BELLEAIR — The once-proud Belleview Biltmore Hotel, admired in its day as the White Queen of the Gulf, is coming down.
Demolition crews have begun the months-long task of stripping and razing the 118-year-old hotel complex. The abandoned hotel property will make way for a town house and condominium community that JMC Communities plans for the site of the resort that in another era entertained the rich and the famous.
The demolition comes after preservationists tried in vain for years to save the crumbling landmark, and a Town Commission vote in December that cleared the way for the demolition and for JMC to buy the property.
JMC founder Michael Cheezem acknowledged the difficulty in letting go of such historic buildings, but said he intends to preserve part of the original structure, as well as a lot of memories.
“It’s been a long time coming, longer than our involvement,” Cheezem said this week. “For the community, it’s been a tough one because nobody likes to see a beautiful structure like that taken down. But it’s the only practical solution.”