More posts are forthcoming about what a mess Magna & Forest City have made of Gulfstream Park & The Village of Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach

Above, the U.S.-1 & S.E. 3rd Street entrance to Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex, Hallandale Beach, Florida. August 13, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

In response to all the MANY curious emails I've received since the horse racing season closed here in the Spring, from both overseas readers of the blog as well as ones here in South Florida and environs, yes, there will be more blog posts here in the coming weeks about what a mess I believe Magna Entertainment (MEC)/The Stronach Group & Forest City have made of the opportunity they had with Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village of Gulfstream Park retail complex.

Not that there was ever any doubt about my doing more posts on them, but...

Above, the U.S.-1 & S.E. 7th Street entrance to The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex, Hallandale Beach, Florida.Hmm-m-m... is an upscale, outdoor shopping center in South Florida during the oppressively humid summer swelter of South Florida as hot or as wet as you can imagine? Yes. "And yet they built it that way on purpose?" Yes, again.

August 13, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

I must admit that I'm continually surprised at how many people living quite a distance from me and the facilities in Hallandale Beach ask about how the facilities are doing; are they getting any better/worse?; and are there any known plans to make some drastic changes there that will make it more appealing to consumers.

Yes, lots of disappointed people that, like me, want the facilities to succeed, but are dumbstruck at how very poorly things have been planned and manged thus far.

Here's a hint: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

If you thought the new crew would usher in a new era of common sense AND smart, savvy strategic marketing -or even JUST common sense- you are very much mistaken.

Not that you would know that from the paucity of South Florida's news media's coverage of Gulfstream Park.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/57485/more-staffing-changes-at-gulfstream-park

As my friends and colleagues in the area know, I genuinely want the facilities to succeed, really I do, since it's better for everyone in the community if the facilities offer a good entertainment value for the dollar, one that that the public enjoys and is willing to spread through positive word-of-mouth advertising, the best kind there is for what they're offering up.

But just because I'm on record with wanting the facilities to succeed -NOT necessarily the not-too-bright corporate principals behind it- is no reason why I should avert my eyes from what's right in front of me.

What anyone paying close attention to details -and in particular, details that matter- and which positively or negatively affect consumer behavior and psychology would notice and remark upon.

In this case, it's NOT in a positive way.

Above, the Hallandale Beach Blvd. & S.E. 10th Avenue entrance to Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village of Gulfstream Park retail complex, Hallandale Beach, Florida. Storm clouds are brewing in more ways than one. (And do you see what I do?)

August 13, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Seriously, at times, to use a perhaps over-used metaphor here on the blog, they're like a dog chasing its tail.

Sort of funny at first before you grow tired of the one-act nature of the comedy that ends with a whimper instead of a happy ending.

Here's a quick bit of free advice: Instead of worrying about extending the hours that certain of the bars in the complex can serve alcohol -the subject of last week's Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning Advisory Board meeting, which I blew-off attending- so they can continue serving until 6 a.m., how about giving normal consumers, non-bar flies, some fun and reasonable entertainment choices on weekdays between 6 & 10 p.m.

Is that really too much to ask?

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http://www.bloodhorse.com/

Their own worst enemy: Big problems lie ahead for Gulfstream Park if they continue keeping HB community in the dark, esp. re night racing

Above, the sign of advertising infamy, the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino sign that tells you that you are about to get close to the Twilight Zone of Marketing in South Florida, where multi-million dollar companies act like hapless Elementary School PTAs in the 1960's, wasting resources and opportunities left and right.
As I've mentioned in this space many times before, this sign facing southbound U.S.-1/Federal Highway from the intersection of U.S.-1 and Hibiscus, is at one of the premier advertising spots in all of Broward County, yet this sign has NOT been illuminated at night in over THREE YEARS.
This proves that having access to millions of dollars and amazing resources doesn't make your company intelligent or wise or prescient.Just poorly managed.

