The plan calls for development of estate homes, cluster cottages, single family homes and low-density neighborhoods across The Greenbrier's lush Allegheny Mountain landscape.  Over the next five years, 400-500 properties could be brought to market within The Greenbrier compound, with potential sales of around $300 million.  The plan includes a major new outdoor lodge, as well as a host of new resort and private retreat facilities for members of what will be named The Greenbrier Sporting Club.

Ted Kleisner, The Greenbrier's long-time president and managing director, said that the resort experimented with a small residential development venture in the 1980s intended to complement the seasonal resort market.  The effort was discontinued, "because we knew we weren't destined to be successful developers of our own property.  Although scores of proposals have come our way in the intervening decade, we waited until we could find a partner who really understood the value of our name, our amenities and our land heritage, and who could help bring a new generation of sporting and nature enthusiasts to our doorstep."
 
The Greenbrier finally has its partner.  In undertaking the most ambitious expansion since the original Old White Hotel was built around 1868, The Greenbrier is joining forces with Dolan, Pollak & Schram Development Co. (DP&S), a real estate development and marketing firm in Savannah, GA.  DP&S is currently developing the 1,800-acre Ford Plantation outside Savannah, a luxury sporting colony (formerly Henry Ford's winter estate) that has garnered $60 million in land sales in less than 15 months and was recently the site of the first designer show house ever created by Town & Country Magazine.  Previously the firm led a remarkable turnaround in sales at Bray's Island Plantation, a 5,200-acre outdoor paradise near Beaufort, South Carolina.

DP&S's founding partners, Chip Dolan and Peter Pollak, both came from successful residential resort sales on Hilton Head Island.  Partner Steve Schram, who joined the firm in 1998, was previously an investment banker at Morgan Stanley who also served as president and vice chairman of the Boston Celtics Limited Partnership.

Mr. Kleisner noted that DP&S would contribute land planning, construction management and architectural design, amenities development and, ultimately, sales and marketing of real estate and homesites linked with memberships in the new sporting club.

"The Greenbrier team will supply the hospitality and facilities management and, of course, the real estate," Mr. Kleisner said, adding that with more than 100,000 guests annually at The Greenbrier, "we also have a good base of referrals."  That core group of loyalists should also be drawn to the prospect of visiting other resort communities in destinations around the world managed by The Greenbrier, for as Mr. Kleisner noted, "our market is truly international in scope."

Sales to Start in June 

Mr. Kleisner described a five-year development plan covering various portions of The Greenbrier's vast holdings.  "We have the resources to create multiple new resort facilities, including new hunting, fishing, hiking and naturalist preserves at The Greenbrier."

Details are now being formalized for the sporting club that will be part of the development plan, Mr. Kleisner said.  He pointed to the successful model created at the Ford Plantation, whereby property owners are equity owners of the club and pay a one-time initiation fee entitling them to usage of all  amenities.

"We expect to create separate member facilities, including a fourth championship golf course,  a full clubhouse and lodge with plush member suites," he said, "though keep in mind that this is The Greenbrier, where a certain formality is traditional. That extends even to our architectural heritage, which should be integrated seamlessly into the club concept."

Mr. Kleisner said that real estate sales will begin around June 1.  Dolan, Pollak & Schram are currently setting up a sales inquiry office at The Greenbrier as the firm prepares for the initial offering.  Mr. Kleisner added that all development will be internally financed through real estate sales and that property ownership will be a precondition for club membership.

New Precedent for Private Ownership at The Greenbrier

"For practical purposes, this is the first time we are developing our own land for sale to private ownership, because we felt we needed a partner that truly complemented our existing franchise strengths," Mr. Kleisner said.  "Although there may be bigger players among resort developers, during the past five years, Dolan, Pollak & Schram has set a new standard for marketing high-end, amenities-driven real estate in historic settings.  We're confident that we're putting our 'crown jewel' in very safe hands."

Mr. Kleisner is not exaggerating.  The Greenbrier's real estate assets are among the richest and most celebrated in American lodging history.

As early as 1784, Thomas Jefferson wrote favorably of the sulphur springs mineral waters at The Greenbrier, then part of an estate owned by the Caldwell family of Western Virginia.  Initial building on the property began in 1790, while the earliest hotel account records date from 1816, when the going rate was $1.15 per day.  James Monroe was the first U.S. President to visit - 25 others have stayed here since.  The Greenbrier even served as the summer home of Robert E. Lee for several years after the Civil War.

Throughout the years, The Greenbrier has garnered every conceivable award in the hospitality industry.  It has received the prestigious AAA Five-Diamond designation every year since its creation in 1976.  Zagat Survey ranked it the top resort in the Northeast; readers of Conde Nast Traveler went further in 1998, voting The Greenbrier the Number 1 Resort in North America.  Even that was trumped in December, as Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report named The Greenbrier "Resort of the Century."  Just last month, Travel & Leisure added yet another accolade, naming The Greenbrier "one of the Top 10 Best Values in the continental U.S. and Canada."  The U.S. Department of Interior designated The Greenbrier a National Historic Landmark in 1990.

Bunkers Away - Breaking a Nuclear Lock on Land Sales

The Greenbrier has only been free to develop portions of its property since 1994.  That was the year the company gained release of a special encumbrance on its land from the U.S. Department of Defense, which had secured rights to major portions of the resort as an emergency government retreat in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States.

In 1956, President Eisenhower, a frequent guest and golfer at The Greenbrier, along with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and Speaker of The House Sam Rayburn, approved construction of a 112,000 square foot underground bunker hewn out of the mountain of what was to become the new West Virginia Wing of the hotel.  This massive secret chamber was designed to house the U.S. Congress should a nuclear strike occur on the capitol. "It was our part to preserve constitutional government in a dire national emergency," Mr. Kleisner recalled eerily.

"The very attributes that have long made The Greenbrier an ideal, pollution-free getaway - a deep valley well protected by mountains - would also shield the property from nuclear fallout," Mr. Kleisner said.  "In addition to this geological position, The Greenbrier was superbly accessible by rail, highway and air, including a nearby airport where Air Force One or military transports could land.

Although guests were oblivious to the bunker - in the midst of construction, The Greenbrier's resident golf pro, Sam Snead, shot the best round of his career, a 59 on one of the resort's three courses - federal defense planners devised elaborate relocation plans at the resort in the event of a nuclear war.  Such a scenario was considered closest to execution during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when The Greenbrier was reported to have been on high alert for a possible use.  Similar emergency plans continued into the early 1990s.

"Now for the first time, our vast land is truly freed from encumbrance, available to a select few who will have the privilege to call The Greenbrier home," Mr. Kleisner said.

Tapping a Changed Market for Resort Communities

Today, the Cold War bunker is a popular attraction at The Greenbrier, along with three golf courses designed by legendary architects (Charles Blair Macdonald, Jack Nicklaus and Bob Cupp), indoor and outdoor tennis, horseback riding, a falconry academy, the Land Rover Driving School, trap and skeet shooting, a game bird hunting preserve, indoor/outdoor swimming, trout/bass fishing, and a renowned spa and salon complete with sulphur mineral baths.  There is even a bowling alley and first-run movie theater.  The main hotel houses more than 550 guest rooms and suites, with 133 guest houses and cottages located on the property.

Mr. Kleisner noted that the market for vacation home communities has changed considerably over the past few years.  "It's younger, more family-oriented and more mobile than anything we ever imagined," he said.

"What we're envisioning now is a singularly-managed group of home ownership destination resorts, tied together by a love of the outdoors and a true appreciation of the land, with award-winning sporting amenities that far exceed country club pursuits," he added.  "We'll provide staffing, sales, management, food service and all club facilities under The Greenbrier banner, to a community of equity-owning members.  Now that's truly something new in our business."

Living the Sporting Life

The Greenbrier plan may be its most ambitious ever, but Dolan, Pollak & Schram has set an outstanding precedent with its most recent projects.

The Ford Plantation outside Savannah is in many ways reflective of The Greenbrier.  The property, with immense, 250-year-old hanging oak trees dating from its origins as an 18th century rice plantation, boasts an historic centerpiece estate house built by Henry and Clara Ford in 1936.
 

DP&S's Stephen Schram said that he and his partners are already looking for other sites internationally at which to develop The Greenbrier Sporting Clubs.  "These kind of properties aren't easy to find," he noted, "however, we suspect there are historic family estates and large corporate land holdings around the U.S. and elsewhere that could, with proper nurturing, be added to our concept.  But our priority for the near term is to get The Greenbrier Sporting Club program up and running - the market is ready and the location and real estate couldn't be better."