PEIBolt
04-17-2009, 11:27 AM
DAVID EBNER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER — Len Barrie, co-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, wants a hands-on role next season running one of the worst teams in hockey — as soon as he can sell a major real estate development in British Columbia.
Bear Mountain, near Victoria, is a sprawling project majority-owned by Barrie, with the likes of hockey heroes Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk and Rob Niedermayer also involved. Launched in 2002, Bear Mountain was a big success through the boom and includes five completed luxury condo buildings, a Westin hotel and two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses, the second opening in May.
But Barrie, a one-time journeyman NHLer, has his mind on the Lightning, whose 2008-09 campaign was a disaster, ending with nine consecutive losses to ring up the second-worst record in the league. The team's 24 wins were the fewest in the NHL.
"We've had a long year, we had a lot of injuries," Barrie said in an interview yesterday. "It's been disappointing not being able to help. I have to look after the main place [Bear Mountain] first, and we'll see how it plays out.
"I'd like to have more of an involvement on the day-to-day stuff [in Tampa]. You can only do so many things."
When the economy, and real estate, crashed last fall, new developments at Bear Mountain went with it. Rumours of a possible sale began to percolate and in January, there were reports Barrie was close to selling the project for $500-million to a group from the Middle East. The chatter was dismissed, but Bear executives acknowledged inquiries were being made.
Yesterday, Barrie — bolstered by a burst of new sales after prices of condos were slashed — confirmed Middle Eastern investors are working toward a deal, though it's moving slowly and far from sealed.
"There's a group that's been doing due diligence [on Bear Mountain's finances and business] for a while," he said. "We'll see how that goes. We'll keep plugging away. Nothing concrete yet."
Barrie was almost an accidental real estate developer. In the fall of 2001, after he had retired from an NHL career in which he played 184 games with four teams, he was mountain biking through the woods on the land that became Bear Mountain, snapped his chain and was left to marvel at the view. An avid golfer, he began to imagine a course — and the dream took off from there, fuelled by the long real estate boom this decade.
But it's hockey that Barrie loves. Last year, for $200-million (U.S.), he and partner Oren Koules, the Hollywood movie producer behind the Saw series who himself was a minor-league hockey player, bought the Lightning.
The drama was just beginning. Along the way, there was a fired coach, a flurry of injuries and questions of the club's solvency as recession wracked the enterprise. All in, it sunk the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2004.
Barrie is president of the NHL team. A Tampa newspaper this month said he's mostly been invisible and hasn't been in town much, and was silent as the storm raged — but he has been known to micromanage from a distance and get closely involved when he's been in Tampa.
A key decision is whether to trade star Vincent Lecavalier, who has a no-trade clause in his $85-million (U.S.), 11-year contract that starts July 1, but he could be moved before then.
From Friday's Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER — Len Barrie, co-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, wants a hands-on role next season running one of the worst teams in hockey — as soon as he can sell a major real estate development in British Columbia.
Bear Mountain, near Victoria, is a sprawling project majority-owned by Barrie, with the likes of hockey heroes Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk and Rob Niedermayer also involved. Launched in 2002, Bear Mountain was a big success through the boom and includes five completed luxury condo buildings, a Westin hotel and two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses, the second opening in May.
But Barrie, a one-time journeyman NHLer, has his mind on the Lightning, whose 2008-09 campaign was a disaster, ending with nine consecutive losses to ring up the second-worst record in the league. The team's 24 wins were the fewest in the NHL.
"We've had a long year, we had a lot of injuries," Barrie said in an interview yesterday. "It's been disappointing not being able to help. I have to look after the main place [Bear Mountain] first, and we'll see how it plays out.
"I'd like to have more of an involvement on the day-to-day stuff [in Tampa]. You can only do so many things."
When the economy, and real estate, crashed last fall, new developments at Bear Mountain went with it. Rumours of a possible sale began to percolate and in January, there were reports Barrie was close to selling the project for $500-million to a group from the Middle East. The chatter was dismissed, but Bear executives acknowledged inquiries were being made.
Yesterday, Barrie — bolstered by a burst of new sales after prices of condos were slashed — confirmed Middle Eastern investors are working toward a deal, though it's moving slowly and far from sealed.
"There's a group that's been doing due diligence [on Bear Mountain's finances and business] for a while," he said. "We'll see how that goes. We'll keep plugging away. Nothing concrete yet."
Barrie was almost an accidental real estate developer. In the fall of 2001, after he had retired from an NHL career in which he played 184 games with four teams, he was mountain biking through the woods on the land that became Bear Mountain, snapped his chain and was left to marvel at the view. An avid golfer, he began to imagine a course — and the dream took off from there, fuelled by the long real estate boom this decade.
But it's hockey that Barrie loves. Last year, for $200-million (U.S.), he and partner Oren Koules, the Hollywood movie producer behind the Saw series who himself was a minor-league hockey player, bought the Lightning.
The drama was just beginning. Along the way, there was a fired coach, a flurry of injuries and questions of the club's solvency as recession wracked the enterprise. All in, it sunk the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2004.
Barrie is president of the NHL team. A Tampa newspaper this month said he's mostly been invisible and hasn't been in town much, and was silent as the storm raged — but he has been known to micromanage from a distance and get closely involved when he's been in Tampa.
A key decision is whether to trade star Vincent Lecavalier, who has a no-trade clause in his $85-million (U.S.), 11-year contract that starts July 1, but he could be moved before then.