Senator Jim Justice says talk of The Greenbrier Hotel’s decline has been exaggerated, and he thinks much of that can be put to rest following a $500 million financial deal.
“People hear of all the noise, and people think, well, gosh, The Greenbrier is running down or whatever it may be, you know,” he said.
“And so, all of a sudden, all these people come: I wish to goodness you could talk to them because they would have all said 100% you know, ‘Gosh, what we found is so much better than anything we could have probably read in the newspaper or watched on TV.’ So things probably are not going to change a whole lot along those lines.”
The iconic, 710-room Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs features a private casino, four golf courses and a spa. Justice and his family bought the historic resort out of bankruptcy in 2009. It’s been at the center of Justice’s public persona.
On Friday, the Greenbrier owners announced the completion of a new, $500 million joint venture with the New York private credit and alternative asset firm Kennedy Lewis Investment Management.
Greenbrier representatives say the transaction provides the hotel with a robust financial foundation and underpins long-term investment in the resort, its facilities and the guest experience.
The Justices had been in financial conflict for years with their longtime banker, Carter Bank & Trust of Martinsville, Va. Earlier this year, Carter Bank & Trust sold roughly $289 million in outstanding loans tied The Greenbrier resort to White Sulphur Springs Holdings, an affiliate of Omni Hotels & Resorts parent company TRT Holdings.
White Sulphur Springs Holdings sought a federal receivership to take over the resort, accusing the Justice family of defaulting and diverting revenues. Court filings from the Omni Hotels affiliate claimed The Greenbrier was “not being properly operated and maintained” and that its overall value was diminishing.
The Justices maintained a financial deal with Kennedy Lewis valued at $500 million would be enough to pay down the debt to White Sulphur Springs Holdings and other creditors with enough left over to invest in hotel upkeep.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Justice told reporters after a Tuesday afternoon appearance at West Virginia State University. “That’s all there is to it. It took a lot of work, and to be perfectly honest, we got several cannonballs right to the stomach.”
He described a new start that can include capital expenditures, which he shortened to “capex.”
“We’ll be able to have gotten rid of all the bad stuff, and then behind all that, there’s dollars there to do additional capex stuff, and absolutely their goal, my goal, is to try to grow the employment of the Greenbrier from 2,000 to maybe 3,000,” he said.
Much of what Justice described would represent upgrades or restorations to golf courses at the resort. He also described adding a skiing or tubing attraction.
“So there’s lots of things on the horizon,” he said.
West Virginia Lottery, which has been reviewing the financial deal’s potential effect on the casino, has indicated “the Kennedy Lewis Partnership will acquire 51 percent control of the Greenbrier, a significant change in ownership and control.”
Kennedy Lewis also appears poised to assume a majority of positions on an oversight board of The Greenbrier, with last week’s announcement specifying that Kennedy Lewis has appointed the chairman, Lloyd Nathan.
Invited by MetroNews to comment on its vision for the historic West Virginia resort, Kennedy Lewis responded: “We are thrilled to be part of The Greenbrier family and are excited to build on the nearly 250-year tradition of America’s Resort. Our vision is to embrace this uniquely beloved place and help carry it forward into a new era.
“We look forward to sharing more about our plans for The Greenbrier as we are able.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican political rival to Justice, highlighted on social media the change of control at the historic West Virginia resort.
“West Virginia’s iconic Greenbrier Hotel is now under the majority ownership and controlling interest of Kennedy Lewis, a New York-based private credit and opportunistic asset firm. With Kennedy Lewis now officially controlling the resort, I welcome them to West Virginia.”
The current governor continued, “I’m hopeful that Kennedy Lewis and the entire Greenbrier team will help restore the beauty of the resort to its former glory.”
Justice, the prior governor, said the partnership will pay off. He indicated that he’s pleased the resort did not wind up under control of Omni, which owns the Homestead Resort about an hour away in Virginia.
“We took some bad cannonballs and everything, but the Kennedy Lewis people with me, arm in arm, we had to stand strong, really strong, that we weren’t going to let this go to somebody’s hands that could actually make it back up. You know, we didn’t want that.
“I broke my neck in the very beginning to to try to save the employees there, and I’ll stand right with them till the cows come home. And I broke my neck in every way you can break it to make sure that didn’t happen.”
MetroNews reporter Jack Carlson spoke with Senator Justice at West Virginia State.