Below, the same sign from a slightly lower angle, with the Race Track complex visible above the shrubs. You'll immediately notice that the green spotlight on the left is completely missing, leaving only the brace in the ground, as it has been for about a year. The spotlight on the right is complete, but STILL broken three years later.
I was going to run photos of this that I took last weekend, when I was also taking shots of the infamous Hallandale Beach red-light camera one block away.
Instead, I've chosen to post these two photos that I shot of the sign on August 16th, 2010. Nothing has changed.
And I do mean nothing!August 16, 2010 photos by South Beach Hoosier
Their own worst enemy: Big problems lie ahead for Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino if they persist in playing their stealthy games in Tallahassee with legislators and lobbyists while continuing to keep the Hallandale Beach community in the dark about their plans for night racing.
If they thought South Floridians already DON'T care about them...
So, do you recall how I recently mused out loud in this space that the geniuses over at Gulfstream Park Race Track were their very own worst enemies?

Sure you do!

In case you didn't... it's here, from February 14th:
Magna's bankruptcy, Frank Stronach, Gulfstream Park to be topics of Hallandale Beach City Comm.'s closed meeting Wednesday; night racing at Gulfstream
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/magnas-bankruptcy-frank-stronach.html

I went on a bit about their terrible management of their world-famous facility, whether in dealing with aesthetics, customer service, public safety or their perfectly dreadful marketing, wherein every move they seem to make seems worse than the last one, which can only make the folks at Forest City Enterprises more angry that they are tied together with Magna.
Above, August 16, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the Forest City Enterprises trailer at the northwest corner of the Gulfstream Park parking lot, with that neglected Gulfstream Park sign on the other side of the palm trees.

Above, December 14, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

So, if you thought having a sign on U.S.-1 that you don't illuminate at night for the tens of thousands of drivers passing by every day is dumbfounding, how do you feel about their sign on the Aventura side of the property, on U.S.-1/Biscayne Blvd. facing N.E. 215th Street, where for AT LEAST two weeks between Thanksgiving and mid-December, in the heart of holiday shopping advertising, they had a sign that had... wait for it... NOTHING on it?
Above, the sign as it appeared on December 12th, 2010, with nary a persuasive letter to be found.
It's beyond dumbfounding, it's marketing suicide.

But for two weeks, while the shops and restaurants at Village at Gulfstream were open and screaming for shoppers, Magna & Forest City put their worst face forward. How can you make money for your shareholders if you don't even try to compete?

Oh, by the way, only one of the spotlights on this sign has worked since Spring of 2010. Plus, well, there are other self-evident problems here that Magna is either ignoring or blind to but which your faithful blogger noticed right away.
More on that soon...


Above, December 14, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier
South Florida's lack of concern or interest in Gulfstream Park is best illustrated by the fact that roughly 20 hours after the Miami Herald went online with the story below on Friday the 25th, not a single person who'd read the article even bothered to leave a comment, pro, con or otherwise.
And here we are five days later, and there is STILL nobody interested enough to say anything.
That's about as real a sign of lack of relevance as one could find.

Concerned Hallandale Beach residents who've been paying close attention, like myself and many of the people I interact with everyday in all sorts of places, the very people who have to deal first-hand with the traffic that the track produces, are getting angry at Magna's close-mouthed tactics and lack of forthright communication with the public.

Occasionally trotting their PR person, Suzanne Friedman, across the street to Hallandale Beach City Hall to make nice and exchange meaningless blather to her bosom pals on the HB City Commission at their meetings -as she is scheduled to do Wednesday morning- and just once-in-a-while at that, is NO SUBSTITUTE for their management's adamant refusal this far to level with the citizens who would most directly be affected by any future plans of theirs, including occasional night-racing.
(If you didn't already know, Gulfstream has been considering having twilight racing for the last six Fridays of the season, after Daylight Savings Time kicks-in soon, from March 18th to April 22nd, with a first post time around 3 p.m. But all the racing has to be finito by 7 p.m.)

