In 1973, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post donated her 128-room Palm Beach mansion to the U.S. government to be used as the “winter White House.”
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/home-decor/a7144/mar-a-lago-history/
The Real Reason Donald Trump Bought Mar-a-Lago and How Much He Paid
Sheiresa Ngo
February 21, 2019
"However, the purchase of this estate might have been part of a bigger plan. Did he know all along he would someday become president and need a winter White House? We’ll discuss that a little later."
"Perhaps Donald Trump had his sights set on becoming president of the United States for many years and the Mar-a-Lago purchase was part of his plan all along. Before cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post died in 1972, she bequeathed Mar-a-Lago to the U.S. government. Post desired for the estate be used as a retreat for presidents and visiting dignitaries, according to The New York Times. However, some of the presidents weren’t interested in making this their winter office. "
Willed then given back from what estate?
1973 - Nixon in height of Watergate
1981 - Reagan. “given back”? see above.
No date for Trump purchase.
I’ll dig too.
Mar a Lago winter WH - Or the Snowbird WH ?? lol
SOme other sources too but this one seems most useful, copying relevant bits.
Mar-a-Lago Florida: Everything we know about Trump’s new home
Original owner bequeathed property to government as Winter White House in 1973, but it was returned to family due to lack of interest
Outgoing president Trump has left the White House for the final time, and landed in Florida to set up home at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Owned by Donald Trump since 1985, the property is a national historic landmark with a slightly roundabout path to becoming the Winter White House.
On the death of Ms Post in 1973, she bequeathed the 17-acre estate to the federal government as a Winter White House for the use of presidents and visiting dignitaries. However, neither the Nixon nor Carter administrations were interested in using it.
Further to that, it soon became apparent that the cost of maintaining the property was enormous and it presented security concerns for high profile individuals, being sandwiched as it is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.
In 1980 Mar-a-Lago was declared a National Historic Landmark and in 1981 it was returned to the Post Foundation, which listed it for sale at $20m.
In the following years the property fell into disrepair. There was little interest from buyers to the point that the city of Palm Beach approved its demolition to make way for smaller houses on valuable land.
Mr Trump first offered the Post family $15m for the property having heard about it following an unsuccessful property purchase nearby. The family rejected the offer and so Mr Trump, in a move characteristic of his reputation as a property magnate, bought the land between the house and the ocean for $2m from the former owner of KFC, Jack Massey. He then threatened to build on it to block Mar-a-Lago’s view.
Interest in the property declined further due to the threat and eventually Mr Trump closed the purchase in 1985 for between $7m and $10m — there are differing reports of the final amount.
Another link but very roundabout writing:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-mar-a-lago-180965214/
The Ironic History of Mar-a-Lago
A deep dive into an obscure archive reveals that the Palm Beach property had once been envisioned as a “Winter White House”
Even Wikipedia admits this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago (/ˌmɑːrəˈlɑːɡoʊ/) is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, built from 1924 to 1927 by cereal-company heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post. The 126-room, 62,500-square-foot (5,810 m2)[4] mansion since 1995 contains the Mar-a-Lago Club, a members-only club with guest rooms, a spa, and other hotel-style amenities. It is located in Palm Beach County on the Palm Beach barrier island, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway to the west.
At the time of her death in 1973, Post bequeathed the property to the National Park Service, hoping it could be used for state visits or as a Winter White House, but because the costs of maintaining the property exceeded the funds provided by Post, and it was difficult to secure the facility (as it is located in the flight path of Palm Beach Airport), the property was returned to the Post Foundation by an Act of Congress in 1981.[5]
In 1985, Mar-a-Lago was purchased by Donald Trump for around $10 million. His family maintains private quarters in a separate, closed-off area of the house and grounds.[6] Trump frequently visited there during his tenure as President of the United States,[7] referring to it as the Winter White House and his “Southern White House”. After Trump became president in January 2017, Mar-a-Lago was used to host meetings for international leaders, including Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe and Chinese president Xi Jinping. In September 2019, Mar-a-Lago became the primary residence for Donald and Melania Trump, who previously held primary residence in New York City, in spite of a legal agreement Trump signed in the early 1990s that converted the estate from a private residence to a private club.