Like other Palm Beach County businesses, the president’s golf club has been forced to close as the pandemic plays out. But there is that one major difference: The club is owned by the President of the United States, the commander-in-chief who made the call of when the country shut down and who will make the call on when America opens up for business again.

*

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Palm Beach Post. If you want breaking coronavirus news directly in your inbox, sign up for our Coronavirus Newsletter.

*

CLARIFICATION: A story in the April 12 edition of The Palm Beach Post reported that President Donald Trump made the call of when the country shut down and would make the decision on when America opened up for business again. Although the president asserted that he has that power, it is up to state leaders to decide. The sentence appeared in a story about managers of Trump International Golf Course pursuing a break on rent paid to Palm Beach County.

Just after 4 p.m. on March 25, Ed Raymundo, finance director at Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, sent an email to Palm Beach County’s real estate management department. The note asked how the county intended to handle the $88,338 monthly rent that the Trump Organization pays the county to lease the land where President Trump built his favorite golf club in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had already ordered restaurants and bars to close as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, meaning Trump and the club’s members would no longer relax in the bar and restaurant overlooking the pristine 27-hole golf course.

"This mandate has resulted in the cancellation of events and forced the Club to close many of it’s (cq) amenities leaving limited services available to our members," Raymundo wrote. "In addition, with many New York based members, the Governor’s most recent order requiring individuals traveling from the tri-state area to self-quarantine further hampers our operation. Your direction in this is greatly appreciated."

>>Jobless claims spike as Florida unveils new website for applications

Like other Palm Beach County businesses, the president’s golf club has been forced to close as the pandemic plays out. Like other businesses, Trump International is still required to pay its landlord, the county, rent payments.

All true, but there is that one major difference: The club is owned by the President of the United States, the commander-in-chief who made the call of when the country shut down and who will make the call on when America opens up for business again.

On the same day Raymundo emailed his query, about a mile away from the club, county officials were holding a press conference at the county’s emergency operations center. Among the warnings and grim statistics, the county ordered all golf courses to close.

Of the three golf clubs Trump owns in South Florida, including Trump National Doral Florida and, Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, the golf club in West Palm Beach, is by far his most frequented.

Just a few miles from Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Palm Beach, Trump has spent 83 of the 127 days he has visted Mar-a-Lago at Trump International.Trump hosts his annual Super Bowl party at the club and has played there with golf legends, political allies and White House aides.

In the days that followed the club’s coronavirus closure, county officials and attorneys pored over lease agreements Trump finally signed in 1996, and 2002, after a long and controversial lawsuit over the land. The 99-year lease agreement required Trump to make monthly payments that had increased over the years to $54,534 for the main18-hold golf course, and $33,804 for the smaller, nine hole course.

The agreements contain a provision commonly seen in contracts called force majeure. The Latin term means an unforeseeable action that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract, like the lease agreement the Trump Organization has with the county.

Force majuere provisions typically include acts of God such as hurricanes or floods. But neither of the contracts between the county and the Trump Organization include force majuere provisions that cover pandemics.

>>Jobless claims spike as Florida unveils new website for applications

The Trump Organization has not asked the county to defer its rent payment on the golf course land. But the question of whether the pandemic could be considered an act of God is particularly crucial given that Trump, in his role as president, is ultimately in charge of calling for an economic shutdown and, conversely, would be the one to end the nationwide business closures.

"This is a highly unusual situation because you may have the tenant who is seeking relief in charge of protecting against the events upon which that tenant is complaining," said West Palm Beach attorney Michael Gelfand, former chair of the Florida Bar’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and a fellow of the American College of Real Estate lawyers.

"There are so many permutations to this," Gelfand said. "It’s a law school exam question."

>>Antibody tests are hitting the market, but are they accurate?

Real estate lawyers across the country have been discussing force majuere contract provisions for the past three weeks, Gelfand said.

"Most of the players are trying to figure out how the parties in a relationship can come to a reasonable compromise so they can do business together in the future, because all this will pass," Gelfand said.

That seems to be what both the Trump Organization and the county want.

In an email response to Raymundo on March 31, Ray Walter, the Deputy Director of Real Estate and Concessions at the county’s department of airports, which owns the land, offered a preliminary opinion on the force majuere provision in the contract.

>>PHOTOS: Coronavirus in Florida and around the world

Under the county’s interpretation of the lease agreement, the county would be "unable to forgive rental but in certain situations airports may be able to defer rental on a short-term basis in the midst of the current state of closure."

Walter said he expected "more direction in the coming days or weeks.

"We understand until the situation settles it may be premature to offer a specific proposal for resolution," Walter wrote, adding that the Palm Beach County Commission would have the final say. "So please accept this as agreement with you that it is critical for us to keep the dialogue open."

Raymundo arranged for the April rent payment to be made and asked to be notified when the county had finalized its plans on handling the rent payments as the pandemic continues.

"We appreciate your continued cooperation and will continue to be in touch," Raymondo wrote in an email. "Best regards."

cstapleton@pbpost.com

@StapletonPBPost

VIDEO: Coronavirus vs the flu