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Biltmore owners to present site plan
| Article published on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/041608_bee-01.jpg) |
| Artist rendering courtesy of LEGG MASON |
| A rendering depicts Legg Mason’s proposal for the new 174-room East Wing of the Belleview Biltmore Resort. |
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BELLEAIR – The town’s planning and zoning board will review Legg Mason’s Belleview Biltmore site plan on Monday, May 12, at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to comment.
The plans include a complete restoration of the existing hotel, a new 174-room East Wing, two levels of subterranean parking, and a new grand entrance with landscaped grounds. The current plans will require the town to grant several variances, which include:
• A height variance for the East Wing, which will be approximately 15-feet greater in height than the old “dormitory” building, but will be shorter in length and have a smaller footprint than the old building.
• A reduction in the size of the parking spaces from 9-feet wide, 20-feet long to 9-feet wide, 18-feet long.
• A reduction in the overall parking calculated by the town code from 2,075 spaces to 643 spaces. The parking proposed by Legg Mason is in excess of the suggested number of spaces determined by the parking consultant’s study. Legg Mason maintains that it is consistent with municipal codes of cities that have other commercial developments.
• A variance to allow the new Spa and Poolside Grill to be outside the main hotel building.
• A height variance for the Poolside Grill building from 32 feet to 40.3 feet.
• A height variance for the spa building from 32 feet to 39.08 feet. While the spa building is only one story, Legg Mason said the slope of the land and the method chosen by the town to calculate the average height necessitates this variance.
In addition, there are three variances requested for the Belleview Biltmore Golf Club, two of which relate to the number of parking spaces and their size. The third relates to the request by Legg Mason to put buffer zone landscaping within the public right of way.
On May 12, the planning and zoning board will hear a presentation from Legg Mason, as well as comments from the public and then make a recommendation to the Town Commission regarding the site plan. Legg Mason will present the plan for approval to the commission at its Tuesday, May 20 meeting.
In a press release, Joseph Penner, managing director for Legg Mason, said, “The last 12 months have been challenging, but a positive experience working together with the citizens, the staff and the town. The project is large and complex, and has required the input of many specialized consultants who have been part of a large team assembled for this task. Balancing the needs and desires of the town and its residents with the physical limitations of the property and economic considerations has been a daunting job, but I believe we have succeeded.”
The Biltmore was purchased by Legg Mason in June of last year.
The renovation cost is estimated to be in excess of $100 million, with the projected grand reopening set for January 2012, in time for the hotel’s 115th anniversary.
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Article published on Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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