Unloading the Greenbrier's Baggage

In March, The Greenbrier, West Virginia’s most fabled resort, declared bankruptcy. After losing $35 million in 2008 alone, its owners, CSX Corporation, determined that The Greenbrier was baggage that they could no longer carry. Then, just at the moment that West Virginia risked losing this national treasure, local businessman Jim Justice stepped in to carry the load. Meet the man and his family whose mission is not just restoring “America’s Resort” to its former glory, but also saving a community.

Written by Nikki Bowman

Photography by Rebecca Devono

When Jim Justice told his wife Cathy that he was going to buy The Greenbrier, her first response was, “Have you lost your mind?” Her next question was, “Can you really save it?”

During the The Greenbrier’s 231-year history, American presidents, European royalty, and countless barons of industry have all flocked to the resort known for its unparalleled amenities and service. It even has a massive underground bunker that was created as an emergency shelter in case of a nuclear attack for the U.S. Congress. Owned by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and its successor CSX Corporation for nearly 100 years, The Greenbrier became a 6,500-acre resort with 700 rooms, four golf courses and 40,000-square-foot spa that prided itself as “America’s Resort”—one that had long enjoyed a five-star rating. However, in 2000 it lost that fifth star and despite pouring in $50 million in renovations, CSX just couldn’t seem to return the resort to its glory days. With rooms at 30 percent occupancy, nearly 700 employees were laid off, morale was poor, and the neighboring towns of White Sulphur Springs and Lewisburg were feeling the economic blow.

“The Greenbrier was hemorrhaging like crazy, and a lot of people were hurting. My family and I live here. We knew The Greenbrier was going down the tubes. We knew the people who were struggling,” says Jim. “And I just knew that I had an obligation to stop the hemorrhaging and to save the community.”

Ask anyone in Jim and Cathy’s hometown of Lewisburg and they’ll tell you that the Justices are the most sincere, humble, and genuine people you’ll ever meet. There’s not an ounce of pretension. They live in a modest home on a modest street. Jim has coached youth basketball for 25 years and is currently the coach of the Greenbrier East High School girl’s basketball team. He is the president of Beckley’s Little League. He is the tournament director of the Mountain State Coal Classic Basketball Tournament that has provided over $300,000 in scholarships and over $325,000 in direct support to participating schools.

He works hard and gives much back to the community, so it is not surprising that this all-American family jumped at the idea of saving The Greenbrier. “We all have the same passion. We love this community,” he says. “There are not many times that you are blessed with the opportunity to do common good that is bigger than yourself. Good gracious, there were so many people in the community who were in dire straights. To have the opportunity to save the community, it’s a great feeling.” And the price tag gave him a good feeling as well. At $20.1 million, it is quite possibly the bargain of the century. When Jim told his son Jay, Jay’s mouth dropped open and he said, “Good God, $20.1 million? Give me a break! $20.1 million?” He still shakes his head every time he enters the lobby and thinks, “Wow—$20.1 million.”

“Jay’s the miser in our family,” laughs Cathy. “He is always looking for a deal.” Jay supported his father’s decision. “I understood the value of the deal. I thought it was a great investment.” And the deal seemingly came out of nowhere. One minute, by all accounts Marriott International Inc. was set to purchase The Greenbrier from CSX, but before anyone had time to blink, Jim bought all the shares of The Greenbrier’s holding company from CSX and took the company out of bankruptcy. The family celebrated over lunch at a local Wendy’s. And by the time the announcement was made on May 7, the question that was on everyone’s lips was “Who is Jim Justice?”

In 1977, Jim started Bluestone Farms, now operating as Justice Family Farms, LLC, and grew it into the largest cash grain operation on the East Coast with over 50,000 acres of corn, wheat, and soybeans in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. His company also owns commercial grain storage facilities, a John Deere farm equipment dealership, timber interests, cotton warehouses, land companies, a Christmas tree farm and two commercial turf farms. After the death of his father, he became president and CEO of Bluestone Industries, Inc. and Bluestone Coal Corporation, turning it into one of the largest independent coal companies in the United States. He has also developed Stoney Brook Plantation, a 15,000 acre hunting and fishing preserve in Monroe County that is currently being used as one of the amenities of the Greenbrier Sporting Club.

