In front of a standing room only crowd at the Polk County Board of Commissioners meeting, Tryon Equestrian Properties’ Managing Partner Mark Bellissimo said he is excited about the positive energy from Polk residents about the project.
Bellissimo provided a question and answer session for the public during the county’s July 7 meeting about the new equestrian center, Tryon Resort, which opened last week off the Pea Ridge exit of U.S. 74.
Bellissimo showed a video about the resort then answered questions from the almost 200 residents who attended the meeting.
Questions ranged from how people can seek employment, how many contractors currently are local, the timeline of construction, whether or not trails will be open to the public and how the facility will handle traffic. Then the questions turned to congratulations, thanks for the partners’ confidence in Polk County and compliments of partner and Polk resident Roger Smith.
Bellissimo ended the session by saying he just had to say one last thing.
“This is first time I’ve ever sat in a public meeting and didn’t get hammered,” he said.
Bellissimo spoke shortly at the beginning of the session, saying the partners are extremely excited about this opportunity and they understand it brings with it a whole set of challenges. He said Tryon Resort is fortunate to have the county commissioners, who have been very cooperative. There are five families involved in the partnership, who Bellissimo said are all committed to the vision’s short and long term goals.
“It’s not meant to overwhelm,” Bellissimo said. “The goal is to create something very unique and for the community to engage.”
Bellissimo said when this was first proposed in Polk County, many said to him it would be difficult in this community and people were very skeptical. Bellissimo said the partners decided not to say anything; to say little and do much. He said the facility was opened with 528 people attending.
During the opening equestrian shows last week, Bellissimo said they wanted 200 horses and ended up with 250.
“We had 1,500 people at the event on Saturday and we didn’t say a word, didn’t publicize it,” he said.
He said what he sees in Polk County is a much higher quality facility that fits more with the community.
“I have never in my professional life seen a more inspiring group of people,” said Bellissimo.
He said people worked until midnight and 1 a.m., helping others do their jobs.
He said when the equestrian center is officially opened in September, the partners will honor the people involved.
“We want to honor them for their living legacy,” he said.
Mary Neal Jones asked of the more than 500 employees currently how many live in Polk County?
Bellissimo answered the majority are from Polk, Henderson and Spartanburg counties. He said the preference is people from Polk County with 90 percent of employees coming from within the scope of a 20-30 mile radius.
Shields Flynn asked if employment information is going to be a part of the Tryon Resort website, saying there will be a need for a wide range of talent to fill different roles and there are many residents here with different talents.
Bellissimo said that will happen over time. He said they’ve likely hired at least 100 people who have just walked up on the show grounds and offered their talents.
Other employers Tryon Resort has sought locally, such as for signs. Bellissimo said they approached the Sign Shop in Columbus and said they need 1,000 signs. He said he thinks it’s the biggest order the Columbus shop ever had and it was great to see the energy the owner had.
“She went out and found people and got the signs,” said Bellissimo.
He said at the end of the day the community is going to see all the people that touched this project and the list is going to grow.
“We’ve touched a lot of people here,” Bellissimo said. “I think it’s a lot broader than what people understand.”
Bellissimo also said they are meeting with Isothermal Community College (ICC) to start programs at the high school level to create a guaranteed jobs program.
Bob Binns with Parker-Binns Vineyard and Winery in Mill Spring and Renée McDermott with the Pacolet Area Conservancy (PAC) were two of the crowd to ask how they could help Tryon Resort.
Bellissimo said there is a very high energy in Polk County and he’s never experienced a more welcoming group. He said it’s spectacular and half of the people at last Sunday’s event were not equestrians. Bellissimo said he thinks there should be further community meetings, such as the one on Monday and with local businesses to see how everyone can work together as a community.
Bellissimo said nothing that happens in Polk County will change his lifestyle financially.
“As much as this is a for-profit venture, there’s a greater opportunity to do something very special that’s a legacy,” Bellissimo said. “We do take that seriously and feel like we are going to be stewards of this community.”
He said when the partners announced their plans in Wellington, Florida, half the people laughed at them saying, there’s no infrastructure, no restaurants, no workforce.
“And Roger (Smith) and I said, game on.”
He said people said the same thing about Polk County and he said “garbage.”
“When you see what there is now, that is a testament of this community stepping up and doing great things,” he said. “As that evolves there will be more and more people who have their footprint there.”
Bellissimo also touched on the partners’ Palm Beach resort, saying, “in general this is a community that pushed us away.”
One audience member who said he used to live in Wellington said Wellington’s loss is Polk’s gain. He said just the three shows planned in January will bring in $100 million to the area.
Debbie Arceneaux asked how many phases of construction will be involved.
Bellissimoo said version one is the September opening of the equestrian center, which is an engine that no one else has. He said tweaking will likely go on for 10 years but the partners have capital and aren’t using banks for funding.
“You’ll see immediate major differences in a year,” Bellissimo said. “And a major impact within two years.”
A 150-room hotel managed by Salamander Hotel & Resorts is planned to open in 2016.
Anita Williamson said she was at the equestrian center last weekend and was pleased to see not only international riders, but some from Polk County. She also said as much as Bellissimo and the partners have going on in their lives right now, they took the time to help a man get his wife in a wheelchair to Bellissimo’s private table.
“Thank you,” Williamson told Bellissimo. “You made her feel like a queen. And that’s what matters…people who generally care.”
Williamson told the audience they have to come see it, that these are equestrian farm folks, not snobs like some people think and they are happy to be here in Polk County.
Sky Conard with the Green River Watershed Alliance asked about water demands.
Bellissimo said over the first six to 12 months they will get an idea of how much water the equestrian portion will need and as they engineer the hotel they can estimate its needs. He said they will be working closely with all different areas for water and also runoff.
Margaret Burke asked about managing traffic with all the people that will be coming.
Bellissimo said one of the keys to selecting this site was the access to Hwy. 74 and I-26.
“We said we need to buy as much as we can to make sure that traffic impact is limited off the highway,” he said. “It’s going to be very different from Wellington.”
He said Polk’s facility will be much more spread out than Wellington, which is one road in and one road out.
Another question was whether or not the equestrian trails would be public or private.
Bellissimo said they haven’t gotten that far in the plans but the plan is to build it out and figure out the demand. He said at times it may be open to the public and at other times not.
Carole Edney said he’s known Smith for eight years and if there’s a more honest man out there he wants to meet them.
“I’ve never worked for a nicer man than this,” Edney said.
Edney said Smith is a Godly man and he respects him.
Earl Thompson also spoke highly of Smith saying he couldn’t say enough good things about him.
Bellissimo did say there will be community-based events that will only be for the people of the county and also said the partners will create a large charity challenge for the community.
“We will create something great here in this community,” Bellissimo said.
For more information and to see the video, go to www.tryonresort.com.