Magna has plenty of space at their facility to convene a large public meeting for all interested parties, in and out of the city, for them to finally do the right thing.
So what's preventing them from doing so?
Is it sheer stupidity, risk-averse management, complete clueless-ness...

Refusing to tell the truth about their plans and continuing to act like they can do whatever they want to do, with absolutely no negative consequences, is the road to ruin for them, as it will not only cost Magna the community's trust, short-term and long-term, but revenue as well.http://www.midevelopments.com/

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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/24/2084652/gulfstream-now-says-it-wants-year.html

Gulfstream now says it wants year-round racing
Gulfstream only intensified its dispute with Calder, which said Tuesday that it is considering year-round racing starting in July.
By Jim Freer, Miami Herald Writer
February 25, 2011

A dispute between South Florida’s thoroughbred tracks intensified Thursday when Gulfstream Park said it plans to have racing year-round during the 12 months beginning July 1.

That is the latest salvo in a battle that began early this year when Gulfstream and Calder Casino & Race Course each told Florida racing regulators of plans to hold races in December 2011. For more than 20 years, Calder has been the only South Florida thoroughbred track to have racing in December. Gulfstream’s announcement Thursday came two days after Calder said it is considering year-round racing from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012.

The tracks have until Monday to submit their 2011-12 race dates to the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which gives automatic approval.

Gulfstream hopes to settle the dispute by Monday and avoid head-to-head racing, Tim Ritvo, the track’s vice president for racing, said Thursday.

He said that Frank Stronach, chairman of Gulfstream and its parent MI Developments, will meet Friday in Louisville, Ky., with Bill Carstanjen, chief operating officer of Churchill Downs Inc., the parent company of Calder.

As of Thursday, both tracks plan to race head-to-head at least on Saturdays and Sundays starting July 1.
Barry Rose, a trainer and owner with horses stabled at Calder, said there is widespread concern about how that would impact the tracks and the state’s racing industry.
“There are only so many wagering dollars available, and it would be hard for both tracks to maintain the same kind of purse level if they race head-to-head,” he said.
Gulfstream, in Hallandale Beach, traditionally holds races from early January through late April. Calder, in Miami Gardens, races the remainder of the year.
Gulfstream, with winter racing, has larger purses. It expects that December would be a strong economic month — if Calder is not running. In its strongest response, Calder announced Tuesday that starting Saturday it will not allow Calder-stabled horses back onto its property if they run in non-stakes races at Gulfstream during that track’s meet that runs through April 24. That will cost Calder-based owners some anticipated race revenues over the next two months and make it hard for some trainers to pay stable workers, Rose said.
Calder imposed the restrictions to help ensure that it “will have a healthy horse population” when it begins its race meet April 25, especially if it runs year-round, the track’s president, Austin Miller, said Tuesday.
Calder vice president John Marshall said Calder has to consider its cost of being the only Florida track open year-round for stabling and training.
On Wednesday, Gulfstream said that by Saturday it will have about 200 temporary stalls for horses that are vanned from Calder to race at Gulfstream and are not allowed back into Calder.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/28/2090957/gulfstream-calder-settle-dispute.html Miami Herald
Gulfstream, Calder settle dispute over race dates in DecemberBy Jim Freer, Miami Herald Writer

March 1, 2011
Local racing Track Dates Calder 7/1/11-12/2/11 Gulfstream 12/3/11-4/8/12 Calder 4/9/12-6/30/12 South Florida’s thoroughbred tracks resolved a scheduling dispute Monday, with changes that include Gulfstream Park rather than Calder Casino & Race Course holding races most of this December.

Gulfstream said it will start its next season Dec. 3, 2011 and race during the remainder of December in a meet that will end April 8, 2012.

For more than 20 years, Calder has been the only South Florida thoroughbred track to have racing in December.

On Monday, Calder announced that it would end its 2011 season on Dec. 2 — one day before Gulfstream opens. That will avoid a rare situation in which two neighboring tracks have races on the same days.

