Just a month before the prestigious Winter Equestrian Festival, a New York-based company scooped up an equestrian facility in the nearby Grand Prix Village in Wellington for $8.6 million, property records show.
Grand Prix Village Drive LLC, a Delaware entity, bought the four-acre estate at 14942 Grand Prix Farms Drive. The property lies within the gated Grand Prix Village housing development that boasts more barns than mansions.
The seller is an Upperville, Virginia-based company, led by Ann C. Thompson. Records show Thompson bought the property from equestrian festival owner Mark Bellissimo in 2014 for $3.7 million. Construction of the facility began that same year, according to a notice of commencement filed with the county.
Tom Baldwin of Equestrian Sotheby’s International Realty brokered the deal. He was not immediately available to comment. Features of the facility include a 22-stall stable, staff apartments, eight paddocks, an all-weather ring and a covered five-horse walker.
14942 Grand Prix Village Drive (Credit: Sotheby’s International Realty)
The property was also on the market to rent for $432,000 per month, according to Baldwin’s online listing. A full barn rental amounted to $352,000 a month, or $16,000 per stall. The two-story, two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse on the property was also available to rent for $10,000 a month.
Celebrities like Bill Gates, athletes, world-famous musicians, and CEOs of million-dollar companies have all flocked to Wellington for WEF, which takes place every year from January to April on the grounds of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The 12-week WEF has been the longest equestrian event of its kind for several years.
In 2014, Athina Onassis Roussel, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, also bought property in Grand Prix Village from Bellissimo. She paid $12 million in cash for 5.6 acres.