Wellington South
Future Land Use Map Amendment Master Plan Amendment Justification Statement May 5, 2023
The Subject Property comprises 288 acres, consisting of 15 parcels located within the Wellington Countryplace PUD. Specifically, the Subject Property includes Pod E (Phases I and II), Pod F (Phases V, VI, and VII), and Pod G (Phases I and II). The Subject Property is owned by key stakeholders in the community Wellington Equestrian Partners (WEP), Wellington Residential Holdings (WRH) and Global Equestrian Group (GEG), collectively referred to as the Applicant, are working together to protect, expand, and enhance Wellington’s equestrian community for now and into the future. WRH and WEP have spent over 15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing and expanding the equestrian industry in Wellington. The primary driver of the equestrian economy is the Wellington International (formerly Palm Beach International Equestrian Center). The existing 80-acre showgrounds consist of 18 competition arenas and 256 permanent stalls, along with bridle trails, pedestrian and golf paths, and exclusive restaurant and shopping areas. Wellington International is home to the 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival, as well as other spring and fall events which established the showgrounds as a world-renowned equestrian facility and garnered the Village of Wellington’s current title as the ‘Winter Equestrian Capital of the World.’ WEP, in July of 2021, sold to GEG Wellington International and its operating company Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP), with the goal of partnering with a world-class team focused on expanding this global equestrian sport and enhancing this vital community amenity. Four WEP partners remain investors in GEG, Mark Bellissimo, Roger Smith, Marsha Dammerman, and Lisa Lourie.
Over the last twenty years, Mark Bellissimo and other local Wellington families have assembled a collection of well-located lands, spanning a total of 600 acres, that present an extraordinary opportunity to add an enduring and enriching asset to the Wellington community. In the fall of 2022, Bellissimo asked NEXUS Luxury Collection, backed by Joe Lewis, Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake and the developer behind Albany in The Bahamas, to plan, design and build a spectacular community in the heart of horse country. One that celebrates the best of South Florida living and complements the equestrian community and heartbeat of Wellington. Together the partnership, called Wellington Lifestyle Partners (WLP), is proud to introduce “The Wellington”, envisioned to be a private community that adds to and accentuates the sport and equestrian lifestyle that has come to define the Village of Wellington over the last four decades. The Wellington will be a thoughtfully designed community encompassing several distinct tracks of land that will all be linked by a common design philosophy. The Wellington is comprised into three projects: The Wellington South is included within this petition, The Wellington North is proposed in a separate concurrent petition, and The Wellington Market is a commercial project open to the public which will be submitted in a separate future petition.
The Wellington will respect open spaces and add luxurious landscaping and garden-like settings to provide the perfect canvas for walking trails, pathways and avenues. Canopied streets and sidewalks will meander throughout the community creating pockets of new development that will showcase some of the finest modern sporting amenities found anywhere in the world. Complementing the collection of amenities will be stunning architecture supporting an array of single-family homes found in farm-like settings and residential enclaves with wooded and water views. The Wellington North will include luxurious low-rise condominium residences centered around an approximately 18-acre Central Park – all with the vision of bringing a new level of sophisticated living to the area.
The Wellington will blend many elements that make a modern club community, and over time will add ancillary amenities and assets within the master plan that continue to enhance and elevate life in the Village of Wellington from expanded conservation lands, walking trails and bridal paths concentrated around a designed town center that is pedestrian friendly, charming, and capable of showcasing and supporting new hotel, office, retail and restaurant offerings for the Village of Wellington that are more routinely found in Palm Beach.
Choose Horses Not Houses
Please sign petition prior to June 6 as the Equestrian Preserve Committee, which is the first step in process for approval, meets on June 7 at 6:30 pm and they need to know what the residents think about these massive projects. Your signature will affirm you oppose rezoning Equestrian Preserve land and amending zoning increasing residential density in the Equestrian Preserve.