Calder on Monday also said it will begin its 2012 season April 9, adding two mid-April weeks during which Gulfstream traditionally has held racing.

The tracks’ announcements, made separately, ended a dispute that started over the attractive December dates and escalated last week when both said they planned to race every week during the 12 months beginning July 1, 2011.

Officials of the two tracks declined comment Monday when asked about negotiations that led to their new schedules, and on whether Calder received any money in an adjustment in which Gulfstream is gaining December at least for one year.

However, last Friday, top officials of Churchill Downs Inc. (Calder’s parent company) and MI Developments (Gulfstream’s parent company) began a weekend of meetings and phone calls. On Saturday, Gulfstream president Steve Calabro said “we’re working on it,” when asked about efforts to resolve the dispute and avoid head-to-head racing.

On Monday, the two tracks met their deadline to file final dates with the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering for the 12 months beginning July 1, 2011. Florida Thoroughbred tracks pick their race dates with automatic approval from that regulator.

Sam Gordon, president of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association group of trainers and owners said he was not aware of any financial arrangements between the tracks.

“Maybe they both realized how costly it would be, and maybe someone blinked,” he said. “We’re glad that both sides took our recommendations and will not race head-to-head.”

With the dispute settled, Gulfstream will continue its season through April 24. Calder will then have racing from April 25 through Dec. 2.

Gulfstream will hold a race meet from Dec. 3 through April 8, 2012.

Calder will race from April 9, 2012 until June 30, 2012.

If the tracks had raced head-to-head, trainers and owners would have “been in a difficult position of having to choose and take sides,” said Bill White, one of the leading trainers at Calder who also races at Gulfstream.

“This was a dispute between the tracks, and they were using us as leverage,” he said. “It is great that this is over and we can focus on our business of putting on a show and winning races.”

There also were concerns among trainers that there would not have been enough wagering dollars to keep revenues at normal levels at either track or enough horses to fill races.

In a statement, Calder vice president of racing John Marshall said Calder and Gulfstream running head-to-head “would mean the end of the South Florida racing circuit and deny local horsemen the chance to make a living as they currently do.”

In a statement, Gulfstream vice president of racing Tim Ritvo said he expects the addition of December racing “will enhance our stakes schedule and the overall quality of our product.”

He added that Gulfstream believes the change “is in the best interests of South Florida racing.”

Gulfstream’s annual schedule includes the Florida Derby, which is on April 3 this year.

Magna's bankruptcy, Frank Stronach, Gulfstream Park to be topics of Hallandale Beach City Comm.'s closed meeting Wednesday; night racing at Gulfstream

Above, the western entrance/exit of Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex on U.S.-1/S. Federal Highway & S.E. 3rd Street, Hallandale Beach, FL.
In the distance, two miles away on the beach are The Beach Club's three condo towers. February 10, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.


Above, the Hallandale Beach Municipal Complex monument sign on U.S.-1/S. Federal Highway & S.E. 5th Street, Hallandale Beach, FL. Across the street is Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park.
February 11, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.


February 11, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Above, the public notice I saw at Hallandale Beach City Hall last Friday morning regarding the Wednesday February 16th Hallandale Beach City Commission Special Meeting/ Executive Session, i.e. closed to the public, which is not expected to last more than 30 minutes.
It reads, in part,
RE: Magna Entertainment Corp. et al Bankruptcy litigation styled [Case No. 09-10720 (MFW)]

You can be excused for not knowing much of this given the extremely sketchy coverage of this in the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and local Miami TV newscasts.

What can't be excused is Magna's refusal to talk publicly and forthrightly to Hallandale Beach and Aventura residents about their tentative plans for occasional night racing next year, an important component of making the two facilities a more inviting place to spend time and money.

I personally support occasional night racing at Gulfstream Park, but with certain key requirements.

I'm quite familiar with how ridiculously successful night racing has proven to be in Louisville at Churchhill Downs, as I not only have large photos and myriad news articles about
how it all came to be so successful, but also have heard first-hand from numerous Louisville-area friends who have gotten used to going there at night, whereas they formerly only went for the larger purse races or The Kentucky Derby, of course.

