This story appears in the May issue of ForbesLife magazine, dated May 21, as a feature entitled “Saving An American Classic.”  Jim Justice II is known for his bold strokes. The colorful, 6-foot-7, third-generation West Virginian expanded a $25 million energy-and-agriculture operation inherited from his father into a personal $1.2 billion fortune. His appetite for a challenge hasn’t diminished with time—among other things, he coaches not one but two high school basketball teams, including the 2012 girls’ state champions. But Justice’s most recent business gamble was perhaps his biggest: the 2009 purchase of the storied, and nearly bankrupt, Greenbrier resort.  “Everything I do, I do really big,” concedes the 60-year-old Justice, who ranks 375th on The Forbes 400. “I just really go all-in. I bought the Greenbrier out of concern and love for the area way more than I was thinking it was a terrific business move.”  When Justice says “all-in,” he means it: He sold his West Virginia mines in 2009 and turned over much of the operation of the James C. Justice Companies—the firm still has 47 coal and farming operations—to his son, Jay, so that he can focus his considerable energies on the Greenbrier. “I wanted this to be a thriving, profitable business that substantially improves employment in the area,” he emphasizes. “Then you can feel like you’ve really accomplished something. To just buy it and stabilize it…that’s not enough.”  As far back as the year it opened, 1788, the renowned 6,750-acre, 710-room resort has been the economic lifeblood of the southeastern part of West Virginia, as Justice, a resident of nearby Lewisburg since 2001, is keenly aware. For most of its history, it was a place to see and be seen, its grand white columns and expansive lawns lending it both gravitas and glamour. It was also, by turns, an internment camp for Nazi diplomats, a convalescent home for American officers, and the site of a top-secret bunker designed to house the entire Congress in the event of nuclear war. Along the way, it acquired a dowdy image that it hadn’t been able to shake.  When he got wind of an agreement then-owner CSX was about to sign in 2009 with Marriott to run the resort, Justice stepped in and offered $15 million in cash. Ultimately, he spent approximately $43 million for the hotel, spa, golf courses, sporting club, future casino, a break-up fee to Marriott, 500 home lots, and the assumption of debt.  He made a quick assessment: what to keep (the retina-scorching Dorothy Draper colors and floral patterns in the common areas), what to add (an extraordinary amount of things for children to do—bowling, paintball, an arcade, and a movie theater among them—as well as a guests-only casino), and what to leverage (the resort’s four golf courses, its excellent sporting club, its bucolic Allegheny setting, and its legacy).  Within a year, Justice had also added a superb steak house (the sleek Prime 44 West, after former NBA star and West Virginia native Jerry West), upped the level of service at the spa, and begun a much-needed renovation of the guest rooms. “We’re changing the energy of the place without disturbing or tainting its history,” he says.  Then came those bold strokes. Justice scored a coup when he landed a PGA Tour FedEx Cup tournament for the property, the Greenbrier Classic. (The resort’s courses have long been known for their quality; local boy Sam Snead was once the resident pro.) Now in its third year, the tourney, played on the Old White course, was recently named “best in class” among the 44 main Tour stops by the PGA. Justice has transformed the event into a weeklong festival, with free concerts for tournament attendees by big-name acts, including the Black Eyed Peas and Brad Paisley, which draw almost 350,000 people to the area. “The tournament surely helped us get our message out, opened the world’s eyes to West Virginia,” says Justice, who pays $7.5 million as title sponsor.  It was a shrewd marketing move, too: In a time when real estate investors are skittish, Greenbrier’s home sales have been picking up, Justice claims. “We have had a real estate transaction an average of every eight days for the past two years. It’s partly because of the exposure we received from the tournament, and then when people think about where to put their money, they look at the Greenbrier and see we don’t have any debt. We’ve put energy and life back into the resort—and every amenity known to man is in place and paid for. It’s not just the usual golf/tennis/spa thing.”
West Virginia’s richest man, billionaire Jim Justice, gambles on restoring the luster of his state’s crown jewel, the Greenbrier resort.