All in all, he owns more than 46 businesses, not including the newly acquired Greenbrier. It’s no wonder he has four separate phone lines coming into his house. “My day starts at 6 a.m. and my day doesn’t end until 1 a.m. And that’s seven days a week,” Jim says. “I try to get a lot of my work done in the morning, and then go into the field. I don’t spend much time behind a desk in an office. I’m an onsite, hands-on kind of guy.” One morning, Cathy counted the incoming calls. She says, “I counted 82 calls before he left the house at 10:30 a.m.”

“My son, Jay, is 28 years old, but he was born 40. He works night and day and loves it beyond belief. My daughter, Jill, played Division 1 basketball for Marshall University and maintained great grades, and she is now in medical school. For good or bad, we are a family of workers.”

To say he is busy is an understatement. He has never taken a vacation. “I don’t know what vacation means,” he laughs. “If I were to go somewhere and cut the phone off and relax, within two hours I’d be a fruitcake. I don’t know how to do that. You’d have to put me in a detox machine.”

Jim believes that passion is the key to success. “I tell folks that if you choose to be an entrepreneur, you have to have passion beyond belief in what you are doing. If you don’t have passion, then you need a job — and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can’t be an entrepreneur if you don’t have a sense of passion. It is a simple formula. Whether it is coaching a basketball team, buying The Greenbrier, or running a farm, it takes commitment and passion and hours beyond belief.”

And although the word failure isn’t in Jim’s vocabulary, he admits that he has fallen down many times. His father, who grew up in a little coal camp house in Kopperston, was his greatest role model. “My family and Cathy’s family were hard working and proud people. I was surely taught from my father that you get up one more time than you fall down,” he says. “One of my most vivid memories is of my father in a coat and tie behind his desk. I was standing in front of him, saying that there wasn’t anything I could do. I can’t remember what I was talking about, but it was a frightening moment. The entire desk exploded, he grabbed me by the shirt and said, ‘There’s always something you can do, and you’d better damn well always remember that.”

He hasn’t forgotten that lesson. When The Greenbrier was set to go on the auction block, he knew his approach had to be a non-conventional business strategy. “Jim can see beyond what most people see. He thinks outside the box,” Cathy says. “He has great long term vision, and can see the logical steps to get there. He just makes things happen. He feels like the good Lord has given him the inspiration to make all these good decisions.”

His business acumen is legendary. “Everyone has a style,” he explains. “My style is like this: If I want to buy a farm, I wouldn’t go look at the farm if I didn’t know something about farming. If I knew something about farming, then I’d meet you at the front gate, and I’d drive through it, and all the while I’d be assessing the frontage, the infrastructure, the timber quality, etc… And by the time we drove out the back gate, I’d be closing the deal. Other people would first bring in three land appraisals. By the time they got around to making an offer, I’d already closed the deal.”

His instinctive style has served him well. Jay, who works for his father as executive vice president says, “My dad is the best on making the deal. He’s masterful.” Cathy attributes his success to being a people person. She says, “He can read people really well, and he doesn’t think his way is the only way.”

Jim admits that most people probably think he shoots from the hip, but they are wrong. “I am able to put things together analytically very quickly. I get an idea or a vision that seems to come from nowhere, and I know that it is such a beautiful idea that I’m not smart enough to come up with it on my own. But it comes from somewhere. When I have these visions, I know it will work. I can see through the clutter,” he says. “I’m actually a very conservative businessman, but I act very quickly when I know the opportunity is right.”

Jim says that he can “hum” the numbers. “I can tell you the serial number on my vehicle, but I can’t tell you where it is parked,” he laughs. “If I’m going to do something, I’m going to have certain equations that are going to have to go into the formula,” he explains. “First, I’m going to have to have the time to do it. Secondly, I have to have the passion and enthusiasm. And finally, I have to have the resources.” And when it came to buying The Greenbrier, the formula worked out. He says, “Do we have the resources to weather the storm? Right now, we can weather the storm. But we probably can’t weather eight Category Five hurricanes. I believe we can right this boat. I know where we are going. It’s a big job. But we are going to take it back to greatness.” His family whole-heartedly supports him. Jill, Jim and Cathy’s daughter, says, “If anyone can do it, ‘Big Jimmy’ can. He can do anything.” The day the announcement was made to the employees is a day that won’t soon be forgotten. Cathy recalls, “We walked in to The Greenbrier and we saw so many people we knew. Folks looked at us and said, ‘Why are you here?’ We thought that the employees would be happy, but the response of sheer enthusiasm was overwhelming. It was very emotional. It was a great day.”

