New owner to save hotel

BELLEAIR - The new owner of the Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa is expected to close on the property by month's end and plans to preserve the 110-year-old landmark.

That is bringing deep sighs of relief from preservationists who fought hard the past three years to save the venerable hotel.

And, there's more good news: The Biltmore's much-maligned pagoda entrance, built in the 1990s by a Japanese owner but nicknamed Godzilla by preservationists, will be a goner.

Legg Mason Real Estate Investors, a Los-Angeles-based subsidiary of Legg Mason asset management firm, announced in March plans to buy and restore the hotel. Monday, the company said it is scheduled to close on the purchase by month's end.

"We know the Biltmore has been an integral piece of the community's history and we look forward to working with the city on a plan that preserves it for future generations," said Joseph Penner, managing director of Legg Mason Real Estate Investors, in a news release this week.

The fate of the 820,000-square-foot hotel has been a mystery - and a concern - since DeBartolo Development's deal to buy it expired in September 2005. Twice since 2004 the hotel faced a threatened demolition.

"My fear was someone would buy it, close it down, and let it rot in the ground," said Rae Claire Johnson, a Belleair resident who fought to preserve the hotel and helped introduce Legg Mason to Urdang Capital Management, which represents the ownership of the Belleview Biltmore.

"Urdang has been patient to wait for some group that was going to save the hotel," she said.

Penner, who said he could not disclose the purchase price, has released few details. But the town is buzzing about the possible plans for the resort, built by railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant and opened in 1897.

Legg Mason plans a "massive remodel," with a goal of restoring the Biltmore and transforming it into a five-star resort, according to G. Michael Harris, whose company WLM Inc. is a project consultant.

Previous plans by other potential developers included razing the hotel, building condos or converting portions of the hotel into condo-hotels.

Harris said that's not the intention of Legg Mason Real Estate investors, whose parent company holds assets exceeding $800-billion.

Harris, town leaders and others said they were told resort plans include redoing the resort's pool, constructing underground parking, restoring three houses on the property and replacing the spa with a convention center.

Legg Mason also intends, Johnson said, to preserve the hotel's golf course, which is not adjacent to the hotel, but a short drive south on Indian Rocks Road.

Belleair Mayor Gary Katica said he met last week with current hotel manager Richard Wilhelm, president and CEO of Trust Hotels, and nothing Wilhelm disclosed about planned remodeling scared him.

"There's nothing there that would throw a red flag up to me," he said.

Wilhelm said this week the closing is set for June 20.

Project architect Richard Heisenbottle, known for his work on Miami's Freedom Tower and the restoration of Deland's Athens Theatre, said about 50 percent of his work is on preservation.

"We take preservation very seriously and we're glad we've got a client that recognizes the importance of this project as well," said Heisenbottle.

Wilhelm said he informed employees of the pending purchase Monday and that his company would continue to be involved with managing the hotel.

Legg Mason's Penner also recently visited with the Biltmore's longtime owner Bernie Powell to discuss plans for the hotel, said Powell's grandson, Matthew Archangeli, who sat in on the discussion.

"It looks like now it's going to come out the way I would want it to," said Powell, 95, who bought the hotel in the mid 1940s and re-established it as one of the Florida's grand resorts. Powell owned and operated the resort for more than 40 years before selling it to a Japanese firm in 1990.

Belleair Town Manager Micah Maxwell said that during the past nine months there had been about four or five general inquiries about the Biltmore.

He said Penner contacted him about two months ago to ask about the process for restoring the hotel.

Meanwhile, the hotel is repairing portions of the roof damaged by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. The town has given the hotel about four months to complete a master plan to make those repairs. Wilhelm said ownership and management have pumped about $12-million into the hotel since 2001.