When , thousands of residents expressed concern over the 148-acre site being demolished and developed into housing.
In stepped Mark Bellissimo, owner of a large equestrian festival in Florida.
Bellissimo and partners bought the park on Dec. 19.
“We’re very, very excited about the future of Colorado Horse Park,” Bellissimo said. “I know there were concerns that it would turn into a subdivision, but we’re really dedicated to improving what’s there and making it available to the community at large.”
Helen Krieble bought the park, a former boarding facility, in 1993 and became founder and president. As she neared retirement this September, Krieble put the park up for sale and hoped it would remain a horse-lover’s haven.
“I am thrilled that Mark and his partners have contracted to acquire the Horse Park. It has been my passion for 23 years, and I am confident that it will be in good hands,” Krieble said in a news release from Colorado Equestrian Partners. “It was important to me that the Horse Park was kept intact.”
The new partnership, Colorado Equestrian Partners, includes Mark and Katherine Bellissimo and other partners within the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, which the news release said operates the world’s largest and longest-running equestrian festival: the at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Fla.
The Colorado Horse Park is the largest horse park west of the Mississippi, according to the release, and features more than 40 events per year, 11 competition arenas, 100 boarding stalls, an RV park, two covered arenas, 300 permanent stalls and portable stalls for more than 1,000 competing horses.
Colorado Equestrian Partners has also contracted to obtain 47 additional acres for park improvements.
“Our plan is to invest in improvements in terms of the stabling and footing and key factors that energize the equestrian community,” Bellissimo said. “We want to make it’s exciting for existing customers and new customers that we’re going to attract.”
The partners plan to develop philanthropic initiatives along with outreach programs that work with local schools to raise awareness about opportunities in horse sports, the release said.
“We contemplate great investments in the park over the next few years and making it one of the premier facilities in the world,” Bellissimo said.
When the park was put up for sale, 25-year Parker resident and horse enthusiast Kris Garrett organized a campaign to save it.
“Boy, did I get a lot of feedback,” she said.
Garrett received more than 1,000 comments and signatures on an online petition she handed over to the park’s selling agent pleading for the park to be saved.
“If the horse park went, I would just probably move to another state that’s more horse friendly,” she said.
Garrett was overjoyed when she found out the park would remain an equestrian’s paradise.
She said: “It just proves horses are here to stay and that Douglas County is going to stay horse oriented. For that, I am very grateful.”
Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ehernandez
