One of the costliest involved a $105 million venue 22 miles outside Vienna in Stronach's native Austria. It featured live thoroughbred and harness racing, restaurants, live concerts and shows, and slot machines.
The facility opened in April 2004, luring top-tier entertainers including Jon Bon Jovi. But few Austrian and European racing fans ventured into the countryside to find it. In its first full year of business, the racing-casino operation - or racino - reported a loss of $15 million before taxes, interest and depreciation, SEC documents show. And because of continuing losses, the company took a nearly $60 million write-down of its assets in the fourth quarter of 2006. Magna ended racing there in November.
"Frank Stronach is from Austria, and it's hard to close down something your ego is tied up with," Roncelli said.
In 2001, Magna spent $6.6 million to buy a 260-acre site in Dixon, Calif., near Sacramento, and spent millions more on environmental studies and other regulatory work toward a plan to develop a horse racing, retail and entertainment complex. But after Dixon's City Council approved it, a citizens group launched an effort to stop it, collecting enough signatures to force a special election.
Magna contributed $545,664 to a pro-racetrack group for lobbying efforts leading up to the vote, according to campaign finance statements filed with the state. But even some local racing stakeholders opposed the project, with the state fair racing association noting increasing competition, said Drew J. Couto, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and a former Stronach employee.
Last April, voters effectively killed the project. The property is now for sale.
Magna also abandoned plans to develop a racetrack entertainment venue near Detroit, partly because of the state's ban on slots. In an odd twist, the lead director on Magna's board, Jerry Campbell, then decided to pursue the project himself at a nearby site. Campbell, who remains on the board, did not return calls seeking comment.
"Acquisition is the fun part," said Frank Trigeiro, who served as chief financial officer of the Maryland Jockey Club in the 1980s and 1990s. "You fly around and buy the racetracks ... then comes the reality of running the places. They were terrible managers. Absolutely horrible."
And then there was Stronach's costliest gamble: a nearly $180 million effort to redevelop Gulfstream Park.
