Trump’s luxury condo development gets green light from City of Doral (includes video story)

Just a few days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States, the city of Doral approved the Trump organization’s plan to build 1500 luxury condos.

On Wednesday, the Doral City Council voted unanimously to approve the “Trump Doral International Towers” project. This plan, initially proposed in 2022, will include 1,498 units in four 20-story towers, 142,000 square feet of upscale retail and dining space, and a four-story structure featuring 20 villas.

This not only will be the first active development by a U.S sitting President, but also The Trump Organization’s first project in South Florida since 2012, according to the company’s website.

Among those present in the meeting was Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, and executive vice president of the Trump organization, who was sitting quietly in the meeting while Felix Lasarte, the attorney representing Trump in the project, led the discussions.

Eric expressed his satisfaction afterwards, “it’s incredible to get unanimous approval by the city of Doral on all three rounds of our application. We spent tremendous amount of time on this. We have an incredible team. They’ve literally been working on this for a four-year period of time. We’re going to build something that Doral is going to be very proud of.”

Lasarte also mentioned during the hearing “I think it’s important to know that this is a large application, but this is something that we took seriously.” He later joked about the lengthy approval process, noting, “It actually took Trump less time to become president again than it did for me to get this thing approved.”

The project has undergone considerable revisions since it was introduced. The original proposal in August 2022 called for 2,500 residential units. However, concerns about the density of the project and its potential impact on traffic led city officials to request adjustments. After several rounds of negotiations, the scaled-down version of the plan was presented last summer and received preliminary approval with a narrow 3-2 vote.

At Wednesday’s hearing, council members, including Mayor Christi Fraga, acknowledged those initial concerns but ultimately praised the Trump Organization for addressing key issues. “Obviously, there’s a lot of investment and care for this project and this property by the family and the organization,” Fraga said. “I wanted to thank you all for really being patient and working with us to improve the portions of this project that were of concern.”

Doral, which is often referred to as “Doralzuela” because of its large Venezuelan community, has seen an increase in high-end developments in recent years. The Trump Doral International Towers will establish even more the area’s reputation as a desirable destination for wealthy residents.

With the council’s decision, the Trump Organization is ready to move forward with the construction. Sales will begin in about 18 months.

Alejandro Marquina Villalobos is a junior majoring in Digital Broadcasting. In the future, he’s hoping to make an impact nationally and internationally as a political journalist.