A private country club in South Florida has become an epicenter of high-stakes global diplomacy.
Delegations from at least nine nations convened over the weekend at Shell Bay Club, the ultra-exclusive Hallandale Beach club co-owned by developer Steve Witkoff, for parallel negotiations on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, according to Axios.
Witkoff, who joined President Donald Trump’s administration in January as the president’s lead negotiator on both conflicts, has used Shell Bay as an off-the-record meeting ground for world leaders and envoys. While based part-time in Washington, he has reportedly flown at his own expense to European and Middle Eastern capitals to advance talks on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and on Iran’s nuclear program.
Shell Bay’s luxury and privacy has proven convenient for discreet discussions far from the scrutiny of Washington and the international media. The members-only club, which opened in 2023 with reported initiation fees exceeding $1 million, sits about an hour south of Trump’s home, the private Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago, and a short drive north of Miami Beach.
Witkoff’s eponymous firm is leading a handful of major projects in South Florida, including the redevelopment of the Shore Club Art Deco hotel property in Miami Beach, and developing Ocean Terrace, a project in the same city that entails a condo-hotel and a renovated historic hotel.
Witkoff and Ocean Terrace partner, Len Blavatnik’s Access Real Estate, also own a 200-acre mixed-use development site in West Palm Beach that includes the Banyan Cay Resort & Golf Club. Witkoff sold his stake in his company for $120 million in September.
Shell Bay’s role in global affairs traces back to the drafting of Trump’s first Ukraine peace proposal in November, when Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, hosted Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Weeks later, Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov flew to South Florida to review the plan. Subsequent rounds of talks brought U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, European national security chiefs, and Middle Eastern officials to the same club grounds.
This past weekend’s meetings reportedly involved separate sessions for Ukraine and Gaza peace efforts. U.S. envoys met European, Ukrainian and Russian representatives across three days.
Meanwhile, the Qatari prime minister, Egypt’s intelligence chief and Turkey’s foreign minister met with Witkoff and Kushner to coordinate the next steps of the Gaza deal, including establishing a new Palestinian governing body.
— Francisco Alvarado
