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Letter to the editor

Biltmore plans in sync with the resort's fans

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published September 26, 2007

The unveiling of a developer's concepts for a restored Belleview Biltmore Resort has fans of that historic structure celebrating. ¶ And why not? Pinellas County came close to losing the 110-year-old hotel - to either condo developers or wood rot - and now, if promised plans are delivered, it has a real future as a resort that retains its historic value while also providing the needs of modern vacationers.

At a public meeting last week, Legg Mason Real Estate Investors of Los Angeles, the new owners of the hotel, showed off artist's renderings and listed the work that is planned for the property.

Those renderings showed the primary hotel structure looking much as it does today, minus the offensive pagoda entrance constructed by a wrongheaded former owner. That was no doubt comforting to those who worried that some developer might ruin the Belleview Biltmore, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

However, it was clear from Legg Mason's presentation that there will be many changes to the property to make it a viable resort product. For example, the old spa and hotel kitchen will be demolished, underground parking garages will be built, a new pool will be put in behind the hotel, a new 10,000-square-foot ballroom will be constructed where the old spa is now, a new two-story spa will overlook the Intracoastal Waterway, hotel rooms will be combined to create larger rooms, a new banquet facility will be constructed, the golf clubhouse will be renovated, and the entire property, including the golf course, will get new landscaping and walkways.

Most significantly, a 160-room hotel annex will be built to boost the total number of rooms on the property from the current 244 to more than 400.

And out on the hotel's Sand Key beach property, the trouble-plagued Cabana Club will be torn down - no one will miss it - and replaced with an eight-story hotel that may have a seafood restaurant overlooking the gulf.

Legg Mason representatives said the total cost of the Belleview Biltmore project will be $100-million and probably will take as much as four years to complete. The goal, those representatives said, is not just to save the Belleview Biltmore, but one day to have it qualify as a five-star resort.

If the California company pulls that off, it will win the gratitude of all those in Pinellas who have mourned the loss of the county's historic buildings in the past several decades and have feared for the future of the Belleview Biltmore.

As the plans progress, locals will want reassurance that all of the new construction Legg Mason plans, particularly the hotel annex, will be true to the hotel's period architecture and that the entire project will be designed to limit traffic impacts and preserve green space. They will want to see the plans, and they will want to participate in public discussions of those plans. Even after all approvals for the project have been granted, Legg Mason should plan to provide the public with regular updates on the construction.

Because if the company doesn't already know this, it soon will: Legg Mason may be the legal owner of the Belleview Biltmore, but Pinellas residents feel the place belongs to them.

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 20:33:48]