A gamble on Hialeah: Racetrack could see new life

By Charles Rabin and Andres Viglucci
I aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com
Copyright © 2009 Miami Herald Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The dream: The bugler's Call to Post rings out over a beautifully restored Hialeah Park, setting the pink flamingos in the infield aflight as patrons crowd the betting windows -- and the new, no-limit poker tables and Vegas-style slots.

The spooky reality: The flamingos are still there, but grass and weeds cover the oval track, unused since 2001. The famous clubhouse and grandstand have unrepaired roof damage from hurricanes, a burned-out kitchen and flooded basement restrooms. And the legendary stables are gone, torn down in 2006.

Can a comprehensive new gambling bill approved at the 11th hour by the state Legislature last week now rescue Hialeah Park from grim decay?

It will require a $100 million gamble to find out.

That's how much it could cost owner John Brunetti to restore and rebuild the landmark race track, once regarded as the most beautiful in the country -- assuming the eventual goal is, as Brunetti has said, for Hialeah to once again host the king of sports, thoroughbred racing.

In a blitz of proverbial horse-trading, the complex bill -- which offers a new gambling deal to the Seminole Tribe and a lower tax rate for parimutuels -- gave Brunetti much of what he said he needs to resuscitate his dormant track: quarter-horse racing, card rooms and, after two years of live racing, slot machines, the most lucrative games of all.

The expanded gambling the bill authorizes at Hialeah is designed to give Brunetti, a wealthy developer with years of experience in horse racing, a fat, almost-guaranteed income stream to finance the costly renovations.

''The Legislature gave him all the tools he would need to bring that place back,'' said Marc Dunbar, a Tallahassee lobbyist who represents Gulfstream Park, a one-time Hialeah competitor that will also benefit from the bill. ``Whether he can pull it off depends on him.

'It's no inexpensive endeavor. But 2,000 slot machines at Hialeah Park along with no-limit poker is going to create a cash engine for John. Then, in three or four years, he can make the case, `I am back' and return to thoroughbred racing.''

Brunetti did not return repeated messages over several days requesting an interview.

SKEPTICS

Some question whether he is up to the job. His many critics -- including Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican who ripped into Brunetti on the Senate floor -- blame him for Hialeah's downfall. They say he blew previous breaks from the Legislature and antagonized horsemen, turned supporters into opponents and competitors into enemies.

Brunetti closed the track after losing a long-running battle with other local race tracks, claiming they had conspired with members of the Legislature to freeze him out of favorable racing dates.

''He deserves all the criticism over the years,'' Dunbar said. ``There is a strong sense in the Legislature he has now been afforded one last chance to do this right. Let's see what he's learned.''

The Hialeah breaks passed in great measure because of relentless pushing by the Miami-Dade delegation and Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, who told legislators he would ensure the race track fulfills its promises.

So polarizing a figure had Brunetti become that by design he was absent during debates over the bill, Robaina said.

For the city, Robaina says, it's a matter of economics. The hardscrabble, working-class city has a staggering 10.3 percent unemployment rate, he noted.

''Job creation. Job creation. Job creation,'' the mayor said.

``That's what made this happen in Tallahassee. This is truly an economic stimulus.''

Two weeks ago, the race track's locked gates parted open for 4,700 people who showed up looking for work after word leaked out that the city's signature venue might finally reopen.

''When the park was open there was so much life in this area,'' said nearby shop owner Miguel Peña. ``Hialeah needs something to give it life. And this might be it. I have hope.''

Economist Tony Villamil, hired by Brunetti, estimates the reopened park could generate 8,000 jobs, with another 3,000 outside the park, Robaina said.

The mayor also envisions an expanded attraction in time, a town center with bowling alleys, theaters and ice cream shops.

''You need to have all the different options,'' Robaina said.

The race track still faces substantial obstacles, not the least of which is raising tens of millions of dollars amid a financial crisis. Supporters say the promised income stream from expanded gambling, plus Brunetti's own substantial wealth and racing experience, will make the deal more attractive to lenders or investors.

Brunetti also faces a well-financed lawsuit from Internet mega-millionaire Halsey Minor, who sued after failing to persuade the owner to sell him the race track last year. Minor's long-shot suit contends the citizens of Hialeah are the track's legal owners because Brunetti failed to fulfill conditions of a deal under which the city helped him buy the track in the 1970s.

Minor's attorney, Steve Darmody, said the lawsuit is still on. A hearing on preliminary motions is set for May 20.

Then there is the matter of revitalization, which will require not just extensive repairs and renovations but substantial new construction -- especially stables and support facilities on the back side of the park, said Richard Heisenbottle, a leading Coral Gables preservation architect hired by Minor, with Brunetti's OK, to draw up a master plan for the track's comeback.

''It's a $100 million project to restore that racetrack the way it should be restored,'' Heisenbottle said, citing cost estimates developed by Turner Construction. ``It's an awful lot of money just to build the stables before you even get to preservation of the track and the grandstand.''

Hialeah Rep. Steven Bovo, a one-time Brunetti employee and former city councilman who was instrumental in the gambling bill's passage, put the cost of renovations at $60 million to $100 million.

IN PHASES?

Some gambling experts say Brunetti can phase in the work, possibly by erecting temporary stables for quarter horses to get racing under way. Under the terms of the bill, Brunetti must stage at least 40 days of live horse racing in two consecutive years to qualify for the big payoff, the Vegas-style slots.

The quarter-horse permit also permits racing other breeds, including thoroughbreds -- though the valuable, high-strung horses require far more extensive and expensive stables and support facilities.

Fortunately, supporters say, much of what made the 220-acre Hialeah Park special remains more or less intact -- even if the emptiness gives the place an eerie feeling.

Though musty and peeling, the French Mediterranean-style grandstand and clubhouse retain their grandeur. The grounds are clean and groomed. The stalls in the paddock area appear in good shape. The famous ficus tree at the entrance still hangs partially over the entrance roadway.

The bronze statue of 1948 Triple Crown and Hialeah Flamingo Stakes winner Citation still brings chills, proudly fronting the grandstand.

With no income at the park for nearly a decade, Brunetti, who keeps an office at the track, has been paying the maintenance bill out of pocket. Included in that: $1,000 a month to feed the flamingos.

The fact that the oval track is covered with grass and weeds is OK, said Hialeah Park tenant and building superintendent Jesus Perdomo.

''Most of the work that needs to be done is cosmetic,'' said Perdomo, who said the track could be up and running in a year. ``The track may look overgrown to most, but it really serves a purpose. The grass and weed keeps the soil in place.''

Robaina, the city mayor, expects to release a construction timeline in the next 60 days. But jobs, he said, will be created almost immediately.

For now, said the mayor, it's all about morale.

''Anywhere you go in Hialeah, they're talking about it,'' Robaina said. ``It's so much history and means so much for this community to be able to hang onto this. We're going to make sure that this place that is a part of history will be a part of our future. That makes this a great day in Hialeah.''

Miami Herald staff writers Yudy Pineiro and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.