But Louisville, a city I really love, in part from spending so much time there with friends and getting to know their neighborhood, is a very different consumer market than South Florida, due to the number of entertainment choices one has there, as well as the weather.

In Kentucky, the thoroughbred industry is still just that, an actual industry onto themselves, with a rich and complex culture and sense of tradition.

In the South Florida of 2011, horse racing is merely one of a number of entertainment diversions, and one that has come to be looked upon as NOT particularly inviting or fun, at least as Gulfstream has done it of late.

The number one rule of politics and entertainment is that you have to know (and understand) what your universe is, which is why the seemingly never-ending series of Magna blunders and screw-ups I've personally observed over the past seven years have seemed so unnecessary.

It wasn't rocket science, but it does require some forethought and careful consideration for how things actually look to potential customers, most of whom have no past history with you.

Among those requirements that I would insist upon for night racing would be for them to keep open the Aventura gate on N.E. 213th Street, near the large retail complex housing, among others, the Target, Fresh Foods and Best Buy, on those nights for southbound drivers, instead of forcing it ALL onto either Hallandale Beach Blvd. or U.S.-1.
Aventura must share the expected traffic burden, too.

Below, the road NOT taken.

Above, the southern entrance/exit of Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex on N.E. 213th Street, Aventura, FL.
Notice the obstacles placed in the road by Magna.
They DIDN'T get there by themselves, did they?


Magna will NOT get what they want entirely without getting OUR city govt.'s approval, yet they imperiously act like we don't matter, and that the only thing that does is their highly-paid lobbyists and mouthpieces in Tallahassee, who have been busy poring money into certain elected officials favorite causes.
Not that you have read or seen that in the local South Florida news media.

For those of you who have asked why I haven't written anything critical about Gulfstream Park and The Village at Gulfstream Park this racing year -and there are quite a few of you, including some heavy-duty racing fans overseas- I understand your natural curiosity, but I've been busy writing and documenting what I've seen and heard.

Be patient and rest assured, there is a lot of material and facts I intend to share with you in the coming days and weeks, complete with damning photos.

Magna's longstanding refusal to employ any innovative thinking or even learn from their (many) past mistakes, some of which have yet to be resolved this year from last year, once again causes me to wish that someone else was running things over there.
The sense of clueless-ness and obliviousness there must end if those properties are ever going to be successful -and FUN!

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Daily Racing Form

02/01/2011 9:57AM
MID shareholders agree to transfer racetracks to Stronach

By Matt Hegarty

Frank Stronach has moved one step closer to taking control of the troubled racing assets his publicly traded companies have acquired and failed to turn around over the past 13 years.

Groups representing the majority shareholders of the company that owns the assets, MI Developments, have agreed to vote in favor of a proposal that would require Stronach to give up control of the company in exchange for the racing and gambling properties, according to an announcement from MI Developments released late on Monday night. Stronach currently controls 57 percent of the voting stock of MI Developments through an unusual dual-class share structure that would be abandoned as a result of the deal.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.drf.com/news/mid-shareholders-agree-transfer-racetrack s-stronach

In the near-future, I'll list some other recent well-written articles or columns I've read that have proven very helpful to me in understanding the pertinent facts and long-term implications of the bankruptcy involving Magna Entertainment Corp., the role of MI Developments and the future of Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino.

Even more troubling news for beleaguered Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino in Hallandale Beach and its owner, Frank Stronach

Above, May 25, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino sign facing towards south-bound U.S.-1/Federal Highway, off Hibiscus Street in Hallandale Beach.

I've noted previously on this blog with both dismay and incredulity the self-evident fact that Gulfstream Park/Magna Entertainment Corp. has consistently been so negligent about properly maintaining this valuable property that it has inspired well-deserved ridicule in the community.
For instance, as I've mentioned previously, the spotlights on the ground that are supposed to illuminate the sign above at night haven't worked since 2008, and the light on the left of the picture has not even had an actual bulb since 2009, which is why this sign on a major South Florida road is pitch black at night. Not exactly the smartest marketing decision, no?

