The hotel chain affiliate suing Senator Jim Justice and his family business network claims The Greenbrier’s financial performance and market share have significantly declined over the past couple of years, resulting in a lower overall value of the property.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings, which is an affiliate of Omni Hotels, also claims the current owners of The Greenbrier are diverting resort revenue to unrelated businesses. And experts for the holding company say debt for the Justice family businesses has mounted to such a degree, paying off loans on The Greenbrier would be deeply in doubt.
“WSSH’s experts establish that Defendants’ appraisals are unreliable, the value of the Greenbrier Resort is diminishing, and the Justices are denuding it of assets,” wrote lawyers for the company.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings made the financial claims last week in a 285-page court filing, with its own financial experts drawing these conclusions:
• the current value of the Greenbrier Resort is roughly $360 million, not the prospective $597 million value, representing a significant loss of overall value.
• a number of risk factors indicate that the current owners cannot meet their obligations to their creditors or properly maintain the Greenbrier Resort.
• and nearly all operating cash flow has been diverted to related parties.
A federal judge has put the case on hold for now, through at least part of July, to see if a proposed $500 million refinancing agreement with alternative credit asset manager Kennedy Lewis Investment Management comes together to pay down the debt to White Sulphur Springs Holdings.
But it’s possible that the court conflict will reignite, leaving big questions about the finances of West Virginia’s historic resort still to be addressed. And, this is all playing out in the court of public opinion.
The weight of the financial situation continues to hang above the conflict like the sword of Damocles.
Questions on finances
The Greenbrier property that the two sides are battling over is a luxury destination resort of about 6,724 acres with 660 guest rooms, three championship golf courses and a casino and entertainment venue.
Justice and his family purchased The Greenbrier out of bankruptcy in May 2009, and in recent years have gone through rounds of conflict over millions of dollars in debt.
This past March, newly formed White Sulphur Springs Holdings LLC bought nearly $300 million in first-lien debt on The Greenbrier and related properties from longtime Justice lender Carter Bank & Trust. The holding company does not own the hotel but does own the debt.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings is an affiliate of Texas-based TRT Holdings, which is owned by Texas billionaire Robert Rowling, whose son Blake serves as the company’s president. Their Omni hotel company operates more than 50 luxury properties, including The Homestead, which is less than an hour from The Greenbrier.
Days after the debt purchase, White Sulphur Springs Holdings asked for receivership for the hotel, contending the Justices have been diverting profits to other interests while building up deferred maintenance, putting the collateral at risk.
The holding company also asked a federal judge for a temporary injunction order that would push the Justices out of hotel control. A key piece of their argument is the 14th version of a forbearance agreement signed by the Justices to make concessions in exchange for more time to pay down debt.
The big recent filing about The Greenbrier’s finances maintains the Justices “do not dispute that they could end this matter immediately by paying the full amount of their debt and honoring all of their obligations under the 14th FBA. And most importantly, Defendants (finally) do not dispute that they cannot pay, now, all outstanding amounts they owe.”
The lawyers for the holding company maintain. “If Defendants pay their debts promptly in full, so be it. Everything indicates they cannot. If they don’t, WSSH is committed to leveraging its access to considerable experience, resources, and hospitality-industry reputation to restore the Greenbrier Resort to the grandeur and prominence from which it has fallen.”
White Sulphur Springs Holdings relies on conclusions by two experts.
One is Mark Dunec, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting who co-leads the firm’s real estate valuation practice. He crunched available financial data to conclude that the resort’s value is at risk of diminishing. He estimated its current value is about $360 million.
The other is Brian Ong, senior managing director of risk & investigations for FTI Consulting, Inc. He concluded that “numerous risk indicators raise concern regarding the Defendants’ ability to service the outstanding debt and properly maintain the operation of the Resort.”
Ong noted that Justice Family Group is a consolidated entity with multiple subsidiaries, including Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, whose revenue represents 88% of the family business organization’s total revenue during the years 2017–2024.
He concluded that Justice Family Group’s operating cash flow is insufficient to service the interest building on the outstanding judgments controlled by White Sulphur Springs Holdings, debt he calculated to be $369,774,473 as of this past March 1, with interest accruing at $47,506,643 a year.
Ong calculated that Justice Family Group generated only $28,346,093 in operating cash flow in 2024 — leaving a shortfall of more than $19 million annually even if every dollar of cash flow were devoted solely to interest.
Between 2017 and 2024, Ong concluded, $204,064,762 — an amount equal to 96% of Justice Family Group’s operating cash flow—was transferred to related parties outside the family business organization, including coal mining and agricultural entities unrelated to the Greenbrier Resort.
“Therefore, Defendants’ capacity to satisfy creditor obligations has been undermined by the transfer of cash to enterprises unrelated to the Greenbrier Resort,” he wrote.
The Justices push back
Lawyers for the Justices filed their own brief that responded by saying the lengthy submission for White Sulphur Springs Holdings was reason enough to pause the court case and explore the conclusions, calling it an “attempted ambush” and a “brazen disregard for the most basic principles of fairness.”
“Apparently Plaintiff was withholding its evidence for the last minute,” wrote the lawyers for the Justices.
The lawyers for The Greenbrier say the filing lacks supporting data and that underlying documents were not provided to the defense team.
In a separate filing asking for a stay of the case, lawyers for the Justices contended the fight for control bought on by White Sulphur Springs Holdings is the biggest current threat to The Greenbrier’s well-being.
“The uncertainty caused by the imminent threat of such severe remedies is already damaging Defendants’ operation of The Greenbrier,” wrote the lawyers for the Justices, saying more than 20 businesses and other groups have contacted The Greenbrier to express concerns about its stability since the lawsuit was filed.
“The threat of WSSH’s requested relief jeopardizes The Greenbrier’s operations, thereby harming its thousands of employees and the property’s many patrons and guests.”