It's official. The Donald says so!

Here is just one of the many press releases and stories coming out this week about the new Trump building in Panama. There are a lot more exciting projects going on that I will be reporting on in the next week so stay tuned.

Trump Ocean Club

Trump JV Plans $220M Mixed-Use Project in Panama

By Barbara Jarvie

Last updated: April 24, 2006  12:32pm

NEW YORK CITY-A 2.4-million-sf mixed-use development will rise in Panama City, according to its developers—a joint venture of the Trump Organization and K Group. The effort has a current price tag of approximately $220 million.

 

The Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower will feature a 65-story condominium tower with 500 condominium units and 312 hotel condominium units. There will also be a casino, private beach club, 24-hour marina, among other amenities. The project will be built on an artificial peninsula on the Panama Bay, with total land area of 140,000 sf. Plans also call for more than 1,500 parking spaces.

 

The development coincides with Panama’s plans for an approximately $5.5-billion improvement of the Panama Canal, K Group president Roger Khafif pointed out during a press conference announcing the project. The just-announced Canal plan still must meet voter approval. Khafif said as many as 30,000 US

Trump

citizens currently call Panama home and there are more than one million tourists each year.

 

Donald Trump said his interest in Panama was sparked three years ago when his “Miss Universe” pageant was held in the country. This effort—the organization’s second largest right now—was recently increased by 600,000 sf. “The right opportunity presented itself.”

 

Trump said his firm does have a financial interest in the project, but he would not reveal the amount. HSBC is providing the financing. He expects the project to be “easily funded,” noting that as many as seven “major financial institutions were fighting to put up money.”

 

The Colombian construction company Arias Serna Saravia will serve as contractor. The Aventura, FL-based International Sales Group was given the exclusive to market the development along with Espacios Urbanos. Trump and Khafif said they expect Trump Ocean Club to be completed at the end of 2009.