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It's coming down

The Belleview Biltmore's owners have applied for a permit to raze the resort. Officials say they can do little to stop it.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published April 23, 2005

[Times photo: Scott Keeler]

The Belleview Biltmore, which opened in 1897, has played host to movie stars, sports icons and even several U.S. presidents.

	[Times files]
	The Belleview Biltmore's 136-acre golf course on Indian Rocks Road, a popular attraction with visitors for decades, is not included in the demolition application.
	HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS 1895: Railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant buys thousands of acres and begins construction. JAN. 15, 1897: The hotel opens. 1919: John McEntee Bowman buys the hotel and adds the name Biltmore. 1942-44: U.S. Army Air Corps moves 3,000 servicemen into the hotel as an auxiliary barracks for MacDill and Drew fields. 1946: Bernard Powell, Nora Mae Peabody and Roger L. Stevens buy the hotel. 1979: Hotel is listed on National Register of Historic Places. 1990: Hideo Kurosawa of Mido Development buys the hotel and calls it the Belleview Mido. 1997: The hotel celebrates 100 years. The Jetha Corp. buys it and returns the name to the Belleview Biltmore. The hotel is renovated extensively. 2003: A company run by Pennsylvania investor Scott Urdang becomes resort general partner. 2004: DeBartolo Development, First Dartmouth Homes and Sun Vista Ventures form Belleair Redevelopment Group and announce a contract on the hotel properties. JANUARY 2005: Contract with Belleair Redevelopment Group falls through. APRIL 2005: DeBartolo Development announces new contract on hotel properties.

BELLEAIR - Owners of the historic Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa applied for a permit this week to raze all buildings on the resort property.

In the application filed Thursday afternoon, owner Belleview Biltmore Resorts Ltd. outlined demolition of seven buildings totaling 440,000 square feet, and included the removal of resort pools and tennis courts.

The Belleview Biltmore's 136-acre golf course on Indian Rocks Road is not included in the application.

"We're evaluating all of our options, and one of those may be another use of the property for this ownership or the next owner," said Vincent Sanfilippo, chief investment officer for Urdang & Associates, which makes all management decisions regarding the property.

Sanfilippo said some artifacts from the hotel, which opened in 1897, will probably be sold if the hotel is demolished.

The move to raze the hotel, built by railroad baron Henry Plant, was expected after DeBartolo Development, a company that planned to demolish the hotel last year, said last week it had the property under contract again.

Less certain is what developers plan to build in its place. Ed Kobel, president of DeBartolo's development arm, did not return several messages last week and this week.

Bill Stokes, a board member of St. Petersburg Preservation Inc., scolded Honeywell, whose pension fund is one of the Belleview Biltmore's largest shareholders.

"How can they turn around and sanction the destruction of one of the crown jewels of historic preservation and of the city?" he said.

The resort, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in December 1979, was a popular spot for movie stars, pop icons and presidents. Today, its lavish ballrooms are still a popular site for weddings and business conventions.

Richard Wilhelm, CEO of Trust Hotels, which manages the daily operations of the resort, said Friday that the hotel is still taking reservations and booking weddings. "The hotel is open and operating and doing fine," he said.

Town officials have been told they have few legal options to stop demolition. Four commission members asked town attorneys to research ways to preserve the hotel. Some cities have ordinances that protect individual landmarks or buildings in historic districts.

"We have to figure out how to deal with this," said Town Commissioner Bonnie Ruggles. "It's sort of a puzzle."

And preservationists have been pleading with county and state officials to save the Biltmore.

"The fate of this building is in the hands of politicians, and it needs to be protected in order for us to avoid this happening time and time again in the future," Stokes said.

Some residents say they are furious town officials didn't enact stronger historic preservation rules sooner. Rae Claire Johnson, who is spearheading the local effort, blamed the impending demolition on the town's mayor.

Mayor George Mariani "said in his (re-election) campaign he was going to protect these properties, and so far his comments say otherwise," she said.

Mariani said he told voters during his campaign he would support any investor that would choose to use the hotel as it currently exists, but the town was limited by the law.

"The law is well established," he said. "There's nothing that can be done at this period of time."

The hotel has at least a month's reprieve. According to the town code, a demolition permit cannot be issued until 30 days after an application is filed.

That gives the historic preservation board time to review the application. The board, however, cannot prohibit demolition; it can only make a recommendation to the town's building department and the town commission.

Stokes said preservationists plan to ask officials to extend the board's 30-day review period.

David Hutcheson, chairman of the historic preservation board, said the board likely will meet with a Belleview Biltmore representative the first week of May.

The parks superintendent, building official and the town manager must all sign off on the demolition permit. Before the permit is issued, the building department reviews the application to make sure it complies with town ordinances and building codes, and the parks superintendent confirms that the demolition will have little impact on trees within the site.

The contractor must contact utility services and receive certification that services have been disconnected and prove that waste materials from the site will be disposed of properly.

Permits become void if demolition is not started within six months of when the permit is issued.

Even if the hotel is demolished, the property would require zoning and land use changes before residential structures are built on it. DeBartolo Development's previous plans for the site included hundreds of townhomes or condominiums.

Mary Billingsley, director of public relations for Historic Hotels of America, said it was unusual that a viable hotel was threatened. Historic Hotels of America, which maintains about 220 hotels nationally, is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"It's at risk, but it's functioning. All the endangered hotels we have are hotels that are closed. That's the part that is so disturbing and interesting," she said.

Lorri Helfand can be reached at 727 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com

The Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa offers:

244 rooms

13,000 square-foot Tiffany Ballroom

14,000 square-foot Eclips Day Spa

40,000 square feet of meeting space

200,000-gallon outdoor pool with waterfall

Donald Ross 18-hole golf course

Source: Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa

[Last modified April 23, 2005, 01:13:58]