Published: July 11, 2009 09:24 am      

Greenbrier acquisition

Justice takes full ownership of Greenbrier Sporting Club to add piece to puzzle, names associates

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS — “All the pieces of the puzzle are starting to slowly come together,” Jim Justice told media representatives gathered at The Greenbrier Sporting Club Friday.

The occasion was a press conference called to announce the Justice Family Group’s purchase of the remaining ownership interest in the sporting club. The $14 million deal ends the luxury enclave’s association with DPS Sporting Club Development Co. LLC.

The Justice Family Group earlier this year purchased The Greenbrier resort, along with an 80 percent interest in the sporting club, a luxury residential community located on the resort’s grounds.

Friday, Justice also announced the return of two of the sporting club’s previous associates, Peter McKinney and John Klemish, and the promotion of Larry Klein to vice president and general manager of The Greenbrier Sporting Club. McKinney will be vice president of development for The Greenbrier, while Klemish will serve as principal of real estate for the sporting club.

Klemish has been instrumental in world-class residential and hotel developments across the United States and Caribbean. Over the last 25 years, he has taken developments from infancy to maturity and is responsible for over $1 billion in sales.

As director of sales for The Greenbrier Sporting Club from its inception in 2000 to July 2005, Klemish had a significant role in the club’s initial growth.

Klein noted Klemish “made this an initial overnight success.”

Klemish said, “I’m thrilled to be back,” adding the club is “the greatest community of its sort in the United States, maybe in the world.”

He said he has already received more than 100 phone calls from club members and their families welcoming him back. That connection with the community provided him with a powerful incentive to return to West Virginia, Klemish said.

For the past four years, Klemish has worked with luxury residential developments throughout the Caribbean, including Temenos Anguilla, Molasses Reef Turks & Caicos and Rose Island Bahamas.

He obviously hit the ground running upon his return to the sporting club, reporting he wrote two property deals on Thursday, his first day back on the job. With his original sales team rejoining him in White Sulphur, Klemish said, “It just needs some hard work, but we’re ready.”

Klein, who has been affiliated with The Greenbrier for over 14 years, said, “I’ve never been more optimistic for what this means for The Greenbrier Sporting Club as well as the surrounding community.”

Justice has also been a veritable fountain of optimism, proceeding with plans to construct a multi-million dollar underground casino on the grounds of the resort and implementing a strategy to restore the elite fifth star awarded very judiciously by Mobil Travel Guide. The fifth star was taken away from The Greenbrier in 2000 and has yet to be restored.

Friday, he shared a list of additional projects still in the planning stages, including two new restaurants, a teen center and a theater.

“I think we’re really on the right path,” Justice said. “It goes beyond making a buck. We’re saving an icon.”

— E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com