Developers Invited to Qualify to Restore Historic Walesbilt Hotel

Courtesy City of Lake Wales

An artist's rendering depicts the elegant lobby of the Walesbilt as a fully-restored magnet for visitors. The space features an elaborate custom-designed plaster ceiling imported from Italy once painted in a dozen colors, as well as marble floors and elaborate chandeliers.

With the title to the historic Walesbilt Hotel firmly in hand, the City of Lake Wales has issued a nationwide invitation to potential redevelopers of the ten-story building.

According to a document released by the city, a request for qualifications (RFQ) response by interested parties will allow the city to "evaluate and shortlist developers based on their technical expertise, financial capacity, project experience and recent relevant innovative strategies for adaptive reuse of properties similar to the Walesbilt Hotel."

The city obtained the title from former long-time owner Ray Brown of Dixie-Walesbilt LLC only weeks ago after resolving a two-year lawsuit and is now moving with speed to seek a new use for the vacant building. Responses to the RFQ are due by July 18, and qualifiers will then have the opportunity to present their specific plans. The city anticipates receiving all completed proposals by October 10.

City Manager James Slayton has said that as many as eight different parties have already expressed interest in obtaining the building for redevelopment, but that he wants to "cast a wide net" by offering it nationally.

News file photo

A large dining room served by an oversized kitchen once served hundreds of diners and hosted numerous special events. The space was used as a dinner theatre by the Agape Players during the 1980's.

Respondents "must demonstrate their ability to preserve historic integrity, enhance economic viability and implement best practices in redevelopment," the invitation states.

Long a goal of both the business community and city officials, hopes have risen that a productive restoration of the building as a hotel is possible. City officials have acknowledged that some cooperative agreements with the city's Community Redevelopment Agency are likely to be needed to address the need for an adjacent parking garage, which could also serve other downtown parking needs.

City leaders have made clear that they want to see it restored to use as a hotel, which would maximize its value to the community. Financial analysis of the restoration costs performed by an architectural firm indicated that other uses, including condominiums, were not economically viable. The hotel is seen as a potentially-powerful economic engine for the downtown area, a designated National Historic District.

A successful hotel operation could likely be enhanced by the creation of an adjacent conference center, a proposal advanced by historic preservation architect Rick Gonzalez in a presentation to the city commission in December 2021. The property is eligible for significant tax credits and other incentives if redevelopment is conducted along historic lines.

Gonzalez was part of a last-minute push by Brown to prevent the city's legal action, when he brought forward a potential redevelopment team that included Buena Vista Hospitality Group, Inc. (BVHG) and Preferred Hotels and Resorts. City commissioners, aware of a February 2 deadline to file a lawsuit, demanded guarantees and ultimately failed to come to terms with the group.

Former owner Ray Brown obtained the building from the city more than a dozen years ago with a promise to redevelop it as a condominium. A prior architectural and economic study conducted by another developer had already ruled out that use as a money-loser.

The landmark hotel was constructed in 1926, so initiating renovation late this year would put it under restoration during its centennial year. Constructed almost entirely of concrete and masonry, it was advertised as a "fireproof" structure.

Redevelopment of the hotel is expected to require an expansion of the building's footprint to accommodate new elevators and a fire-escape stairwell, opening the opportunity to add additional rooms. The hotel was opened with 96 rooms, but a new state law that followed the end of Prohibition led to the construction of four additional rooms on a rooftop "eleventh floor" to meet requirements for a liquor license.

Robert Connors

A strong beam of sunlight shines through the upper floors of the Walesbilt Hotel, perhaps signifying the bright hopes for the future of the historic structure.

The building has undergone several renovations during its lifetime, including in 1972 when, following the opening of Disney World it was renamed the Groveland Motor Inn and adorned with bright yellow awnings. Brown vertical bands painted along the files of windows were intended to emphasize its height.

During much of the 1980's it was operated by the Agape Players, who offered a dinner theatre and a popular ice cream parlor called Daisy's, famous for its hourly live music shows.

The hotel was an example of the exuberance of the Great Florida Land Boom, which saw the state's growth explode. Lake Wales' population grew ten-fold in less than a decade before the boom ended with a pair of deadly hurricanes and the subsequent stock market panic that led to the Great Depression.

The building was designed by well-known architects A.J. Phipps and Fred Bishop using a three-part vertical block construction method. The tower's ratio of height to width qualified it as a "skyscraper," although the term is now generally applied to much taller structures.

The building features marble floors, fluted columns with Corinthian capitals, Palladian windows, and a balcony lined with wrought iron railings overlooking a grand lobby. Commercial arcades lined with shop fronts open onto both Park and Stuart Avenues and connect through the lobby area.

Courtesy City of Lake Wales

Twin shopping arcades running between the lobby and adjacent streets offer space for multiple shops and restaurants.

Originally financed through investments by several famed Hollywood actors and others, the city's RFQ says they included "Florida Governor John Martin and Hollywood starlets Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, and Gloria Swanson. Other investors included Hollywood attorney Nathan Burkan and Hollywood producer Victor Heerman."

Among the legends associated with the building are those relating stories of famous gangster Al Capone, who frequented Florida and preferred a basement speak-easy that featured tunnels leading to adjacent buildings. Those tunnels are still present but have been blocked off.

Over the course of the century the building has weathered multiple hurricanes. Water has damaged some of the ornamental plaster within the structure, but the limited use of wooden elements has left the building in remarkably good condition overall.