Justin Timberlake, Tiger Woods and Others Plan Exclusive South Florida Community

Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods are among the celebrities partnering on a mixed-use mega-complex in Wellington, a South Florida village known for its central role in equestrian culture. 

Horse mogul Mark Bellissimo, owner of Wellington Lifestyle Partners (WLP) and the biggest landowner in the town, has partnered with Nexus Luxury Collection, a hospitality group founded by a collaboration among Timberlake, Woods, fellow golf legend Ernie Els and Joe Lewis, the billionaire British owner of Tavistock Group. (The deal must have been good enough to lure Timberlake, allegedly a Manchester United fan, into working with Lewis, the majority owner of rival Tottenham Hotspur. Or maybe it’s just that Timberlake is also an avid golfer.)

Just in case there weren’t enough partners in the project, Nexus and WLP are being joined by billionaire eBay founder Jeff Skoll as investor, and former show jumper Paige Bellissimo, the founder of Buildz and daughter of Bellissimo, who is managing the development process. 

The star-studded partnership plans an exclusive community on 600 acres assembled over the years by the elder Bellissimo, which will combine resort living with a social club, as well as a focus on wellness, a love of sports, equestrian facilities, and a golf course. 

The development proposal includes the doubling of the Wellington International equestrian showgrounds, in addition to a residential complex creatively called The Wellington, which will include a commercial center, hotels, offices, parks and a public facility for horse riding and equestrian education. Residences will feature single-family homes and condos. 

The community will also have access to the 18-hole championship Palm Beach Polo golf course, which Bellissimo recently acquired for $35 million, and which will be extensively renovated. In case golf and horse riding are not enough for the Wellington residents, they can also play tennis, padel, pickleball or squash in a variety of indoor or outdoor courts. Not to mention the pool, the gym, the climbing wall, the bowling alley, the basketball courts, etc. 

(Honestly, if your net worth isn’t at least several million dollars, you should probably just stop reading now.) 

According to Google and some back-of-the-napkin math, the total net worth of the partners involved is roughly $12.5 billion — and that’s not counting the Bellisimos’ wealth because it’s reported inconsistent and is basically a rounding error in any case, of somewhere between $5 million and $20 million.

Nexus is also building a similar 600-acre resort in the Bahamas, if that’s more your speed. 

Nexus did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Chava Gourarie can be reached at cgourarie@commercialobserver.com.