Frankly, it's only been because I've been so busy writing about other matters, including the community fight against the Diplomat LAC proposal and the attempted shoe-horning of a Ben Gamla charter high school into a single-family neighborhood that I didn't run numerous posts here utilizing the dozens and dozens of photos I have that clearly illustrate how very poorly this so-called entertainment center has been operated and maintained.

Despite having the better part of an entire year, and knowing how crucial it was that they appear to be on top of things, Gulfstream/MEC couldn't even mange to have their own electronic message boards on both U.S.-1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd. constructed and operating before the racing season opened in January, which made it look shabby and third-class.
This embarrassing snails pace of theirs, almost a sense of obliviousness, also meant that the message signs were NOT available to effectively promote the retail shops that were open over the holiday season, when they needed all the help they could get. It was weeks into the racing season before the electronic message signs were up and working properly.

To any reasonable observer, it was almost like they were considered an after-thought, and not a tool to be properly utilized, but then look how they waste the sign they already had?
This very unprofessional laissez-faire attitude towards aesthetics, maintenance and marketing raises serious questions in my mind and many others as to whether or not the people currently running Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino are fit for the job ahead.
Above and below, May 30, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier of the monument signs and U.S.-1 entrance to both Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and The Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex.



I received a link to this very troubling Toronto Star story just before 10 p.m. Thursday night as a result of a my "Hallandale Beach" Google Alert.

This continues the long streak of bad financial news for Gulfstream Park owner Frank Stronach, some of which I've detailed on this blog, and this latest news is perhaps the most unsettling, though getting some firm financial numbers may prove quite elusive until the trial that's described below begins.

When the largest employer in the city is having severe financial problems, and some vocal shareholders want to go to court to force the sale of the main asset and element of the enterprise, the Racetrack, there's more than enough reason to be legitimately concerned.

Still, any legal action that intends to pursue, among other things, "a declaration that the company made “misleading” public statements" is not music to Hallandale Beach taxpayers ears, given the amount of city taxpayer's money that has walked across U.S.-1 from HB City Hall to the enterprises located over there.

It's time for someone at Gulfstream to publicly show some long overdue gumption and common sense and finally leave the PR histrionics behind for a change, and instead, be straight and address the HB community's reasonable concerns about its future as a viable racetrack, rather than continuing to engage in their current unsuccessful "no comment" routine, which satisfies nobody and just irritates people who are paying attention.

Hearing "no comment" too many more times in the near future will inevitably lead to even louder public doubts and media commentary, and a corresponding taxpayer/customer vote of "no confidence" with their feet and wallets & purses for both the racetrack and retail complex, even though they are, of course, legally separate entities.

Frankly, I was a little surprised that a newspaper as large as the Toronto Star is still using an artists rendering in their article so long after Gulfstream Park was re-done, and the initial stage of The Village at Gulfstream Park (VAGP) opened -in November.

Also, if you look carefully, most of the rendering below is not of Gulfstream, per se, that Stronach & Co. own, but rather of the VAGP retail area that Gulfstream is a partner to but NOT the owner of, per state law.

I may just have to send the Star some of my new photos of the complex for their records.

--------

Toronto Star
Shareholders sue MI Developments Group of U.S. investors claim Stronach and directors improperly used MID to prop up money-losing Magna Entertainment.
July 7, 2010

Tony Van Alphen Business Reporter

Big investors in MI Developments Inc. have sued the company, controlling shareholder Frank Stronach and numerous directors for their role in allegedly propping up his money-losing horse racing venture before and after its collapse last year.

In seeking millions of dollars in compensation, five U.S.-based investment firms say in a statement of claim that MI engaged in a “myriad of connected related party loans and other transactions” with racetrack and gambling operator Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC) to ensure its assets remained under Stronach’s control and not sold to third parties.

