WELLINGTON, Fla.--The Horse published a story on Oct. 22 entitled"Mark Bellissimo is back as a partner in the group that bought the Wellington show grounds."
For those who haven't closely followed the politics and intrigue involved with the ownership of the Winter Equestrian Festival, this is a very short and incomplete history of why the community distrusts Bellissimo being back as a partner in the group that just bought the show grounds.
Bellissimo is a developer.
The deals Bellissimo have made will enable him to develop the land on which the dressage shows are now held, adjacent to the Palm Beach Polo and Golf Club.
This will over-populate the community, stress the roads and make the area more dangerous for travel and for horses.
Mark Bellissimo bought the show grounds in 2007 from Gene Mische' Stadium Jumping and it didn't take very long to have him almost universally detested by owners, trainer, riders and adjacent land owners.
HE NEVER finished work on the show grounds on time so dangerous machinery was around during shows, and his high handed treatment of participants alienated people.
The show quickly outgrew the land it was on, warm-up areas were too small, there was not enough room for exhibitors to park,and paths between rings were dangerous with kids driving golf carts and too many people, endangering the horses,
As much as he was disliked, he was distrusted even more.
When he sold the show grounds to the international group Global in 2022, there were hopes things would improve, but little was done.
Meanwhile, Bellissimo retained ownership of the part of the show grounds where the dressage competitions are held, and he tried unsuccessfully to break the zoning to permit him to develop that area.
Dressage competitors were so upset with Bellissimo that a group led by Tuny Page tried to raise enough money to buy the property.
Bellissimo owned land in Wellington's Equestrian Preserve, and he wanted to remove some land from the Preserve to build a golf course,
After much controversy and interminable village council meeting, a group headed by Bellissimo's daughter Paige Nunez was approved to build the golf community provided there would be a new destination for the Dressage Festival.
Part of the deal was that 250 acres would be given to the horse show to expand its show grounds.
Bellissimo was not on the board of that group, and if the village council had realized he was behind the project it probably wouldn't have approved it.
When Global put the show grounds up for sale last year, various groups tried to raise the money to buy it, but WI FL Acquisition was successful.
Again, Paige Nunez is on the board but Bellissimo is not.
But it is the former majority owners of Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, Mark Bellissimo, Marsha Dammerman, Lisa Lourie, and Roger Smith (“the Partners”), that formed a new entity called WI FL Acquisition, LLC (“the Company”) to buy Wellington International.
As Bellissimo is part of the group that has bought the show grounds, participants and landowners are leery of what may happen next, but they are hopeful that Murray S. Kessler, who will lead Wellington International as Chief Executive Officer, will actually be in charge.
As yet, although there is land for expansion, there is no plan in place for new rings and stables.
So everyone is waiting for the next shoe to drop.