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Fingers crossed.
I have been advocating for this all along, I think a non profit entity needs to buy both properties. I watched all of the last three sessions of testimony in front of the council and was really terrified by how up in the air this whole thing is.
So pretty much all the multi million dollar equestrian properties in the area are part of the equestrian preserve as well. Assuming they are successful in their bid to take Global out of the preserve and build their residential stuff that’s one thing. But if the show fails and there is no more WEF or Global at all then all those properties are pretty much worthless. They can’t be sold to developers and no one wants to come here with their horses if the closest show is hours away. The amount of money hanging on this decision no matter what they decide is astronomical.
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The board’s acceptance of vague promises, opaque funding and shady business partners is shocking and disturbing. The futures of both horse shows need to be out of developers’ hands.
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That’s kind of impossible at the moment since the owners are the developers more or less. I really don’t think the board has decided anything yet and know for a fact that one has said from what he has heard so far he is voting no. They only need one more to vote no and it’s over. I am just not sure that will be the victory people are hoping for. Be careful what you wish for sort of thing.
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@Laurierace: I don’t think that is the risk.
If the show fails, then there would be even more pressure, and more logic, to re-zone and develop. Those properties would then skyrocket. Maybe that’s the end game for the current owners: take over the shows, let the properties get run down (granted, that’s a very relative term, so maybe let the shows get less desirable, or something like that), then declare that everyone went to Ocala (WEC) or Sarasota (Terra Nova), there is no tax base, blah blah, and bingo, request a change to the preserve zoning then.
Hard to see that outcome, but if you squint, you might just see it…
Hats off to Tuny and the others who are bringing $ to table to show that there’s plenty of interest, and $, who want to keep the preserve as is and want to invest in the showgrounds and shows.
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There is a slight chance of that happening but I doubt It. That would literally change the entire landscape of the village and the surrounding areas. I don’t see the resident allowing that to happen. They aren’t happy about this little potential change
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What’s fuzzy to me is who will run/maintain the facility once its bought? That costs $$, the shows raise $$ but is it enough? Or are these buyers also on the hook going forward? Hopefully someone looked at the Global financials… 
Quote: Hats off to Tuny and the others who are bringing $ to table to show that there’s plenty of interest, and $, who want to keep the preserve as is and want to invest in the showgrounds and shows.
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Not sure if you are referring to what is now Global or WEF. Regardless I don’t think they will necessarily be the same people so who knows? The way it stands at the moment as I understand It is if they vote yes they can not build a single house on Global property until after the new show grounds is built and possibly operational. BUT the council can’t tell them what to do with their own property so they could easily build the new show site and never use it
I read the article as a group wanting to buy the current Equestrian Village property and to keep the Global Dressage Festival going at that location, along with other equest. events. Admitting here that as I’m not local there, its confusing to me as to who is trying to do what with which piece of land. And how this might impact the new show grounds.
How on earth did things come to this? It seems like Wellington has only existed a very short time, and already it’s at risk? What happened?
It’s confusing to a lot of us from across the Country. Reporters referring to the show series and venues using local shorthand doesn’t help with the comprehension.
Wellington is a town/suburb. Wellington is also a show series. Wellington is also a venue in danger of being shuttered. Global is a series of CDIs, held in the same (or nearby?) area, but at another venue which is not in danger of being shuttered? But this article in the OP says Global is in danger too. So it’s all in one facility?
Have I got that right?
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Thank you.
Wellington is a village. Wellington International aka WEF and Global are across the street from each other and owned by more or less the same people. They use Global for all levels of dressage but also use the Derby field for show jumping and hunters. They actually use the Derby field year round while much of the time during the year WEF sits empty.
The people who own both WEF and Global are trying to get permission to essentially move Global to the opposite side of WEF so they can use Global to build all sorts of stuff. Houses, multi family buildings, shopping, restaurants, a hotel etc. They are basically threatening to take their ball and go home ie shut down if they don’t get their way. To do all that would mean they would have to take the land that Global occupies out of the equestrian preserve that was created in the 70s to insure that Wellington remained green and horsey forevermore.
Wellington International ie WEF is for sale. Whoever buys it will decide what the path of the horse show will be going forward. It is overcrowded and in need of some TLC but still the main winter destination for the equestrian world. How long it can continue to remain that will depend upon a lot of factors. I still say a non profit is the best shot that most everyone will be happy with the eventual outcome whatever that may be.
We moved down here for 6 plus months of the year last winter and I absolutely love it here but won’t deny that a big part of that is due to the horses. I don’t even want to think about Wellington without the fantastic equestrian lifestyle that comes with it whether you are a horse person or not.
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Some years back there was talk about moving the WEF horse show to a different location. I think it was going to be down on 50th St. or someplace like that.
Needless to say, all the people who had built farms in Grand Prix Village and everywhere else around the horse show grounds were not happy about that idea.
I heard someone compare it to building a ski resort only to find that someone was going to move the mountain.
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So if this group (Tuny Page etc.) purchases the property how will it survive going forward? Does it actually make money now or will it be a tax write off as a non-profit?
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@Bogey2 I was pondering the same thing above. the group laying out 25m upfront, Even if its a non profit, and losing $ someone still has to cover the operating costs, so cash out of pocket. the whole thing sounds like a complicated mess WEF is for sale? Who’s going to buy that? what to do re Global, how to build more stuff. A big financial puzzle as much as anything.
Been down there a few times visiting friend, horse shopping, and showed there once. WEF is both spread out and jammed together at the same time. Not my favorite place. But I’m not and wasn’t a top level rider.
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Wellington is way out of my budget! Plus I am not a big Florida person in general.
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Yes, all this. The WEF showgrounds (hunter/jumper/eq shows) is on a plot of land diagonally across an intersection from the Global showgrounds (dressage and derby field) (technically there is a small neighborhood in between WEF and the intersection, to be totally accurate). You can drive a car on the road between the two, or drive a golf cart/ride a horse on a fenced-off dirt path alongside the road (although you do have to cross the street). WEF lacks parking, but Global has plenty. On some weekends, WEF asks spectators to park at Global and take a free bus over to WEF. So, they are close by but not particularly integrated with each other. [For those that don’t know Wellington at all, there are two other showgrounds for dressage - White Fences and Jim Brandon, both are which are more low key and have limited stabling. I can’t speak to what, if any, other facilities the jumpers have except that there have been big grand prixs held on the grass at the The Ridge and on one of the polo fields.]
As I understand it, the proposal is to put a golf course, hotel, and housing, etc. on the Global plot of land, and build a new dressage showgrounds on the same block as WEF.
One theory I heard at some point was that the new grounds built on the back side of WEF would be for the jumpers, and the hunters and dressage horses would both show at the existing WEF facility.
Not sure how that would play out or if that is still the plan.
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