One ballroom isn’t enough.
President Trump is quietly making plans for another one—nearly 200 miles north of the White House in New Jersey.
The new ballroom at his private golf club in Bedminster would be used by the club’s 550 members and their families for events such as weddings. Together with other alterations, the project would double the size of an existing clubhouse and more than triple its seating capacity.
In Washington, Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing and started
One ballroom isn’t enough.
President Trump is quietly making plans for another one—nearly 200 miles north of the White House in New Jersey.
The new ballroom at his private golf club in Bedminster would be used by the club’s 550 members and their families for events such as weddings. Together with other alterations, the project would double the size of an existing clubhouse and more than triple its seating capacity.
In Washington, Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing and started construction on his ballroom, alarming conservationists and prompting legal challenges. In the township of Bedminster, his team of architects and planners are taking a more methodical approach to expand the clubhouse at his golf club, going through local and state permitting that could take months to complete.
Bedminster, about 40 miles west of Manhattan, is one of five towns that comprise the Somerset Hills, an affluent region of New Jersey known for its rolling countryside, historic estates and Gilded Age history. It is also inside one of the most competitive congressional races in the country.
At the township’s land use board meeting earlier this month, Trump’s lawyers and planners asked for waivers to enlarge the main building on the property from 26,000 square feet to 54,000 square feet. The new ballroom would be more than 11,000 square feet. The project also includes a parking lot expansion, an expanded private sewage treatment plant and stormwater runoff mitigation.
Bedminster resident Carol Levin, 67, said she showed up at the meeting because Trump “doesn’t have a very good track record regarding his building projects going the way they are promised.” She is upset about the White House ballroom as well.
Her objection to a potential increase in traffic sparked a tense exchange with the club’s attorney, Michael Lavery, who said she didn’t have to like the project, but that wasn’t what the meeting was for.
The idea for the expansion came from Bedminster club members and the club’s longtime general manager, David Schutzenhofer. The president and his son Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization, have been involved and updated on the project’s progress, according to a person familiar with the matter. Developers hope to start work on part of the project this fall.
The Trump Organization didn’t respond to a request for comment. In a statement, a White House spokesman didn’t comment on the Bedminster project, but praised the president’s efforts to build the White House ballroom.
Trump has referred to the 504-acre property that he purchased in 2002 as his Summer White House, and he frequently decamps there for the weekends when it is too hot in Palm Beach, Fla.
He transformed the property into a private country club with two championship golf courses, a clubhouse with a restaurant and a helipad. Ivanka Trump married Jared Kushner at the club in 2009. Trump’s ex-wife Ivana Trump was buried there in a private plot. First lady Melania Trump and Trump’s son Barron enjoy spending their summers at the club.
Ed Russo, who represented the Trump Organization, told the land board the property gets too crowded on holidays like Mother’s Day when many of the members want to bring their families to the club. Currently, there are 370 seats available at maximum capacity—but that doesn’t include room for a dance floor, a critical component for a wedding or bar mitzvah.
While the expansion would more than triple seating, it wouldn’t all be used at the same time, club representatives said. Some seating would be seasonal on an awning-covered rooftop terrace.
Like the ballroom in Washington, Russo told Bedminster Township’s Land Use Board that the new project was needed to avoid an unsightly tent.
In the past, when presidents have hosted a large number of guests for state dinners, they have had to erect a tent on the White House’s south lawn to accommodate them. Trump has complained about the tent being set up “more than a football field away from the main entrance” of the White House and guests—especially women in high heels—having to walk on the grass.
“When we have events where we need to seat our membership and meet the demands and their usage, oftentimes we’ll have to put a tent out the back and it’s just not an elegant way to serve our members,” Russo told Bedminster’s Land Use Board earlier this month.
The plans cleared the board, and the club also got approval from the Somerset-Union Soil Conservation District for erosion control. It still needs three permits from the state environmental agency that could take months, according to the township’s engineer.
The president is also pursuing a ballroom in Doonbeg, Ireland, at his Trump International Golf Links & Hotel.
Trump’s efforts to build the 12,000-square-foot ballroom that could seat 320 guests have been slowed by local objections over potential harm to narrow-mouthed whorl snails. Trump is expected to visit Ireland next month for the Amgen Irish Open. The Clare Echo, the town’s local newspaper, has reported that the ballroom won’t be approved by the time of the president’s visit.
The projects in New Jersey and Ireland are being paid for by private funds. Trump also has raised private funds for the ballroom in Washington and asked lawmakers to appropriate $1 billion for security-related upgrades tied to the project. That request has hit roadblocks in Congress.
Crews are working nearly around the clock on the White House ballroom, after lower courts ruled that the ballroom project is probably illegal because Congress never approved the project, but allowed construction to continue while his administration pursued its appeal. The Supreme Court on Friday said Trump can keep building his ballroom for now while the court weighs the appeal.
Asked earlier this week if he sees the Supreme Court ruling against him, Trump said: “We hope that doesn’t happen. I can’t imagine it happening.”
Write to Natalie Andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com, Paul Overberg at paul.overberg@wsj.com and Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com
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