Donald Trump’s name will finally be scrubbed from a city-owned golf course in the Bronx – with the ex-president agreeing to unload the lease to the Bally’s casino chain following a lengthy battle with the city.
On Friday morning, the city comptroller’s website showed that Trump’s contract with the Parks Department is nowBally’s will continue to operate the site as a golf course and change its name to Bally’s Links, sources said – doing away with the massive rock-and-grass formation that spells out “TRUMP LINKS,” which for years has been impossible for drivers to miss when headed over the East River on the Whitestone Bridge from Queens.
Bally’s hopes its proximity to a major highway – an estimated 4 million drivers use the Whitestone every year – will help it win the casino sweepstakes against bidders at multiple locations in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn and Queens, and at the old Nassau Coliseum grounds on Long Island. Reps for Bally’s — run by financier Soo Kim, a Queens native and founder of the hedge fund Standard General – couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Trump Organization also couldn’t immediately be reached.