Belleair's Proud Empress Soldiers On

The fountains still splash and the guests still enjoy all the amenities of the Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa in spite of the cloud of possible demolition looming over the hotel.

By KELVIN MA / Tribune

By CARLOS MONCADA The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 3, 2007

BELLEAIR - More than a year after the Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa was threatened with demolition, the fate of the 19th century landmark remains in doubt.

The ownership and future of the grand Victorian hotel has been unclear since Tampa-based DeBartolo Development's option to buy the property with the intent of replacing it with condominiums expired in 2005.

Since then, Belleair officials and residents have been left in the dark about the owner's plans for the 247-room hotel, where it has been business as usual despite its possible closing.

"They have it posted for sale, so I would have to believe that they're looking at all serious offers," Rory Hiller, a Clearwater Realtor, said of the resort's owner, Belleview Biltmore Resort Ltd.

Hiller leads a group that made a $40 million offer on the property in 2005 as a backup to DeBartolo's. He said last week that his offer is still on the table and that he might have some news after the holidays, declining to elaborate.

Town officials and preservationists said they have heard nothing about the Biltmore in the 12 months since Belleair's planning and zoning board unanimously recommended denying the owner's application to tear down the hotel. The panel said the request conflicted with the town's comprehensive plan, which urges protection of the site.

"Nothing's ever been done with it," Town Manager Micha Maxwell said of the application. "It's just kind of out there. They've never come back and expressed any interest in doing anything."

Vincent Sanfilippo, chief investment officer for Urdang, the Pennsylvania investment management firm and general partner for Belleview Biltmore Resort Ltd., could not be reached for comment on the hotel's status.

Maxwell, who has been town manager since August, estimated as many as 15 potential buyers or their representatives stopped at town hall last year to inquire about what can and can't be done with the 22-acre hotel site. The 160-acre resort includes a golf course and a beach club.

"Every month or so somebody comes in and says, 'What am I allowed to do? What am I not allowed to do?'" Maxwell said. "They say thanks and they go on their way, and we don't hear from them again."

Their interests have ranged from preserving the hotel to knocking down parts of it to demolishing the structure, Maxwell said.

Residents also have inquired about the resort's status, Maxwell said.

"They'll say, 'What's going on with the Biltmore?'" he said. "And we're like, 'We're not sure.'"

One update is that long-awaited repairs to the hotel's roof, damaged by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004, may get under way soon. A bid opening was held recently, Maxwell said. The repair delays were caused mainly by lengthy negotiations between the hotel's owner and insurance company, he said.

The 440,000-square-foot hotel, which railroad magnate Henry B. Plant built and opened in 1897, is considered the world's largest occupied wooden structure. It has hosted such luminaries as the Duke of Windsor, Babe Ruth and Thomas Edison.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2005 placed the Biltmore on its list of America's 11 most endangered historical places after its possible demise inspired a wave of protest in the Tampa Bay area. The Biltmore has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

Yet those listings generally provide no legal protection against demolition. Neither does the preservation ordinance that the Belleair Town Commission passed in 2005, although the measure does place more bureaucratic hurdles in the path of demolition.

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727)823-3412.