Track envisioned as a playground for wealthy gearheads
By David Undercoffler
Los Angeles Times
In the shadow of the Santa Rosa Mountains in Southern California, a private playground for some of the nation's wealthiest gearheads is rising out of the desert heat.
A refuge for classic Maseratis or screaming new Ferraris, the Thermal Club will stretch over 344 acres of land, half an hour from Palm Springs. A 4.5-mile ribbon of asphalt snakes through the grounds, punctuated by a half-mile straight that begs for 150-mph passes.
Surrounding the track will be hundreds of multimillion-dollar villas, each designed to house a car collection on the ground floor and posh living rooms and kitchens above. Some models come with a glass floor between the two, all the better to gaze at the machinery below while sipping post-lap cocktails.
"Something like this hadn't been done before," says Tim Rogers, the gas-station magnate who financed the project in Thermal Calif. "There are plenty of beautiful golf clubs around the country, but not everyone plays golf."
The rich can choose from a handful of members-only tracks nationwide — the most prominent being Monticello Motor Club outside New York City — but none has combined the concept with real estate, on the model of the most exclusive golf clubs.
Like any utopian fantasy, the price of admission is steep.
Plots sell for $460,000 to $800,000. Budget at least $1 million more for a villa chosen from one of five templates, or design and build your own. Then add the one-time membership fee of $85,000, plus $19,200 in annual dues.
In the center of this massive gated property will be a clubhouse with three-story viewing tower; a garage for car storage and detailing; a tuning shop for work on new exotics and classic cars; a restaurant; a spa; and a fueling center.
Thermal's 300 lots aren't zoned for residential use, meaning the villas can't have bedrooms, though its developer may apply for a zoning change in the future. Crashing in the living room will have to do for now.
The Thermal Club is the product of Rogers' money and Mike Meldman's planning.
Rogers has made millions as co-founder and president of Tower Energy, which operates its own gas stations and convenience stores, and distributes fuel to more than 100 brand-name gas stations on the West Coast.
In 2010, he was approached with the idea of investing in a high-end private racing club with member-owned garages and villas. A longtime car buff — whose own garage houses Ferraris, Bentleys and a Mercedes-McLaren SLR — Rogers was intrigued.
The biggest roadblock was money. "You can't just go out and find funding, because there's no business model to look at," Rogers says. "There has to be someone who was willing to fund it personally."
Rogers says he has so far dumped $75 million into the project, and he expects to spend up to $50 million more to complete it. He hopes to realize a profit in about five years.
After committing the money, Rogers needed a partner to handle the logistical challenge of building the largest private racing facilities in the U.S.
He found Meldman, a self-made businessman and founder and chief executive of Discovery Land Co. The privately held real estate development company owns 15 ultra-exclusive gated communities in the U.S.
The first two of three racing circuits are finished. Rogers plans to complete the third circuit in a year or so, after more buyers put down deposits on villas.
The track was conceived by Alan Wilson, a world-renowned designer who has done dozens of tracks around the world. He created Thermal's setup knowing that it was going to be used in a social setting for wealthy drivers — some of whom can afford more car than they can actually drive.
"I expect many of the drivers to go off track," Wilson says. "That's the inevitable consequence of relatively inexperienced people driving high-power, high-dollar cars."
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