Trump? 
A Cosmic Coincidence
An iconic resort and club on the market in Las Vegas is being described as a unique opportunity to create a new Mar-a-Lago out out west.
www.realtor.com
In expansive and exclusive
Nevada resort that has been branded Las Vegas’ answer to
President Donald Trump‘s infamous
Mar-a-Lago estate in
Florida has hit the market for $21 million—offering a rare opportunity for one budding business magnate to build out their own real estate legacy out west.
Long before he became president, Trump was a
real estate tycoon who carved out a new blueprint for resorts targeted to
the rich and powerful, with his transformation of Mar-a-Lago—originally built as a home for socialite
Marjorie Merriweather Post.
The expansive property, which became
Trump’s primary residence in 2019, has become a mecca for political power players, wealthy business scions, and socialites alike—providing a sanctuary for socializing under a sunny sky, far away from the hubbub of the big cities where their business is based.
Despite Mar-a-Lago setting a new standard, Trump is by no means the first business magnate to build this kind of power seat.
Thomas Jefferson had his Monticello; Gilded Age scions had their fancy estates in Newport. The magnetic Biltmore Estate in Asheville, which was a mover-and-shaker hot spot for decades, remains the largest privately owned residence in the U.S.; and Hearst Castle on the
California coast was a legendary gathering spot for power players in many different fields.
Trump added a commercial aspect to the epicentral grand estate after he bought Mar-A-Lago, a National Historic Landmark in Palm Beach, in 1985. In the early 1990s he suffered financial setbacks and turned the property into a private, for-profit club.
He made it his primary residence in 2019.
There, the moneyed could stay and play, or booze and schmooze in a more relaxed and clubby atmosphere, among well-heeled members with similar interests. It also provides a substantial source of income for the owner.
Feels like a winning hand, doesn’t it? Well now, the opportunity to carve out a similarly prosperous property has arisen, miles away from Mar-a-Lago.
The Mar-A-Lago of Las Vegas?
With the listing of Las Vegas’s famous Stirling Club, savvy megamillionaires will have an opportunity to show their hands in their own luxurious power retreat on the other side of the country—in a city where gazillionaires from all over the globe frequently gather to game and gain influence and wealth.
For $21 million, power brokers could live, play, and work in their own elite club, with all the amenities their hearts could desire, surrounded by friends—while having their whims and wishes fulfilled in moments. And they could make a substantial profit while they’re at it.
The Sterling Club was created in 2000, by the same people who developed the adjacent
Fontainebleau resort, and the also adjacent Turnberry Place—one of Las Vegas’s first high-rise luxury condo developments. It actually helped to inspire a condo boom near the Strip.
The club has changed hands several times since then, and now the current owners “are looking to sell, mainly seeking more time for travel and leisure,” says residential agent
Cristine Lefkowitz, of BHHS Nevada Properties, who is co-listing the property with
Jennifer Weinberger, of Berkshire Hathaway NV Properties Commercial Division.
“It’s an excellent opportunity for someone to come in and create their own Las Vegas Mar-a-Lago,” Lefkowitz adds.
Related
Farmers opposed to reshaping the weather through “cloud seeding” are pushing a bill to end the practice in North Dakota. The bill also would penalize weather modification as a misdemeanor crime. Cloud seeding is done by airplanes releasing tiny particles of silver iodide in clouds to reduce the...
kstp.com
By JACK DURA The Associated Press Updated: January 31, 2025 - 1:22 PM Published: January 31, 2025 - 1:16 PM
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s decades-long efforts to aid farmers by reshaping the weather through “cloud seeding” is facing fierce opposition in the state Capitol, where legislation could outlaw the practice, which is used across the West and has drawn global interest to one of the nation’s least populous states.
Cloud seeding is done by airplanes releasing tiny particles of silver iodide in clouds to reduce the size of hail and increase rainfall to help crops in the semi-arid climate. Opponents see cloud seeding as ineffective, harmful and deceitful, and point to a number of counties that have ended their participation in weather modification, as recently as last fall.
“We are tired of government controlling our weather,” Williams County farmer Doug Stangeland told a state Senate panel on Thursday. “It’s time that God does what he does. Let the creator of the weather do what he does.”
North Dakota’s hail suppression program is the longest-running aerial cloud seeding program in the world and has used airplanes since the early 1960s, said Darin Langerud, director of the Atmospheric Resource Division of the state Department of Water Resources.
The North Dakota bill introduced by Republican Sen. Todd Beard would do away with weather modification and penalize the practice as a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to 30 days in jail and/or a $1,500 fine.
Berthold-area farmer Roger Neshem, who sat on his county’s weather modification authority, said local concerns went unaddressed by officials, including flights he said were outside of permitted areas.
“I think it is a good thing to make this a misdemeanor and make it illegal,” Neshem said.
Counties sponsor the program, which is cost-shared with the state, which regulates the program. The cost is about 15 cents per acre, costing four participating counties last year a combined $800,000, Langerud said. The program usually runs June through August.
Cloud seeding is done in two counties and parts of a third, including Bowman County, where some locals touted to lawmakers its success in reducing hail losses for agriculture, homeowners and businesses. In 2016, the vast majority of voters in the county rejected abolishing their weather modification authority.
Studies show the benefits of cloud seeding compared to non-seeded or control areas, including increased rainfall, reduced crop hail losses and higher wheat yields, Langerud said.
But other scientists say exactly how effective it is
remains unclear, since atmospheric forces are huge and chaotic.
Last year, Langerud’s agency signed a pact for training, research and development with the South Korean government. Argentine and Romanian delegations also have visited North Dakota in the last two years to go through the training program to learn more.
The state’s Atmospheric Resource agency also has an agreement with the University of North Dakota’s aviation program for intern pilot training on the project, which has put more than 400 intern pilots through the program over the years, Langerud said.
The bill “would ban the exact collaboration between the private industry, the local political subdivisions and the state entities that make and have pushed North Dakota to the forefront of this industry,” Weather Modification International Vice President of Flight Operations Jody Fischer said.
Langerud said misinformation is driving opposition to cloud seeding. Stangeland alleged possible environmental harms and toxicity from silver iodide.
Langerud said the materials used in cloud seeding are safe, and because silver iodide is so effective at what it does, only minuscule amounts need to be used. He noted that governance of the program is largely on the local level, and argued, “I think that’s where it should stay.”
States including California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as Alberta in Canada, have weather modification programs, according to a handout from North Dakota’s Atmospheric Resource Board.
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