The sentence that really jumps out at you is this one towards the middle of the story:
Some of the investment firms have complained about MI’s continuing heavy support of MEC for years and pressed the board to divest the horse racing assets and make the company a pure real estate play.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/833230--shareholders-sue-mi-developments

See also:
http://www.thevillageatgulfstreampark.com/

re Gulfstream Park -Bankruptcy looming for Magna Entertainment?

As of a few hours ago, according to the Daily Racing Form, it looks like bankruptcy looming for Magna Entertainment -Bankruptcy looms on horizon for Magna.

Not mentioned, possible effect on Gulfstream Park's racing operations, like a (fire) sale, perhaps, after this racing season is over?

H-m-m-m... the plot thickens.

The Miami Herald had the following AP dispatch on their website Thursday, but have no original reporting on this: Spin-off of Gulfstream Park operator is canceled

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/breaking-news/story/911231.html

 

I haven't seen anything about this on local TV, as everyone is making nice with celebrity chefs on South Beach this weekend, showing the real limit of their reportorial skills.

Magna filed an 8-K with the SEC today which you can see here:

Magna Entertainment Corp · 8-K · For 2/18/09

http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Registrant.asp?CIK=1093273

For many months, I've been meaning to write in-depth about all the many problems and very curious things I've observed in, at and around Gulfstream Park over the past few months, as they hurried to make themselves look presentable for its first race back in early January, even as construction continued at the Village at Gulfstream retail project being handled by Forest City Enterprises Inc., not Gulfstream.

Over the past year, I've snapped a few hundred shots of the construction work going on there along U.S-1/South Federal Highway, as well as those very curious things that I alluded to, which not only consistently showed a lack of marketing common sense or prowess, but which also showed a remarkable lack of concern for their customers' safety.

Naturally, with Hallandale Beach City Hall just across the street, the city's own gross indifference to safety and awareness issues, right in front of them, goes back years.

I'll document that at some point over the next few days with photographs that will make my points crystal-clear.

Postcards of Gulfstream Park -"back in the day."
http://www.cardcow.com/search2.php?substring=gulfstream%20park

As someone who's always been very interested in historical preservation, and who used to read the magazine Preservation cover-to-cover, I always thought that, media-wise, even for South Florida's very low journalism standards, there'd have been more made about one of the few iconic structures in South Florida going buh-bye.  http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/

And by that, of course, I mean so little attention paid or even fuss made when the old Gulfstream Park

grandstand came down, especially compared to the fuss and coverage of the implosion of the Bal Harbour Sheraton, or, more recently, the Miami Arena, a building I never stepped in since I was living in Chicago and Washington, D.C. during its very short heyday.

Is it just me, or does it seem that most TV news directors down here have become so jaded over the years, sent so many news reporters to cover faux news over on South Beach, City Hall or downtown Miami, that when something historical actually comes down the pike, they channel the mantra of a dis-interested teenage girl -

"Whatever."

If WPBT-Channel 2 was really worth a damn anymore, they'd have produced an hour retrospective program on the racetrack, and what it used to be like in the old days, pre-Shula Dolphins, when South Florida's sports world revolved largely around the horses and the Hurricanes.

I've heard stories and tales from myriad sportscasters and reporters as well as the fabulous Spinelli Brothers, who used to cut my hair at their sports and show-biz memorabilia-filled shop on West Dixie Highway in North Miami in the 1970's.  It was like being in a museum of pop culture!

Every visit was a real treat because those guys were so completely plugged into everything that was South Florida sports and show-biz, from the '50's thru the '70's because of who they knew, their old location near Biscayne Blvd. & 79th Street (?), and the great loyalty of their famous customers, that you honestly never knew who'd you'd run into at their shop.

Often it was well-known names who'd swing by when they were in town just to shoot the breeze with them to find out what'd been going on, what was happening, who was in town, etc.

They had a huge extended family of customers and friends, famous and otherwise.

