Greenbrier owner Jim Justice buys Resort at Glade Springs
By APWednesday, March 31, 2010
Greenbrier resort owner acquires Glade Springs
DANIELS, W.Va. — The owner of The Greenbrier added a second exclusive West Virginia resort to his holdings Wednesday, acquiring The Resort at Glade Springs.
Jim Justice declined to disclose how much his Justice Family Group paid for a 92.5 percent stake in the 4,100-acre resort. Elmer Coppoolse and his EMCO Hospitality Inc. retained a 7.5 percent share and will manage Glade Springs.
Justice described the acquisition as a bailout after part of Glade Springs’ financing dried up and Coppoolse called for help.
“They were having some awfully, awfully serious problems,” Justice said. “He came to me and said this is my Hail Mary pass.”
Justice described the residential and golfing community as an ideal extension to The Greenbrier, which dates to 1778. The resort has hosted nearly 30 presidents and is on the National Register of Historic Places, but was in bankruptcy when Justice bought it for $20.1 million last May.
The Glade Springs purchase includes hotels, cottages, villas, meeting spaces, three 18-hole golf courses, spas, pools and other amenities, but not Winterplace Ski Resort nor the resort’s real estate business.
Glade Springs is located 39 miles away from The Greenbrier and Justice envisions the two working together.
For instance, The Greenbrier now can accommodate a guest who wants to play a different golf course every day for a week, Justice said. Likewise, either resort can send guests on a 40-minute shuttle bus ride if they’re full.
“We’re going to run them as distinctly different entities,” Justice said. “There’s some real synergies that can make Glade become very profitable and there’s some things here that they have that can benefit The Greenbrier.”
Glade Springs has suffered with the economy, but Justice said it has been profitable more recently than The Greenbrier, which has lost money for several years. Justice said The Greenbrier is expected to be profitable for 2010, which will include a partial year of a full-scale casino now scheduled to open in June.
