Oct. 21–BELLEAIR — Part of the former Belleview Biltmore will be saved under a new plan unveiled Monday by a developer in the process of buying the deteriorating historic site.
The revamped project comes months after St. Petersburg developer Mike Cheezem of JMC Communities announced that he intended to buy the hotel from its South Florida owners for $6.6 million and redevelop the property with condos, townhomes and a replica inn.
Under the proposal revealed Monday to representatives of the housing district surrounding the site, Cheezem will salvage the 8,000-square-foot westernmost wing and relocate the four- or five-story building to the front of the hotel site.
The building, once remodeled, would serve as a small boutique inn — overhauling plans for a replica.
“There’s a meaningful portion — the original first part of the hotel that was built — that will be saved,” said attorney Ed Armstrong.
The size of the salvageable portion of the original building, he added, is “perfect because it matches the footprint of the replica inn almost exactly.”
Armstrong did not reveal price estimates, but said the undertaking will be “quite expensive.”
In early October, the town’s Historic Preservation Board recommended via a 5-1 vote that town commissioners grant Cheezem’s original request to demolish the entire building. Armstrong said Cheezem’s firm intends to take the new proposal, developed with the assistance of architecture expert Tamara Peacock, for a rehearing before the board.
The proposal has already won praise from state restoration officials, Armstrong said.
The 1890s hotel, known as the “White Queen of the Gulf,” hosted presidents, celebrities and generations of Pinellas County residents and guests before closing in 2009.
Contact Keyonna Summers at [email protected] or (727) 445-4153. Follow @KeyonnaSummers.
