NYC’s Ferry Point gets new management group; Trump team looking for $30M ‘cancellation fee’

A new management company will assume responsibility for running New York City’s Ferry Point — a stunning track that overlooks the city’s dramatic skyline — but the departure from former President Donald Trump’s organization has some saying the process has been ramrodded through.

On Tuesday, a hearing was held in advance of a vote, and lawyers from the Trump team insisted course designer Jack Nicklaus had direct oversight on any decision regarding the course’s management. That wasn’t enough to sway a city panel, however, as members approved the switch on Wednesday. Two panel members voted against the measure, and one insisted that the process needed more time to be thoroughly vetted.

Formerly known as Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, the links-style golf course opened in 2014 and debuted at No. 2 for New York on Golfweek’s Best: State-by-State Courses You Can Play list in 2015, trailing only Bethpage Black. When Ferry Point opened, the city signed a 20-year agreement with the Trump Organization.

While the course opened beneath the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (on the site of a former New York City landfill) in 2014, a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, designed by the architectural firm Hart Howerton, was completed in 2019.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced earlier in the year that the city would terminate contracts with the Trump Organization in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, which sent lawmakers running for cover in fear for their lives and left five people dead and dozens injured.

Lawyers for the Trump team have said the city will need to fork over a $30 million “termination fee” because the breach of contract assertion has no legal merit, according to reporting by The City, a digital news platform in New York City.

Trump released a statement on Oct. 12 blasting the mayor.

“The course has received rave reviews, is considered one of the top ten open to the public facilities in the United States (could even be the best!), is designed for tournament play, and Mayor De Blasio wants to take it away after all of the work was so successfully done, and so much money was spent,” Trump said in the statement. “So unfair—this is what happens in Communist Countries, not in America!”

Back in June, the Trump Organization legal team said the termination was motivated solely by political pressure. The group invested significantly in the project after New York City failed to complete the course, which ranks 77th on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in the United States list, as judged by Golfweek’s nationwide network of raters.

“After the City wasted hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money in its prior failed attempts to complete this project, we stepped in and, at the City’s request (much like Wollman Rink in the 1980s), invested over $30 million of our own money to deliver to the people of the City of New York what has been widely recognized as one of the most magnificent public golf experiences anywhere in the country,” said a statement from the Trump Organization.

Atlanta-based Bobby Jones Links was chosen to take over the property, which means assuming daily golf operations, handling instruction programs on-site and coordinating food and beverage concessions.

“We are honored the City has selected Bobby Jones Links to be the next steward of one of New York City’s most remarkable recreational assets,” said Whitney Crouse, founding partner of Bobby Jones Links. “Ferry Point Links is one of the premier golf courses and experiences in the nation and we are honored to bring our service-based culture and extensive industry knowledge to this highly acclaimed golf course. Bobby Jones Links has been an innovator in the golf course management industry for more than 22 years with collective experience at more than 200 courses worldwide.”

According to a release, the new management group will make some changes at the course after it closes in November.

“The golf course and high-quality dining experiences will not change,” said Crouse. “However, we do plan to make enhancements that we believe will benefit the residents and golfers of New York.”