SALEM TOWNSHIP - Winning horseman and Toronto businessman Frank Stronach, who owns the prestigious Santa Anita racetrack in California, is quietly lobbying to build three horse racing tracks, an entertainment pavilion, hotels, restaurants and shopping on 270 acres off M-14.
Stronach has brokered the idea with Michigan Racing Commissioner Annette Bacola, but has said he would have to convince state lawmakers to legalize telephone account wagering and off-track betting in order to make the complex a success, Bacola said.
The possibility of a racing complex, on the former site of a planned Taubman Co. regional mall, took township officials by surprise. No plans have been filed. "As far as I'm concerned, this is not good news," said Supervisor Fred Roperti, who was elected on a slow-growth platform. "It is certainly not what the community wants to see for that property at this time."
Early lobbying by Stronach's son Andy has won support from breeders and owners throughout the state, and leaders of a 1,400-member union of trainers and handlers who were wooed last month at a meeting in the grandstands of Muskegeon's Great Lakes Downs, which Stronach owns.
State Rep. Ruth Ann Jamnick, D-Ypsilanti Township, who has been lobbied by the racing industry to improve the business climate, has not spoken with anyone from Stronach's company, Magna Entertainment.
Stronach, his son and company officials have not returned repeated telephone calls.
"I've only heard that he wants to build a grand facility there and that it would be a premiere place," Jamnick said.
The land is just north of the M-14-Gotfredson interchange. Taubman Co. dropped its mall plan in mid-August, and just weeks later, Sarlen LLC of Bloomfield Hills announced plans to build 404-unit mobile home park. But after getting immediate opposition, the company decided to study the issue.
County records indicate Sarlen bought the land Oct. 25. Limited Liability Corporations are not required to reveal members, only to name a resident agent. Sarlen's is Karen S. Malnar, with only the address of One Woodward Ave., Detroit.
According to an Oct. 1 report made by Bacola on the state of Michigan's racing industry, she had "unofficial confirmation that Stronach is in the final stages" of purchasing the land.
The undeveloped tract is zoned agricultural/residential and multiple family/residential. A racetrack would require special township approval, Clerk Marcia Van Fossen said. It appears a rezoning would be needed to accommodate restaurants, hotels and shopping, she added.
Magna Entertainment of Santa Monica, Calif., is a spin-off of Magna International of Toronto, a $10 billion auto parts manufacturer with 19 plants and 8,000 employees in Michigan. The entertainment wing is the largest company in the country involved in horse tracks, Bacola said.
Along with Santa Anita, Stronach owns Gulfstream Park near Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., two of the top five tracks in the country, as well as Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Thistledown near Cleveland.
Less than a year ago he bought Great Lakes Downs in Muskegeon, where Bacola believes he made $1.3 million in improvements.
Gary Tinkle, executive director of the Horsemens Benevolent & Protection Association, a 1,400-member union that represents horsemen and trainers, said Andy Stronach's message to the membership on Oct. 10 in Muskegeon was well received. "More people will be able to enjoy racing. We're thrilled. We're very excited. We think it will be a very successful venture."
Tinkle said Stronach offered no specifics, but like Bacola said three tracks, hotels, a music pavilion and shopping were planned, in addition to movie theaters and an arena for horse shows and competitions.
Not everyone in Salem would be against the complex. Carol Retelle and her husband Richard own the 34-acre Sprintland Training Center on Six Mile Road, and have trained to race thoroughbreds and quarter horses for 23 years.
"I think it a facility like this would be a benefit to all horsemen," Carol said. "I like (Stronach's) ideas. I like that it will be family-oriented. And it would be such a benefit to Michigan."
Stronach proposes three tracks on the Salem site for thoroughbreds and harness racing. A third would be a turf track, Bacola said.