The Wellington showgrounds have been sold

The seemingly endless speculation is over: the Winter Equestrian Festival showgrounds have been sold, with an ambitious nine-figure plan for upgrades on an expanded venue in Wellington, Fla.

The buyers are former owners, a group including entrepreneur Mark Bellissimo, with his longtime partners Lisa Lourie, Roger Smith and Marsha Dammerman. Bellissimo led the purchase of what was then Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, a deteriorating venue, from Stadium Jumping Inc. in 2007 and turned it into a facility that now attracts big name jumper riders from Europe, as well as from the U.S. and the rest of North America. It will be combined with a contiguous 96 acres that originally was billed as a new home for dressage.

Former U.S. Equestrian Federation President Murray Kessler is taking over as CEO, but Michael Stone will continue as president and lead the Equestrian Sport Productions team that has been putting on 40 weeks of shows at Wellington International in the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World.”

Enhancements will include not just the facilities, Kessler promised, saying, “We want to improve the production, the sport, attract the best riders in the world. It’s always sport first; we want this to be the best sport in the world.”

Much-needed major work on the current showgrounds will begin in April and continue until next show season there, while the action moves 1.5 miles from Wellington International to Equestrian Village, which hosts dressage from January through March, as well as a number of jumper and hunter competitions.

Bellissimo said that while there is a 2028 deadline for finishing the expanded showgrounds, “in a best case scenario, it would be the 2026 season, but what we’re not going to do is go into an incomplete facility.” Equestrian Village will operate as usual in 2025.

Global Equestrian Group and Waterland Private Equity, which bought the WEF showgrounds in 2022, wound up extending the right of first refusal to the buyers, who earlier this year had filed suit seeking that option, and the deal went through last week.

“The sale is a testament to the fact that Wellington International is now ready for its next chapter,” said Andreas Helgstrand, CEO of GEG.

When the project is finished, all the disciplines will be on the same property, which has a 193.6 acre footprint. Then construction will begin on a high-end golf community at Equestrian Village, formerly part of the Village’s Equestrian Preserve. There was an uproar in the community about removing the land from the Preserve, and contentious hearings were held from the summer of 2023 until the Village Council approved the project in February. The permission was contingent on providing a new destination to replace Equestrian Village so the Global Dressage Festival could continue.

Bellissimo, a controversial figure in some quarters, is involved with Wellington Lifestyle Partners that is constructing the golf community, but it is his daughter, Paige Bellissimo Nunez, who has an active role there. He is keeping a low profile on the showgrounds project, with its group for the moment called WI FL Acquisition. His daughter is on the board of that entity, but he is not.

“We have a remarkable once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really take a look at this and build the world class facility that Mark and Michael and others involved with this for a long time, the vision they’ve always had. This is building on all of that legacy,” said Kessler, a retired drug company CEO who has lived in Wellington for 48 years.

He noted “it’s just not right that over the last year or two, there has been a level of uncertainty, especially through the sales process. We want all that behind us. Everybody bring the community together, focus on making this the world’s greatest show.”

Assessing the news of the sale, show jumping Olympic multi-medalist McLain Ward, said, “A positive thing is Murray Kessler’s involvement. I’ve had great experiences working with him in the past and we hope for the best in this situation.”

 

Dressage rider Arlene “Tuny” Page, who owns a farm in Wellington, started a last-ditch effort in February to raise money for the purchase of the Equestrian Village property where the dressage was being held. That didn’t work.

So she was interested to learn there will be a place for dressage in the showgrounds expansion.

“Obviously, every horseman and horsewoman and everyone whose livelihood depends on this being successful is going to be pretty darn happy if that really comes to pass. We’ve seen a lot of things fall through our fingers; you think it’s done and then nope, it’s not. I hope and pray that whole crew is really satisfied and will execute on it. That would be great,” she said.

Page takes comfort from Kessler’s involvement.

“Murray is absolutely top drawer. He’s ridiculously smart and really well-connected. So that’s a great way to start. Things have been very, very shaky here.”

When dressage riders didn’t know if shows would be held at Equestrian Village for 2025, that did “have everybody on edge,” Page noted.

“If we have a path to glory, I’m all for it.”

In recent years, the new World Equestrian Center in Ocala north of Wellington and TerraNova near Sarasota on Florida’s West Coast have built glittering facilities and attracted a wide range of equestrian competitors.

But Bellissimo said, “This is not intended to be a relative standard vis a vis WEC or anyplace else. Wellington is unique; WEC is unique. They both have great products and great customers. Our focus is to really define something that is very unique and different. I believe we’ve got a leadership team that is unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

“What they need is the right vision, the right direction and the right capital. We’re going to defer to them in terms of expanding the vision and execution of this. It’s up to us to provide the capital, which we’re comfortable doing. There’s been a lot of interest (from) others that want to participate in this.”

He would like the process to be more collegial, to “create a little sanctuary to enjoy equestrian sport, enjoy their families and enjoy the uniqueness of Wellington and Palm Beach County.  I don’t think that can repeated anywhere,” he continued, remarking that there are nearly 1,000 farms between Wellington and neighboring Loxahatchee.

“We’re going to try to fulfill what we started 18 years ago.”

What will the final design of the showgrounds be?

“There’s all kinds of creative things that can be done and a master plan will be put in place,” said Kessler, who doesn’t have details at the moment.

“You’re going to have to stay tuned for that part of it,” he noted. But he did add, “Dressage was in jeopardy in Wellington and now it has certainty.

“The idea is for Michael and his team  to go out in the community and figure out what is the best configuration here. We need to figure out what exactly do the market and the customers want in building what we believe is a very unique and responsive venue for the different disciplines we serve.”