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Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited history
Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited company history timeline
Established in 1966, Patten Realty, Inc. was a land management company that was later renamed Bluegreen Vacations®. Since that time, Bluegreen has grown to become a leader in vacation ownership.
Patten branched off as an independent developer after ten years, and in 1976, he incorporated the business as Patten Realty Corporation.
Now involved in real estate instead of computers, Donovan became Fairfield's president in 1979 and changed the company's focus to timeshares.
In 1982, Patten Realty Corporation opened its first regional office branch in Portland, Maine.
Business soared and Patten took advantage of his momentum by taking the company public in November 1985, netting $7.2 million.
By the time he left Fairfield in 1986, it had become one of the largest timeshare companies in the United States.
With branches in fifteen states by early 1986, by the end of 1986, Patten Corp. remained the third fastest-growing company on the exchange.
By the end of 1988, Patten Realty's annual revenue equaled $120 million, with net earnings of $15.1 million.
While denying any wrongdoing, in 1989, Patten settled with New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire by agreeing to refund consumers "who could prove they were deceived" on issues such as lease details.
Patten Realty was profiled on 60 Minutes in March 1991.
In 1991 he put the Stamford estate on the market and moved the company to Boca Raton.
It hardly came as a surprise that Donovan would steer Patten Realty in the direction of timeshares. It was also in 1991 that George F. Donovan joined the company as an independent director on the board of directors.
1993 George Donovan is named CEO.
Diamond Resorts attempted to purchase Bluegreen for $197 million in June 2012, which Bluegreen refused. As a result of selling its community division, Bluegreen became a pure-play company for the first time since 1994.
The company was renamed Bluegreen Corporation in February 1996.
In 1996 Bluegreen entered the Carolinas, breaking ground on Shore Crest Vacation Villas located in North Myrtle Beach.
Bluegreen opened its first daily fee golf course in 1997, designed by Fred Couples and located in North Carolina.
Christel DeHaan, a pioneer in the vacation industry and co-founder of Resort Condominiums International (RCI), founded Christel House in 1998.
In 1998, Bluegreen expanded into Aruba, and the following year, Bluegreen entered the "urban timeshare market" by acquiring an inn in South Carolina.
The upward trend continued in 1999 when the company expanded its Shore Crest Vacation Villas property in Myrtle Beach and Orlando's Sunshine Resort.
In 1999, the company had record net profits of $17 million and overall sales of $257.7 million.
Christel House has been Bluegreen Vacations’ Charity of Choice since 2000.
In 2000, Bluegreen established a cross-industry marketing agreement with Bass Pro, also marketing its Bluegreen Wilderness Club franchise through the Bass Pro subsidiary Big Cedar.
Bluegreen subsequently formed an alliance with Boyne USA Resorts in 2002, also opening two more golf courses that year, one designed by Curtis Strange and one by Davis Love III. Later in 2002, Bluegreen acquired TakeMeOnVacation, L.L.C., a company which generated sales leads.
By 2003 Bluegreen had completely recovered from the slump earlier in the decade and for the year posted record results: sales of more than $438 million and net income approaching $26 million.
2004 Sales top the $600 million mark.
The following year sales totaled US$600 million, while by 2005 Bluegreen had revenues of US$684.2 million and 4,076 employees.
In 2005, Forbes ranked Bluegreen No.
Bluegreen opened its first resort in Las Vegas in 2006.
Since 2009, Bluegreen has made its development, management, sales and marketing, title, mortgage and financial services available to other resort operators on a fee-for-service basis.
Diamond Resorts attempted to purchase Bluegreen for $197 million in June 2012, which Bluegreen refused.
In 2013 Bluegreen formed an alliance with Choice Hotels International, and on April 2, 2013, Bluegreen merged with Woodbridge Holdings, a subsidiary of BFC Financial Corporation and BBX Capital Corporation.
Continuing to focus on its time-share business model, by the spring of 2013, Bluegreen had "over 60 owned or managed resorts, and access to more than 4,000 resorts and other vacation experiences such as cruises and hotel stays worldwide."
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Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Prime Group | 2014 | $524.4M | 845 | 2 |
| Cousins Properties | 1958 | $856.8M | 331 | 56 |
| Wyndham Vacation Ownership | 1990 | $5.2B | 37,800 | - |
| Diamond Resorts | 1992 | $523.7M | 8,174 | 10 |
| Grandbridge Real Estate Capital | 2007 | $14.9B | 350 | 2,924 |
| Ryder System | 1933 | $12.6B | 39,900 | 5,751 |
| CSX | 1978 | $14.5B | 20,908 | 20 |
| Miami-Dade Expressway Authority | 1994 | $22.0M | 350 | - |
| The Resort Group PLC | - | $147.7M | 300 | 3 |
| Gold Key Real Estate & Appraising | - | $320,000 | 6 | 2 |
Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited history FAQs
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Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited may also be known as or be related to BLUEGREEN CORP, Bluegreen Corporation, Bluegreen Vacations and Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited.