I don’t even know if anybody is living in Canterbury. When I went through the house a couple years ago, it was completely furnished, the china room full of china etc, but nobody was living in it. I would so buy that property in a heart beat!
The sale of Morningside in Fauquier has been completed. They’re now applying to the County for the permits necessary to have “equestrian instruction” and horse shows there. The buyers are reportedly Najaf and Leslie Husain. I’m hoping that they’ll continue to maintain and operate the farm and keep it open, although it sounds like that’s the intent.
Does anyone know them?
[QUOTE=eponacelt;6213064]
The sale of Morningside in Fauquier has been completed. They’re now applying to the County for the permits necessary to have “equestrian instruction” and horse shows there.[/QUOTE]
Their website is still active and congratulates the new owners and further states “Morningside Farm is now host to Angelica Run Eventing. Feel free to contact us about training with our new Head Trainer, Skyeler Icke Voss.”
So it appears to be business as usual and not destined to be a development for now.
The exception permit will come up March 29th at the Fauquier Planning Commission meeting.
SPEX12-MA-012. Morningside Training Farm - An application for a Category 18 Special Exception to allow equestrian instruction and competitions on land where there is a non-common open space easement held by the Board of Supervi sors. The properties are located at 5665 Merry Oaks Road and 5742 James Madison Highway, Marshall District.
Wouldn’t equestrian instruction (albeit temporarily) have already been incurring in some form with the facility open to schooling? e.g., students ship in horses with their trainer to work over the XC course.
I saw an ad recedntly saying that the Timber Bay barns at Fair Hill were available for lease.
I feel for the Sez Who folks. They made huge investment in NY in the early 2000’s after the slots were approved in NY. They did alot of work on the property and brought in nice horses. They were among the leading breeders in NY every year. Then their was a nearly decade long delay in installing slots compounded by the financial meltdown and they lost the property. Too bad they didn’t have another couple of years to wait.
Middleburg, VA “Mortgage Hall” which is adjacent to the Middleburg Training Center surfaced again on the market. At $2.9M it is (relative for the area) a bit a deal considering you get a c. 1850 Georgian mansion on 121-acres with a few barns, including 24-stalls, equine heated exercise pool, paddocks and outdoor arena.
The seller is Middleburg Bank who foreclosed on the property after the unsuccessful sale of the property and then bankruptcy (filed 7/2011) of its owner Alphabet Soup LLC. The bank is taking a bath on the property as they’re currently out $3,750,000 … getting back $2.9M of that (less agent fees, et al) is better than nothing 
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;6221285]
Middleburg, VA “Mortgage Hall” which is adjacent to the Middleburg Training Center surfaced again on the market. At $2.9M it is (relative for the area) a bit a deal considering you get a c. 1850 Georgian mansion on 121-acres with a few barns, including 24-stalls, equine heated exercise pool, paddocks and outdoor arena.
The seller is Middleburg Bank who foreclosed on the property after the unsuccessful sale of the property and then bankruptcy (filed 7/2011) of its owner Alphabet Soup LLC. The bank is taking a bath on the property as they’re currently out $3,750,000 … getting back $2.9M of that (less agent fees, et al) is better than nothing ;)[/QUOTE]
Yeah! That won’t even put a dent in the $500m lottery winning I expect from hubby in a few days The dog will be so excited to have his very own HEATED pool! I think I better hold off telling him though, until hubby hands over my share of the winnings…
If you have some spare change, you could always buy the Padua Stables Florida property which is to be auctioned because it wouldn’t sell conventionally. You might get a good deal. 
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/68645/floridas-padua-stables-to-be-sold-at-auction?&utm_source=DailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120404
[QUOTE=vineyridge;6235620]
If you have some spare change, you could always buy the Padua Stables Florida property which is to be auctioned because it wouldn’t sell conventionally.[/QUOTE]
It’s been on the market for a fair amount of time through Ocala-based listing agent Joan Pletcher who is Todd’s stepmother (His mother is Jerrie Pletcher; father, J.J. Pletcher, and step-mother, Joan)
Video and auction details from J.P. King
Flashback: Dec 7, 2007 Ocala - Farm has long, twisted history
After seven years of operation, Hutson sold Silverleaf Farm to Anne and Satish Sanan for $7.5 million. The couple renamed the farm Padua Stables.
Sanan is asking $35 million for the facility.
A more recent listing carried a $24.95 million price tag. I ran across a mention of it (or at least a portion) for $13.5 million in late 2011 although it curiously was redacted.
