How unfortunate and sad! There is not enough big money in dressage to buy this out? The developer (Bellissimo) bought the Colorado Horse Park (where I am) with a promise to make big improvements and put in covered arenas so that we could have year around showing here. Helen Kriebel, the original developer of the Colorado Horse Park, put a 5 year clause into the sales contract (my understanding) and when the 5 years were up Bellisimo sought to sell to the highest bidder. There were never any improvements done and the beautiful facility was run into the ground in the process through a lease to a show management company that had no interest in investing in the property. Our local vet hospital bailed it out and bought it so that the land didn’t get turned into a high density housing development, but they have a big hill to climb to bring it back to its former glory. Wellington: do NOT believe any promises made to you!
Whisperings from various sources over the past years have been to the effect that Bellissimo lost a bunch of money on WEG 2018, lost money on the Colorado Horse Park project, went through an expensive divorce, then remarried, and is losing money on his Wellington projects. There is also concern about WEC in Ocala and Terra Nova in Myakka City starting to impact the appeal of Wellington. I also heard there have been a lot of mutterings from wealthy husbands and daddies about how there is nothing to do while wifey and daughter play with horses, and that has prompted him to branch out into elite lifestyle communities in the area that offer not only upscale housing but other amenities such as golf courses, fancy clubhouses, etc., etc.
It will be interesting to see how things shake out in the coming years for Wellington dressage.
Well I have bad news about Ocala and TerraNova if they’re looking for upscale things to do - palm beach has far better offerings on the luxury lifestyle front than either of the other locations.
I will say having been to WEC, the Wellington setup is outdated and lackluster.
Well I guarantee there is more for hubby to do in S. Florida/W. Palm than here in Ocala…
ANd yes WEC is having an impact. Some big names moving this way.
Agree.
I’ve been there a few times, and when Thomas Baur first arrived, it was definitely not as advertised,
or as amazing as one would be led to believe. Five or six vendors in a small grassy area, a kind of mobile food truck near the arena (closed on a Friday afternoon), and that was about it.
After Baur came aboard, the VIP tent seating was updated and expanded. Maybe more has been done in other areas since then.
But if one visits hunter/jumper-land first, and then comes over to dressage-land, the difference is
stark.
$$$$$. H/J brings in a LOT more of it.
I have a friend that bought a farm in Ocala right when WEC was getting started and before real estate skyrocketed there. In the past few years she had horses with a trainer in Wellington and enjoyed going down there for a few days at a time. But her complaint with Wellington was that there was no place to stay close by. She and hubby bought a Winnebago but she said that got pretty old crammed in there together for more than a day or two. I suppose the marketing scheme in Wellington is to not have hotels/motels so that the people showing will pay three quarters of a million dollars for a two bed room condo for the weekends when they want to show (or watch other people show their horses). I think she decided it was a better deal to buy a farm with a nice roomy house and keep horses there between showing. So she did that in Ocala.
It’s true that there is not much for hotels there.
That being said before the overall real estate boom, it was possible to buy a farm here for not much. I am on 5ac with a small house (older, but renovated before I bought it) and the property came with a small barn (no stalls) and camper hookups. I simply tore down the barn, put up a new one, and added an arena and a couple paddocks (since it’s only me here)
Undoubtedly could have gotten more land in Ocala, and still could for what I paid, but it was less than the price you’ve tossed out for a 2br condo. Unfortunately the current real estate market is screwing everybody, the difference is Wellington has such extreme wealth people don’t care.
Wellington has become unaffordable for the average person and let’s face it golf will provide much more of an income for the owners.
Also people that use hotels/motels (like all of us) are transient occupants, while people in condos tend to be more permanent/stay longer. Neighborhoods prefer more permanent residents or owner occupied housing.
Golf courses generally are a tough business. 1 in 4 loses money, and profit margins are slim. I’d guess any golf course would be members only or mostly, so that limits opportunities for weekend horse show dads - but provides steadier cash flow to the golf course.
To me this whole thing seems a growing cluster**** ; no real direction or overall plan from the town and a few people like Bellissimo with way too much $ and too many things needed. His Colorado story (thanks Cowgirl) is sad.
I am closer to what’s going on in Ocala, and hope that there is some thoughtful oversight up there longer term.
If I could bet on something, I’d bet that dressage may end up a loser here in the end. Even WEC brought the jumpers first, they draw more $. Also, WEC has other types of horse shows - Arabians, Saddlebreds, Western stuff, Paso FInos, etc.
Ask Palm Beach Polo, Wycliffe, or the Fountains how the golf business worked out for them.
May be too much completion down there for golf then…but in general Dressage does not make much money as you know.
Could you tell us ? Many of us aren’t from there.
oh, sorry. They all built golf courses and tied condo or home purchases to needing a minimum golf membership and equity buy in at purchase.
Palm Beach Polo has two courses they have stopped maintaining and the city keeps fining them over.
For awhile, you could buy a very nice home in Wycliffe for about $250,000 because you needed a $50,000 equity buy in and a minimum $20,000 a year golf membership to own the home. Sellers were having to pay the equity component for buyers and the buyers were pushing back on the membership requirements.
Fountains just sold one of its courses and is building more units on the former course site. None of the units with golf memberships were selling.
