Hialeah Park owner John Brunetti carries a new perspective as he approaches age 87

December 7, 2017 4:29 AM
  • Nick Sortal, CDC Gaming Reports
December 7, 2017 4:29 AM
  • Nick Sortal, CDC Gaming Reports

This summer, employees didn’t see John Brunetti, owner of Hialeah Park, doing much roaming of the 200-acre property, which consists of a horse track and a casino. Brunetti had a cancerous lung removed in mid-year. It was his third major health issue; he had a triple-bypass in 1996 and a kidney transplant four years ago.

Story continues below

Brunetti acknowledges that he has become a little more reflective. “I’m rounding third base and headed for home,” says Brunetti, a nonsmoker who turns 87 on January 18th.

The new perspective has prompted Brunetti to expand the reach of his foundation, created in 1974. He has long been a supporter of the University of Miami – not just athletics, but also medical research and higher education in general – and has recently branched into human rights causes and even more medical challenges.

“I’m starting to expand the foundation, and a program for giving back,” he says. That includes working with Kathryn Fernandez-Rundle, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney, to fight human trafficking, as well as working more with Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

“I’m growing my giving the way I grew my business,” he says. Then, tapping his heart, he says: “You have to ask yourself, ‘Where do you get your satisfaction?’”

Brunetti learned the construction business from his father, Joe, who immigrated to Brooklyn from Bari, Italy, with his wife. They had married as teens. Joe Brunetti worked “every possible job,” and raised his family in a one-room apartment. John and his younger sister shared an L-shaped coach, sleeping feet to feet.

Joe Brunetti eventually bought a lot for $50, then created a construction housing business, and built 7,000 apartments between 1946 and 1953, when the U.S. was in a post-World War II boom.

John Brunetti, meanwhile, attended New York Military Academy – “my father said he wanted me to have a life better than his” – and tried school at Rutgers University with plans of being an architect or an engineer. He didn’t like it, and transferred to the University of Miami, graduating with a business administration degree in 1952.

He remembers being the only one in an apartment of five with a car. As the youngest, he deferred to his roommates.

“Let’s go to the track,” he remembers them saying one day. “We went to Gulfstream, Tropical Park, and Hialeah,” Brunetti says. “I loved Hialeah right away. It was breathtaking.”

That spurred has interest in horse racing, to the point that in 1957, he and his father split shares of a horse. “I still remember the name: Vertex,” Brunetti says.

Meanwhile, he flourished in the construction industry, building a business whose projects included 5,000 apartments in New Jersey and 3,000 in South Florida. His company was a leader in South Florida in building what are now known as garden-style apartments.

In 1974, Brunetti heard that the owners of Gulfstream Park were attempting to buy Hialeah Park from then-owner Bert Galbreath. So Brunetti called Galbreath.

“I said, ‘I’m just a little person, but may I come talk to you,’” Brunetti recalls. It took until 1977 to close the deal, and Brunetti said Galbreath, who he felt was rooting for him, accepting Brunetti’s mother’s $400,000 certificate of deposit as a down payment.

It’s at this point where we need to take a break. Yes, while Brunetti had an interest in horse racing, he also was doing well with construction. So while the story can now be reverse-engineered to make it look like a labor of love, Brunetti was also thinking business: 200 acres of park-like property in the heart of a city that could be used for homes, shops … just about anything.

Since 1977, the track has opened and closed twice, and Brunetti took a case for slots at Hialeah Park to the Florida Supreme Court, creating his share of enemies and critics. And, like most racetrack casino owners, he lobbies Tallahassee legislators for a lower slot tax rate, the right to offer blackjack, and other casino wishes.

But Hialeah Park has embraced him, he says, calling Hialeah Park’s grounds “the heart and soul of this city.”

“You come to America to do better things,” he says. “If you were a baker in Italy, you would be a baker for life. Only in America can you be what you want to be.”

And at this time of his life, he is focused on making sure he gives back. A health scare like the one he had will do that to a guy. “Yes, it has made me more reflective,” he says. “No doubt about that.”