News

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: 'Neighsayers' have a point

By Bill Moss, Published: June 14, 2015

When American Pharaoh galloped across the finish line to become the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown, it felt as if Mark Bellissimo had won, too.

It was a big day at Bellissimo’s Tryon International Equestrian Center, bigger even than Bellissimo and his partners predicted. A mile-long backup on U.S. 74 East signified that a lot of people got the idea to check out the equestrian center on its grand opening.
The traffic jam and parking delays looked like growing pains — or birth pains, one might say — in a day that was otherwise close to perfect. It was sunny and pleasant. Children queued up in a long line for a free ride on the carousel. The craft beer festival sold out. Four thousand fans packed the stadium for an opening ceremony that included praise from the governor and a performance by “Proud to be an American” Lee Greenwood. What unfolded on the big screen was one of the rarest achievements in all of sports, the winning of the Triple Crown. “There had been only 11 of them in history,” Joe Drape wrote in the New York Times, “and America had elected five presidents, fought three wars and lived through at least three economic downturns since Affirmed had last completed the feat in 1978.”
It’s been way longer than that since Polk County has seen anything like the Tryon Equestrian Center. In like, forever. The way everything came together on Saturday night gave rise to the impression that maybe this guy Bellissimo has the Midas touch. We know. We know. We’ve seen this before. But the nay-sayers may give way to the neigh-sayers when they realize that the development has been paid for through the private equity of billionaires, not public dollars and gullible bankers. We haven’t really seen this; we’ve seen a charlatan’s promise of this kind of development.
Gov. McCrory said at a news conference that his then-Commerce secretary, Sharon Decker persuaded him to support the equestrian center.
“I almost didn’t believe her,” he said. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ She kept talking about, ‘Governor, you should see this dream and this vision that is being implemented in the Tryon area.’”
The reception from the local and state government expanded that dream from $20 million to “probably upwards of 80, 90, 100 million dollars of private equity investment,” Bellissimo said. “I hope this is a great opportunity for this community to reinvent itself or reenergize itself.”
The partnership has plans for a luxury hotel and a mid-priced hotel, more riding rings and a polo field and eventually plans to start selling home sites in the failed 800-lot White Oak development. The jury’s out on whether all this leads to a broader revival of Pea Ridge, crowds of diners in Tryon or spinoff activity on Hendersonville’s Main Street. But on Saturday night at least, majestic horses leapt over the jumps, the crowd roared and the beer flowed. The promise of a prosperous enterprise filled the air.