bloggers such as myself to write about it and the media to go into a frenzy, then Trump has gotten his wish.

The man may not be the greatest businessman or person in the world but he sure does know how to get media attention.

“What I would really like to do is build a world-class hotel on the site,” Trump said in a phone interview Thursday. “It really sets up incredibly well for a super-luxury hotel.” The 6-acre property includes a 475-foot expanse of beachfront, 24-karat-gold bathroom fixtures, a 48-car garage and a 100-foot-long ballroom. Trump offered no details about how many rooms he might build or how much they might cost.

Trump said he has not asked the town of Palm Beach for permission to build a hotel on the property, although he said he has pitched the idea to “some of the world’s great hoteliers” and received an enthusiastic response.

Not so enthusiastic was Palm Beach Mayor Jack McDonald. He worries about traffic that would be created by a hotel in an area of posh mansions. “It does not sound like a good idea to me,” McDonald said. “It’s a residential neighborhood, and it has the character of a residential neighborhood. A hotel would change that character dramatically.”

Trump would have to persuade the town council to change the property’s zoning and land use, something Councilman David Rosow called unlikely. via the Palm Beach Post

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