Trump Lands Lowes Island Club

You know what this down real-estate market needs right now? Someone who has a little self-confidence and, more importantly, isn't afraid to put it on public display.

And so, faithful readers of "Deeds & Weeds," we give you -- who else? -- Donald Trump.

According to this item in "The Reliable Source," the Washington Post's gossip column, Trump has bought Lowes Island Club, a 36-hole facility in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Sterling, Va. The sale price wasn't disclosed, but the 800-acre property had been listed for $18 million last year (asked what he paid, Trump told the Post "a lot.")

Lowes Island thus becomes the eighth facility in the real-estate magnate's ever-blossoming golf empire, and will undergo all the expected Trump facelifts: Lowes Island's two courses, the Island (designed by Tom Fazio) and the River (designed by Arthur Hills, will undergo a renovation courtesy of Fazio. The facility will be renamed "Trump National Golf Club, Washington, D.C."

And there was the usual Trump bombast to mark the purchase. He said he is looking forward to playing it with President Obama, and having it replace Congressional as the site of Tiger Woods' annual PGA Tour event in the area, the AT&T Classic. Finally, when asked about the club's ptotential, Trump didn't hold back. "This place, when it's finished, will be the finest club anywhere in the country," he promised. "There will be nothing like it. I already own the best ones, so I know."

-- G.R.