A Decision by Wellington Government to Approve Replacing Global Dressage Festival with Golf Community May Spark Lawsuit by Opponents
6 months ago StraightArrow Comments Off on A Decision by Wellington Government to Approve Replacing Global Dressage Festival with Golf Community May Spark Lawsuit by Opponents
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 6, 2024–A decision by the Wellington government to approve replacing the existing Global Dressage Festival with a residential golf community may spark a lawsuit by opponents who raised $25 million within 48 hours to buy the land.
The Village of Wellington council is expected to complete Wednesday night a series of lengthy public hearings by voting to remove the site known as Equestrian Village from an equestrian preserve that was created originally to assure that an area of about 9,000 acres is restricted to horse activities, including farms and riding trails that make Wellington unique. A change of such significance requires a vote in favor by at least four of the five council members, that has been foreshadowed by previous decisions of four politicians voting to move the proposal along.
Current plans call for creating a new dressage facility adjoining the existing Wellington Equestrian Festival that is up for sale by Waterland, a hedge fund that controls Global Equestrian Group that bought WEF in July 2021.
The latest moves to save the Global grounds have been led by David Page, a successful developer of real estate across the United States, and Arlene “Tuny” Page, his wife and lifelong equestrian. They own a full service dressage farm near Global.
He and Tuny raised $25 million, including commitments from the Pages and original investors and founders of Global and Antonio Ax:son Johnson, a Swedish billionaire with extensive real estate interests in the U.S.
The Global circuit began in 2012 and has grown to attract riders from more than 30 nations for the winter-long series of seven international dressage competitions and even more national events plus hunter and jumper shows. Global has been owned Wellington Equestrian Partners and led by Mark Bellissimo. It had earlier bought the nearby Winter Equestrian Festival, the world’s largest and longest running hunter-jumper show.
Financial support came from First Founding Sponsors made up of Tuny and David Page; Chris and Ron Desino, Matt Varney; Kimberly van Kampen and Frederic Boyer; Terri and Devon Kane of Diamante Farm; Janet Richardson-Pearson and William Pearson, and Joseph and Gaye Scarpa. A second group of Founding Sponsors was made up of Mike and Roz Collins; Tim and Susie Dutta; Ashley Holzer and Dr. Diane Fellows; Betsy Juliano; Bethany Peslar and Carol & Rebecca Cohen; Suhail and PJ Rizvi and Janne Rumbough.