“I still get chills when I think about it,” says Lynn Swann, director of public relations for The Greenbrier. “When the announcement was made, people starting cheering and clapping and crying. It was truly incredible.”

Jim and his family feel an obligation to the surrounding communities. “The Greenbrier is beneficial to the communities of White Sulphur Springs and Lewisburg, but the communities can be beneficial to The Greenbrier as well,” Jim says. “We live in a Norman Rockwell painting. We have the most beautiful state in the union. Our people are full of love and kindness. We have incredibly skilled craftsmen who are the envy of the nation. We have beautiful four seasons, a decent infrastructure, and low crime. When we bring guests from all over the country, we are sharing some love that is missing from the world. The people that come to The Greenbrier are touched by this Norman Rockwell painting.”

According to Jim, the key to restoring the grandeur and allure of The Greenbrier rests in motivating his employees. “I’ve got some great people working for me. Every day, they make me look a lot better than I am,” he says. “But as an employer, you also make your people. Employees know if you truly support them. I think my employees would do anything for me, because I’d do anything for them. And that isn’t just hot air. It’s the real deal.” When The Greenbrier re-achieves the coveted five-star rating, he has promised his employees that they will receive a one-time payment equal to 10 percent of their gross pay. “I want my employees to do well. I want their job to be pleasing to come to, the pay scale to be very good, and the benefit package to be terrific.”

Part of the employees benefit package is tied to the casino, which is slated to open this coming spring. A portion of the profits from the casino goes into a human resources fund for employee benefits. Jim is excited about the casino, which is to be built underground so it won’t alter the landscape. “I’m excited about the fun aspect. Every night at 8 p.m., we’re going to stop all play in the casino and everyone will toast one another with a glass of champagne. It will be like the seven-inning stretch in baseball game. I like the idea of starting new traditions,” he says.

After Jim bought The Greenbrier he immediately set about creating new attractions that would draw more people to the famous resort. One of the first things he did was call on his friend Jerry West with the idea to collaborate on opening a steakhouse restaurant that would house some of West’s basketball memorabilia, including the gold medal he won at the 1960 Summer Olympics and his All Star jerseys. The restaurant is set to open October 1. “I love The Greenbrier and was thrilled when Jim approached me with this idea. I am honored to be part of the greatest resort that ever was, and to be implementing a great steakhouse,” said West, who is a member of The Greenbrier Sporting Club. “Every night that I am here at our house, I will be stopping by the restaurant and visiting with guests.”

But Jim didn’t stop there. He also secured a deal that will bring the PGA Tour to the Greenbrier for the next six years. The Greenbrier will host The Greenbrier Classic as part of the FedExCup on The Old White Course.

Golf is an important part of Jim’s life. The first time he went to The Greenbrier was as a 12-year old in the West Virginia State Amateur golf tournament. He would later make it to the championship flight of the Amateur seven years in a row, winning it when he was in high school. “My dad always took me. It was a monstrous treat to get to go to The Greenbrier and play on that course,” he says.

Jim captained the golf team at Marshall University, but his golf career came to an end—of all places—at The Greenbrier. “When I was 25 years old, I was on the eighth hole at the Amateur. On the first day, I’m one under par. I’m hitting a five iron, the wind is in my face,” he recalls. As he swings, his shoulder dislocates. “I thought someone had shot me. I fell down in terrible pain.” A doctor ran to him and popped his shoulder back in place and told him that he needed to go to the hospital. “I said, ‘You’ve got to be out of your mind! If I walk off this golf course, my dad will kill me.’ So I kept going. I shot an 84, but I finished before I went to the hospital.”

Recently, Jim was playing on Old White with Tom Watson, The Greenbrier’s Golf Professional Emeritus. It was the first time he’d played 18 holes of golf in 15 years. When he got to the eighth hole, memories rushed at him. “It had been 33 years since I’d been here. And here I was…The owner of The Greenbrier. I couldn’t help but think of how much my life has changed in those 33 years. It was a powerful moment.”

Although life has changed, Cathy doesn’t think that Jim has changed all that much. She says, “He is the same guy whether he is wearing a tie or camouflage. He is the same through and through if you see him at Kroger or if you run into him at The Greenbrier. We are just normal, down-home people.” And maybe that’s just what The Greenbrier needs. A Norman Rockwell painting brought to life.

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