Windsor – On a short limo ride with Donald Trump, the conversation bounces from television appearances to real estate to golf.
Trump fires questions at Windsor developer Martin Lind about Lind’s Water Valley development.
He works deals on his cellphone.
He answers – vaguely – a reporter’s questions.
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, Trump told a gathering at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland that he’s negotiating a second real-estate deal in Denver. He’ll know within the next month whether that project – no details provided – will happen.
Trump’s first deal is to redevelop Denver’s historic Union Station downtown, a project for which he’s vying with 10 other development groups. He’s optimistic he’ll be involved, either as the sole master developer or as part of a team that includes developers already working in Denver.
“Other than in New York, I partner a lot,” he said. “People love us.”
So why did he submit just two typewritten pages in response to Denver’s request for qualifications?
“We just wanted to get our name in,” he said. “We didn’t want to do something that was less than perfect.”
Trump’s day in Colorado began in Loveland with a 2 p.m. speech at Bixpo 2005, a business exposition.
It was followed by a picture-taking session with invited guests at Water Valley, the show’s title sponsor.
After a short time at Water Valley’s Pelican Lakes clubhouse, he boarded a limo driven by Stephen Spear, owner of Greeley-based First Choice Limousines.
In the limo, Trump and his wife, Melania, talked with Jim Dowd, NBC’s director of publicity for the East Coast, about television appearances and interviews. Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” appears on NBC, and Dowd accompanied Trump on his trip to northern Colorado.
Trump then turned his attention to Lind, peppering him with a series of questions about Water Valley, a master-planned community with nearly 2,000 residential units and a Ted Robinson-designed championship golf course surrounded by five lakes and the Cache la Poudre River.
Trump, who says he has a 4 handicap, focused on the golf course, asking about membership dues, greens fees for public play and the price of sod. His wife was more interested in the cost of the homes, which Lind said range in price from $200,000 to $5 million.
“Can you believe we’re riding through wheat fields in a limo with Donald?” commented Lind, who owns most of the farmland surrounding his development.
Trump and his wife then invited Lind and Water Valley vice president Russell Sanford to board his Boeing jet – black with a red stripe and the name Trump emblazoned on the side in yellow.
On the jet, original art hung from wood-paneled walls, chairs were a rich brocade, and the bed was neatly made.
Lind, who owns a King Air business jet, was impressed.
“Can you imagine a 727 that says ‘Lind’ on it?” he asked.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
