Tornado Alley (PROG)

[mr40]

In 1973, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post donated her 128-room Palm Beach mansion to the U.S. government to be used as the "winter White House."

Post was one of the world's richest women when she finished building Mar-a-Lago in 1927 at a cost of $7 million. Architects Marion Sims Wyeth and Joseph Urban designed the estate, which sits on 20 acres that border the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Florida's Intracoastal Waterway on the other.

At the time of her death in 1973, Post bequeathed the property to the National Park Service, hoping it could be used for state visits or as a Winter White House.

However, because the costs of maintaining the property exceeded the funds provided by Post, and it was difficult to secure the facility (as it is located in the flight path of Palm Beach Airport), the property was returned to the Post Foundation by an Act of Congress in 1981.[5]

In 1980 Mar-a-Lago had been declared a National Historic Landmark.

Donald Trump reported first offer for the property—$28 million—was turned down. The market slumped. Trump ended up getting the property for $5 million in 1985, and paid an additional $3 million for Post's antiques and furniture.

It is the second largest mansion in the state of Florida and the 20th largest mansion in the United States.

When he opened Mar-a-Lago, Trump welcomed Jewish members, African-Americans, and gay couples, who had been prohibited from joining other Palm Beach clubs.

So far, he's visited the property nine times as president. He took his first trip there while in office for the Red Cross Ball in early February 2017 and hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the following weekend. Trump returned a few days later for Presidents' Weekend, when he played a round with pro golfer Rory McIlroy at the nearby Trump International Golf Club and announced Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster as his pick for national security advisor.

He visited two weekends last March, including a trip the first weekend of April, during which he authorized a missile strike on Syria and hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping. The following weekend, he returned for Mar-a-Lago's annual private brunch and Easter egg hunt. (He was not there, however, to witness the four-by-four-foot sinkhole that opened directly in front of Mar-a-Lago in late May.) His most recent visit was for Thanksgiving, his first trip back since April.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar-a-Lago

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/home-decor/a7144/mar-a-lago-history/

I'd say Trump got a hell of a deal buying Mar-a-Largo. It cost $7 million to build in 1927.