Guaranteed if the price is low enough per-acre that Frank Stronach - already the 3rd largest land holder in that county will snatch it up but not for horses. He has 29,000 acres now and wants more for his cattle ranch plans. Tens of thousands of grass-feed, hormone-free cattle for beef production.
There still is on the edge of Lexington, Kentucky the 145-acre Cobra Farms (while not part of this parcel, on the greater 340-acres was where Seattle Slew was foaled) on the market for $8.75M which is very optimistic.
Perhaps the mother of all impressive equestrian facilities is transferring ownership without going on the open market for sale. The farm has been held by a trust since the 1992 auction purchase by Henryk De Kwiatkowski, who died in 2003.
Per the Paulick Report - Calumet Farm to be sold (April 2012)
[Calumet] is in the process of being sold to billionaire Brad Kelley of Franklin, Ky.,
Kelley, described as extremely private by those who know him, is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 263rd wealthiest American with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion.
He is owner of 403-acre Hurricane Hall off Georgetown Road near Lexington, and 222-acre Bluegrass Hall, the farm formerly owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt across from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.
Jeeze!
Is the man a horse person or a developer in waiting? I read the story, and he doesn’t seem to be a horse person. The day he gives conservation easements on his Lexington property would be a day that comes with a huge sigh of relief.
Says he’s from Franklin, KY but also that he lives in the Nashville area. Is that the Franklin, KY that is just over the TN border off I-65 south of Bowling Green? Wasn’t there a track in Franklin, KY that used to run some very odd races (long turf?).
[QUOTE=vineyridge;6264959]
Is the man a horse person or a developer in waiting? I read the story, and he doesn’t seem to be a horse person. The day he gives conservation easements on his Lexington property would be a day that comes with a huge sigh of relief.[/QUOTE]
In regards to Brad Kelley? I don’t see what would motivate him to develop the property as he hasn’t done anything like that with his other farms. Further he’s a conservationist as well:
He has about 30 horses in training and about 60 broodmares.
According to The Land Report, Kelley is a wildlife conservationist who has collected rare species, including pygmy hippos and impalas, at his Florida ranch for the purpose of breeding them.
A March 2012 property valuation estimated the 798-acre farm to be worth a fair cash value of $22,893,200, but local realtors said it could bring $30 million or more on the market.
By the way the Calumet “sale” appears to have been more of a tire kicking exercise when Ray brought it to light. Per the DRF Thursday (Apr 19) afternoon
“Calumet has not been sold,” said Bud Greely, who serves as chairman of Calumet’s advisory board. “If somebody walks in, I’m a businessman, and if somebody walks in and puts down a big check that I can’t refuse, why, I’ll sell everything. Everybody’s telling me about Brad Kelley, and I say, ‘Well, if he wants to come in and put down a big check, okay.’ But nobody’s put down a big check yet.”
The Lexington Courier-Journal went so far as to just call it a ‘rumour’
Kelley is known to be extremely private — so private that some trainers who saddle horses for him have never met or even spoken to him in person.
Kelley owns Hurricane Hall in Lexington (he races under the name Bluegrass Hall) and late last year, he bought 168 acres along Parkers Mill Road for a combined $3.17 million. He already owned a 224-acre parcel directly across from Calumet, which he bought for $6.9 million in 2005.
The reclusive Kelley, who was briefly on the board of Churchill Downs with 11 percent of the company, has a potential Derby horse, Optimizer, in training with D. Wayne Lukas. So maybe reporters will get a chance to ask him whether he plans to revive the famous devil red and blue silks.
Considering Henryk de Kwiatkowski was also very, very guarded about his money, businesses and even back ground Mr. Kelley seems like a kindred spirit.
From a Sept 2005 New York Times article on Kelley:
According to Forbes, Mr. Kelley is 48 and worth $1.3 billion. I Googled him. Nothing, or at least nothing substantial. I ran a LexisNexis search, only to discover that, until now, Mr. Kelley had for the most part been overlooked by the news media.
I called him at home. (His number is listed.) Mr. Kelley was not at all glad to hear from me. At one point, frustrated by my questions, he blurted that he felt he was on some sort of reality show: “I’m trying to, you know, my purpose in talking to you is not so much being courteous, which I try to be, it’s damage control and it’s really uncomfortable for me and I really wish you’d avoid as much personal matter as possible,” he said.
