Trump drops bid to buy a Roslyn country club

Donald Trump apparently has scratched the Engineers Country Club in Roslyn Harbor from his list of potential acquisitions - but the billionaire Thursday hinted the game might not be over.

Trump said he was willing to spend at least $20 million to buy and fix the private golf club, but was put off by members' "infighting," the "insurgents" against a sale and an "arcane," open-ended tax liability that he refused to guarantee.

"We want them to get their house in order before we do a deal," said Trump, who wrote the board a Jan. 20 rejection. "Unless we have unanimity, I don't want to spend the kind of money that's going to be necessary to put that ship back in order."

Talks "ended very amicably" last week, said Engineers attorney Eric Woldenberg.

"There were key considerations to protect the members of the club and at the end of the day I think Mr. Trump felt he could not agree to those," said Woldenberg, who declined to provide details.

Engineers was to be the Trump National Golf Club - Long Island. It made sense because Trump has courses in Westchester, the Hudson Valley and New Jersey, other places convenient for Wall Street honchos.

Trump said he had never heard of Engineers until some club members, who also play at his golf courses, asked him to buy the club. Engineers, like other North Shore clubs, lost members after Wall Street's meltdown.

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But after Trump and son Eric visited in the summer, factions sprang up among the club's 200-plus members.

The Association for a Better Engineers, with at least 24 anonymous members, was ready to sue to keep the club private. The organized opposition and the board couldn't even agree on the terms of a meeting.

Association attorney Larry Hutcher said his clients prefer anonymity because of "vigorous disagreement" over Trump's offer.