Donald Trump talks South Florida

From the South Florida website: He’s built a real estate empire, become a television personality and has hinted (though he did so in 1999, too) that he may even run for president in 2012. But in South Florida, Donald Trump is also a local. He owns Palm Beach’s famous Mar-a-Lago club, where he spends plenty of time each winter, and he’s the namesake of several of the area’s biggest condo towers (and one that no longer has his name). He also recently presided over a mortgage burning ceremony to celebrate paying off the $210 million construction loan on Trump Royale in Sunny Isles Beach, which was itself a reenactment of a similar mortgage burning in 1986 when he helped save a Georgia farmer’s home from foreclosure. In his trademark grandiose style, The Donald answered The Real Deal’s questions about his career in the region, including whether he’ll ever make a play for a professional sports team like fellow mogul Stephen Ross of Related. [more]