Hotel Wings may be Sacrificed to Save Belleview Biltmore BELLEAIR (WUSF) - A new plan to rescue Henry Plant's historic hotel from the wrecking ball may save only part of it. Rory Hiller, a local real estate consultant, outlined his proposal yesterday to transform the rambling wooden resort into a more compact, modern hotel.

So in order to save the Biltmore, he would convert part of it into a spa. And one, if not two of the hotel's wings would be demolished.

He spoke under the twinkling lights of the hotel's Starlight Ballroom.

HILLER: If one was to give the present owners a figure they want, and I would have to come in here and appease the town folks, leave the structure as it is, there's no way I could do the project.

So Hiller says he had to compromise. He would turn part of the hotel's parking lot into a park and give that and the golf course to the nonprofit group Friends of the Biltmore.

HILLER: From taking this grand lady and remodeling her, to the best of our ability, to bring up to ADA standards, which is American Disabilities, taking the rooms and making them world-class rooms in the center section, and your hotel entities will provide the financial necessities for Rae Claire to maintain this for a very long period of time.

Hiller says he would eventually turn over the entire hotel over to Friends of the Biltmore. Rae Claire Johnson is head of the group.

She says they are trying to protect the property forever by setting up a revenue stream to pay for improvements.

JOHNSON: So that other people don't have to stand here fifty years from now or twenty years from now and have to go through this same thing again.

Their plan would remove the new entrance built by the hotel's Japanese owners in the 1980s and rebuild the original entrance.

Hiller wants to partner with the Intercontinental Hotel chain to put in 80 hotel-condominium units and demolish the hotel's south wing, which is in the most dire condition.

HILLER: Yesterday, we came to what we thought was a pretty good agreement on saving the entire north wing. I'm not going to tell you that's what's going to happen, but we're going to try to go. It's going to take a total gutting of the interior, and leaving the exterior standing.

The hotel's current owners have applied for a demolition permit so they can sell the property to developers who would build condominiums in its place. Hiller says he hopes to address the city council when it meets to take up the demolition request Tuesday night.

Hiller says he's trying to set up a meeting next week with the hotel's owners.

Johnson says she has already split with some local residents, who want the entire building preserved. She says this is the only way it can be saved on a long-term basis.

JOHNSON: For this building to survive, it can't stay how it is today. Many of these historic trust properties around America basically become museums, and they're preserved by the community or the town. But hotels like this are not museums. They have to evolve with time and the demands of the community and the demands of the people who use them. If we freeze this building in time, it cannot meet the needs of the people who come here today.

The topic should come up today at 5:30 p.m., when Belleair's historic preservation board meets. © Copyright 2012, WUSF