The Trump administration is teeing up to take over control of East Potomac Golf Links, one of Washington’s three public golf courses, on Sunday, with a quick turnaround of the National Park Service’s pre-approved renovation plans.
This is the latest round of renovations President Donald Trump is seeking for the District of Columbia, signalling he wants to redevelop East Potomac’s courses into a championship-level venue.
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The NPS is scheduled to commence cosmetic renovations starting Monday, including landscaping, deferred maintenance, and tree-clearing work. Major construction at the course is deferred until the NPS approves the plan. Golf course architect Tom Fazio is expected to lead the renovations, according to NOTUS.
Trump is seeking donations for a new nonprofit organization that will fund the reconstruction of a section of Washington’s waterfront, including the East Potomac Golf Course and a proposed National Garden of American Heroes.
A document obtained by the Washington Post was circulated to potential donors in recent weeks, which includes renderings of the East Potomac “reimagined” as a championship golf course and a formal memorial space.
None of the document’s concepts are publicly approved, and any changes to the site would be subject to multiple layers of a federal review process that has not yet begun.
The Interior Department terminated the 50-year lease held by the local nonprofit National Links Trust in December. The organization seeks to restore and preserve public golf courses, following its stewardship takeover in 2020.
East Potomac Golf Links, along with Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf, are all public courses, located on land owned by the federal government and managed by the NLS.
In a statement, the National Links Trust took issue with the administration’s conclusion that it had defaulted on its lease by failing to pay rent or come up with a credible plan to make improvements to the courses.
NLS expressed “disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default under the lease,” noting their over $8.5 million investment in capital improvement projects at the courses.
Previously, the administration claimed its termination notice was because NLS didn’t renovate the courses on time.
“NLT has consistently complied with all lease obligations as we work to ensure the brightest possible future for public golf in DC,” the organization wrote.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is one of four Democrats who addressed a public letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the National Park Service’s acting director, Jessica Brown, who are named as defendants in the lawsuit, stating that the administration illegally terminated the NLT’s lease.
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The Trump administration has said little publicly about its plans for the courses, outside of Trump musing about taking over East Potomac, which is perched on the Potomac River and offers views of the Washington Monument.
For a president with a real estate portfolio and interest in golf, the three public courses represent another set of desires from Trump to leave a more permanent mark in the nation’s capital.
The NOTUS report of the Trump administration takeover came as a shock to NLS, sharing Saturday morning that the plans were “a complete surprise to us,” and that they “hope to have clarity as soon as possible for “the sake of [their] community and employees.”
The DC Preservation League and two area residents filed an injunction in the U.S. District Court, challenging the Trump administration’s takeover of East Potomac Golf Links in February.
The lawsuit comes after 30,000 cubic yards of debris from the White House East Wing ballroom demolition project were dumped onto the East Potomac grounds without explanation. That dumping, the plaintiffs contend, is “unlawful and possibly hazardous” due in part to the potential presence of lead and asbestos.
The plaintiffs argue that the administration’s actions go against Congress’s initial intent when it established the park in 1897 and declared it would be “forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people.”
“President Donald J. Trump is fulfilling his commitment to make D.C. Safe and Beautiful as shown by record low crime rates and renovations to fountains across the capital,” an Interior Department supervisor said in a statement.
Conflicting accounts from the NOTUS report and NLS, at this time, offer uncertainty about the future of a lease at Rock Creek Park Golf or Langston Golf Course, with NLS saying it has “had no interaction with anyone from the Department of the Interior or National Park Service on these matters.”
The Washington Commanders’ charitable foundation was reportedly approached by the administration as a potential operator, according to the Washington Post.
Officials with the Interior Department apparently asked the NFL team’s charitable foundation last month about overseeing Langston Golf Course in Northeast Washington, as the golf course is less than a mile from the team’s future home at the former RFK Stadium site.
“We’ve been asked to look at if we can play any role in the renovation of Langston Golf Course adjacent to the future home of RFK stadium and are studying the needs of this historic facility that has contributed so much to D.C.’s golf history,” said a team spokesperson.
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The team is unlikely to take on the project as it falls far outside the charitable foundation’s scope of work. The Commanders’ foundation primarily handles community initiatives such as clothing drives, holiday food distributions, and community events, and does not operate golf courses or other properties.
The NLS will continue to operate the courses on an interim basis while government officials determine a long-term plan amid pending litigation.