(Though their shop was located in North Miami, because I was a frequent customer as a kid, and loved their stories, the Spinelli Brothers even agreed to be my sponsor for Optimist football whenI played on the NMB 95 lb. team, even though I was playing for North Miami Beach Optimist.

Eventually, they received one of those large official sponsor frames and photo of me which they hung up in their shop.)

Channel 2 could've done a simple compare-and-contrast using extant photos at local museums interspersed with interviews with personalities, former employees and public institutional memories in South Florida who know a thing or two and can tell a great story, like Hank Goldberg or Edwin Pope.

Of course, I also have to blame myself for not taking a ton of photos at the time it came down, since if I had, I'd post them here for posterity.
C'est la guerre.

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.magna20feb20,0,3519391.story

Baltimore Sun

Magna may not be able to pay off debt to controlling shareholder

Due date moved up for owed $275 million; future uncertain for beleaguered racetrack owner

By Bill Ordine

February 20, 2009

The credit leash on financially beleaguered Magna Entertainment, owner of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, just got a lot shorter.

The company's controlling shareholder, MI Development, is abandoning a reorganization plan that had been criticized by the firm's minority shareholders. As a result, the due date on about $275 million in debt owed by Magna Entertainment to MI has been accelerated to March 20.

Both Canadian-based companies are controlled by auto-parts magnate Frank Stronach.

In a statement, Magna Entertainment said that it will not be able to repay the loans unless it can raise money "through an alternative transaction with MI Development, asset sales, by taking on additional debt or by some other means." The due date on Magna Entertainment's $40 million line of credit with a Canadian bank has also been moved up, to March 5.

Because Magna Entertainment owns the two Maryland race tracks and the Preakness Stakes, the state's horse industry is in a constant state of unease about the future of the tracks and the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

It remained unclear what Magna Entertainment's options might be, particularly since it has been trying to refinance its debt with other sources and sell real estate without success.

MI Development has already granted Magna extensions a handful of times over the past year. Magna Entertainment hired a firm specializing in restructuring debt and Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall.

"If by some circumstances they did file for Chapter 11, it could get pretty crazy," said Maryland Racing Commission Chairman John Franzone, "because then you're at the mercy of a bankruptcy trustee."

Officials for Magna Entertainment could not be reached for comment.

Tim Rice, a managing partner in a stock brokerage firm whose clients once owned Magna Entertainment stock, said that Magna has passed up opportunities to liquidate real estate holdings at reasonable prices in the past.

"I'm sure that [Stronach] would do whatever he can to [prevent] the public shareholders from getting wiped out," Rice said, "but I don't know if he can do that."

But Franzone expressed confidence that Stronach will find a way out.

"Frank is a pretty savvy guy. He's faced crises in his auto business over the years and he's always pulled rabbits out of his hat, so I wouldn't count him out," Franzone said.

Magna Entertainment has used MI Development as a lender of last resort in recent years, to the chagrin of some MI minority shareholders.

The proposed reorganization would have eventually severed the relationship, but was undercut when a vocal MI Development shareholder, New York-based Greenlight Capital Inc., complained that the plan would convert the company's secured loans into shares of Magna Entertainment stock.

Magna Entertainment shares closed at 38 cents yesterday.

Part of the money that MI Development lent to Magna was supposed to be used to develop a new slot machine casino at Laurel Park. But the company's effort to secure a slots license was derailed when it failed to put up millions of dollars in required fees when it submitted its bid this month.

State officials threw out the Magna bid last week. Lawyers for the track's owners have taken the matter to court. State Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said the state should work to ensure that the Preakness Stakes stays in Maryland and that horse racing remains viable here. He compared any effort to save the tracks to building a baseball stadium or granting tax incentives to Hollywood filmmakers who bring their sets here.

"If we have an interest in having movies filmed in Maryland," Miller said, "then we certainly have an interest in somehow finding a buyer for our racetracks."

Baltimore Sun reporters Hanah Cho and Laura Smitherman contributed to this article.