Born and raised in Franklin, Ky., a small town (population 8,000) about 40 miles north of Nashville, Mr. Kelley seemed most likely to take over his family’s farm. According to the Franklin-Simpson High School yearbook of 1974, the year he graduated … He was secretary for the Future Farmers of America, winner of the Courier-Journal Louisville Times Future Farmers of America contest and a member of the Who’s Who Among American High School Students. As well, he was named Corn Derby winner.
Blue Bunting who raced in Europe was bred in Kentucky by B. M. Kelley. Reckon it’s the same person? Initials and last name are the same. And he does breed if he has 80 broodmares. She raced for Godolphin in most of the filly classics in the UK.
An aside but the Lexington Herald Leader article quipped yesterday: So maybe reporters will get a chance to ask [Lukas training for Kelley] whether he plans to revive the famous devil red and blue silks.
That wouldn’t be possible as some folks know. The Brazilian-based stable Stud TNT acquired them (actually Gonzalo Borges Torrealba purchased the rights) and when they do race in the US they’re used.
Per Equibase Stud TNT’s last US runner was in 2010. They have a partnership - Live Oak Plantation and Stud TNT - which just announced 4-18-12 that Drosselmeyer, winner of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), will stand at TNT Stud in Bage, Brazil for the Southern Hemisphere season.
Regarding Calumet being sold: A March 2012 property valuation estimated the 798-acre farm to be worth a fair cash value of $22,893,200, but local realtors said it could bring $30 million or more on the market.
The DRF didn’t state the price Kennelot Stables received for it but Ray Paulick is reporting $45,000 per acre which pegs this at $35,910,000.
“There will be a transition period until July 15 for the current operation, and then there will be an orderly turnover of the property and facilities to Mr. Kelley’s operation,” Charles Middleton, trustee for the Calumet Investment Group, said.
"The farm is going to be a Thoroughbred operation and hopefully one that is very successful that puts Calumet’s name back in the highlights of the Thoroughbred industry.
“It’s going to be a private operation,” Middleton added.
Although to keep some perspective (if possible) in the same 24-hour period the highest auction price was achieved for a work of art: Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ at $119.9 million (including Sotheby’s 12% premium) on Wednesday, May 2, 2012. So in many ways the farm was dirt cheap
Kind of scary, though. There is no non-development promise quoted; and death has a habit of changing things with heirs wanting to cash in. Now if the first trust has created a Conservation Easement on Calumet, that would carry over to the new owner.
Anyone know if there are any development limitations on Calumet now? Other than zoning, of course. And is Calumet zoned agricultural? Does ag zoning even mean anything that close to Versailles and Lexington? Look at Hamburg Place. It’s on the site of one of Lexington’s most hallowed horse farms.
There is only one Calumet. There are FOUR Screams.
Two years after it was purchased by Cosette Property LLC (June 2010) for $23,900,000 the Greenwich, CT estate known as Old Mill Farm has been put back on the market for $32,950,000. It’s still on the 75-acres that the prior owner, Mel Gibson, assembled when he purchased in in 1994.
The property is notable not just because of the outstanding, award winning architecture but because it was built for equestrian George Lewis Ohrstrom Sr. and his foxhunting wife Emma. They later divorced, she kept the mansion, and he relocated to The Plains, VA where his heirs live and have Whitewood Stables. Among their holdings remain The Chronicle of the Horse & The Victory Racing Plate Company
Just read on Bloodhorse that Secretariat’s birthplace, Meadow Farms, has been sold for 5.35 million to a Tennessean at a foreclosure sale. http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/69992/secretariats-birthplace-sold-for-535m
Do we suspect that it will be scheduled for development as a shopping center or housing development?
[QUOTE=vineyridge;6332696]
Just read on Bloodhorse that Secretariat’s birthplace, Meadow Farms, has been sold for 5.35 million to a Tennessean at a foreclosure sale. Do we suspect that it will be scheduled for development as a shopping center or housing development?[/QUOTE]
It [The Meadow Event Park] will resume as a fair per the press conference. The buyer is Universal Fairs LLC, a Tennessee-based fair and festival operator. I suspect they’ll be able to make a credible run with breaking even unlike the prior entity which bought the property for a similar amount in 2003 then dumped $75M into it. Insane, but not uncommon for non-for-profits with little financial accountability.
I don’t expect the Secretariat angle being overly promoted but rather the overall size for mass gatherings.
Universal Fairs stages fairs and other festivals and expositions in several states, including Arizona, Mississippi and Washington. It recently took over the financially troubled Georgia State Fair and operated it for 10 days that started in late April.
Lovell thinks that along with the State Fair and other regular events, The Meadow Event Park could be well-situated to hold a music festival.
