Louisville, Ky. (April 28, 2010) – Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson announced an agreement with Carl Pollard to acquire the remaining acreage and improvements of Hermitage Farm in a sale-leaseback arrangement expected to close by the end of May.
 
“Laura Lee and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to become part of Hermitage Farm’s great history,” said Steve Wilson. “It has long been a dream of ours that Hermitage farm remain the same beautiful open green space that it is today. We’ve been working for the last few months to create this unique agreement with Carl and are confident it will have long-reaching benefits for the community. We plan to honor the farm’s remarkable tradition far into the future and intend to place the property in an environmental conservation easement.”
 
Brown, Wilson and partners had previously acquired 180 acres of mostly unimproved land from Pollard in 2003 and had leased that acreage back to him for the last seven years. Under t he new Hermitage agreement, Pollard will continue to live on the historic farm and will still operate his thoroughbred breeding business; in the meantime Brown and Wilson will evaluate their long-term plans for the property.
 
The group hopes to generate interest from international clients coming to Kentucky and searching for places to train and board prior to this fall’s Alltech World Equestrian Games. Wilson added that “Carl and his staff have been most generous with their time and advice as to how we can accomplish this. I’m truly very excited.”
 
Brown and Wilson will convene an exhaustive planning session May 3rd and 4th with acclaimed architects and equine industry leaders to chart the proper future course for Hermitage .
 
David Mohney, Curry Prize Executive Director and former Dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Design; Michael Rotondi, famed Los Angeles architect; Randall Arendt, author and easement consultant; Duke Stump, Principal and Chief Architect of the Northstar Manifesto in Boston; Torrance Watkins, internationally-famed event rider and course designer; Simon Roseman, course designer for the World Equestrian Games; and Jerry Van Eyck, founder of landscape architecture and urban design practice MELK in New York City will be among those in attendance.

“We want to ensure the property remains pastoral, but also continues to be regarded as a site for world-class equine operations,” said Wilson.
 
Pollard, who has operated the farm for the last 15 years, said he will continue to do so for at least the term of the lease, which runs through 2013.
 
“I’ll be 75 when this lease expires, so this arrangement is the perfect way for me to continue to protect the farm and employees, and yet free my children of the responsibility of managing such an operation,” Pollard said. Pollard is pleased with the agreement and confident the land is going to be in good hands. He added the transition for the farm’s boarding clients, employees and suppliers will be seamless and that business operations w ill continue as usual.
 
ABOUT LAURA LEE BROWN AND STEVE WILSON
Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson are widely-recognized Louisville entrepreneurs and philanthropists. They are owners of 21c Museum Hotels, Kentucky Bison Company, and the developers of Museum Plaza.  They live at their farm “Woodland” which they put into an Agriculture Easement with the State’s PACE Program (Purchase of Agriculture Conservation Easement) eight years ago.  Woodland Farm is currently the largest property in the program.
 
ABOUT CARL POLLARD
Carl Pollard is the owner of Hermitage Farms and has served as Chairman of the Board at Churchill Downs s ince 2001. Previously, Pollard served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Galen Health Care. He was the also President and Chief Operating Officer of Humana Inc. from 1991 to 1993 and previously served as its Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.