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Letter to the editor

Innisbrook owner has big plans for resort

Sheila Crump Johnson wants it to be a premier site for sports and conferences.

By Helen Huntley, Times Personal Finance Editor
Published July 15, 2007

The soon-to-be-owner of Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club is bubbling with big ideas for her "third act in life" as a hospitality industry mogul.

"I'm in my most creative period," said billionaire Sheila Crump Johnson, who sums up her career path this way:

Act 1: Concert violinist and music teacher.

Act 2: Co-founder of Black Entertainment Television with ex-husband Robert Johnson. That's how she made the big money.

Act 3: Owner of resorts, hotels, spas and restaurants.

"I have always enjoyed entertaining people and hosting events, so I thought this is just a natural fit for me as another profession," Johnson said. "It's just working out great. I feel as though I have the visionary instincts to be able to make things work and to really expand this brand."

On Monday, her companies are set to close on the $35-million purchase of Palm Harbor-based Innisbrook, known for its four championship golf courses and its spot on the PGA Tour.

Johnson, 58, hopes it soon will be known for much more, a premier destination for sports, conferences and maybe even a little culture.

"We're going to do all we possibly can to upgrade the property and make it a destination," she said. "It would be great to bring some concerts to Innisbrook, chamber music or jazz. We want to do things a little differently."

Johnson, who is giving $5-million to humanitarian organization CARE to empower women to fight poverty, says she even hopes Innisbrook might some day be the site of an international women's conference.

But that doesn't mean she's downplaying sports. Johnson said she wants to leverage her considerable industry contacts to raise the resort's sports profile. She said she chatted with tennis great Billie Jean King at Wimbledon about bringing a tennis tournament to Innisbrook.

She also would like to bring the LPGA Tour back to Innisbrook and has set her sights on getting Tiger Woods to play in the PODS Championship at Innisbrook, a long-held ambition of tournament organizers.

"I want to get to know him and I'd like to get him here," she said. She said she will reveal plans Monday for improving the PGA Tour event to make it "much better for sponsors, spectators and players."

Johnson said her husband and teenage son play golf and they have a putting green on their farm in Virginia horse country. "They have been making me learn," she said.

Many of her companies include the name "salamander," which she took from the name of her farm. Its former owner, Bruce Sundlun, a former governor of Rhode Island, named the property after the code name he used during World War II.

"It's the only animal that can walk through fire and still come out alive," she said. "It's a sign of courage and perseverance. I liked the name because it stands for everything that I've gone through."

Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8230.

About Sheila Johnson

Personal: Daughter of a neurosurgeon. Married Circuit Judge William Newman Jr. in 2005. Divorced from Robert Johnson in 2002. Children Paige, 21, equestrian; Brett, 17, high school senior. Homes in Virginia and Palm Beach.

Business: Owns Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Va.; Woodlands Resort & Inn in Summerville, S.C. and Market Salamander restaurants in Palm Beach and Middleburg; will manage hotels under development in New Orleans, New York and Blacksburg, Va.

Sports connections: President of Washington Mystics (WNBA) and as a partner in Lincoln Holdings, has ownership interests in the Mystics, Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Wizards (NBA). Chairman, Washington International Horse Show.

Arts connections: Bachelor's degree in music from University of Illinois, former concert violinist, has sold her photos in art galleries.

Philanthropy: Beneficiaries include CARE, Parsons the New School of Design, and Bennett College and the State University of New York at Morrisville, both of which gave her honorary doctorates.

[Last modified July 13, 2007, 20:04:11]