The last Trump administration gave the world a new concept in spin-doctoring – alternative facts.

And I made a critical error in my intro to my newsletter comment about the planned Trump Tower on the Gold Coast when I wrote “The fact that the Trump family is building a massive tower …”

It is not a fact – not yet, anyway. As this report in The Guardian points out, there are places all over the world where Trump Towers have been announced but never built. And the Gold Coast has long been a magnet for big plans that come to nothing.

“If you took all the plans and proposals for massive, luxury, spectacular, high-rise, innovative, world-beating projects that have never come to fruition there, you could build a pretty impressive sea wall across Surfers Paradise,” Paul Burton, an emeritus professor of planning at Griffith University, told the Guardian.

“This area is special because it attracts people who go: ‘I’ve got some fantastic plans and I’ve got some backers somewhere, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, wherever.’ Most of them don’t come to fruition, because something falls apart along the way.”

The Guardian article adds that unpredictability and volatility characterises the Trump universe, yet Trump towers do actually get built.

Meanwhile, according to this story on News.com, there are already duelling petitions underway – one objecting to the proposal and another supporting it.

A Change.org petition calling for the Gold Coast Council and Queensland Government to reject its construction has amassed more than 23,000 signatures.

“Allowing a Trump-branded development on the Gold Coast would send the wrong message about who we are as a community and what we are willing to endorse,” the petition reads.

Immense potential

But Jordan Quoc-Tien Hoai Nguyen, a 26-year-old Surfers Paradise local has launched a counter petition, saying: “The proposed Trump Tower on Trickett Street, Gold Coast, holds immense potential to transform the local economic landscape and propel the region into a thriving hub of activity and opportunity,” Mr Nguyen said.

“The site on Trickett St has been sitting empty for over a decade, slowly rotting away. Don’t let it rot again for another decade.” The rival petition has drawn more than 3,000 signatures.

My comment on last week’s newsletter said the announcement of the Trump Tower proposal was both the least and most surprising property news of this week.

It’s the most surprising because, hey, it’s the Trumps coming to town. The US president, who has doubled his personal wealth since 2023, when US presidents aren’t supposed to benefit financially from their office, is coming to little old Australia. Aw, shucks!

It’s also the least surprising because the Gold Coast property world is the former New York real estate hustler’s antipodean spiritual home.

Trump’s son Eric has signed the contracts with a twice-bankrupted Australian developer to build a 98-storey, 285 hotel room and 272-apartment block on the beach.

They are saying it will be the tallest building in Australia, which it may well be for a week or two, until its rival, the 101 storey One Park Lane is built just along the sand. It will be 50 metres taller.

Rich and beautiful people

The new tower will make a huge difference to housing availability – for people who have $5million to spend on the cheapest apartments.

No, it’s definitely not about affordability. Instead, say the Trumps, it will attract the world’s richest and most beautiful people to Brisbane’s gaudy neighbour.

In fact, Trump and Gold Coast property are made for each other. Trump will love the fact that his subsidiaries can buy the management rights to the apartments for the next 25 years, and the unit purchasers can’t say a word.

In any case, in this first week in March, the US President has more pressing matters on his mind.

Part of this comment piece appeared in the weekly Flat Chat newsletter – you can sign up for free below.