Unauthorized changes at historic Biltmore Hotel probed

After a recent walk-through at the city-owned historic Biltmore Hotel, city officials and staff encountered several unpermitted renovations being made throughout the hotel, said Commissioner Ariel Fernandez at Tuesday’s city commission meeting.

Illegal painting was taking place, a speakeasy and a staircase was built without any permits, Mr. Fernandez said.

“When we came in for the inspections, tons of things had been changed without going through the process. This is about process. It’s about ensuring that our assets are protected,” Mr. Fernandez said. “That’s what I told Mr. (Tom) Prescott when I spoke to him again last night. I told him: ‘I have no assurances that you’re going to preserve our historic Biltmore Hotel. What’s it going to take? Are we going to have a code enforcement officer permanently parked at the hotel?’

Mr. Fernandez said he wants to hear from staff about what steps have been taken.

“I know that there’s additional checks that have to be done. We were not able to go to the 13th floor because there was somebody staying there,” he said. “There are also concerns about other floors. I mean, even the terrace, the beautiful tile that we had in the terrace, has literally been spray painted with green spray paint. We’re talking about tons of money just to restore what the Biltmore was and there was really no reason for it … we need to be able to trust our city’s operators, to operate our facilities.”

City staff investigated and determined that prior approval based on the lease had not been provided, and these alterations that were made were made without a permit, said Amos Rojas Jr., the city manager.

“So, obviously we stopped the work,” Mr. Rojas said. “Code enforcement issued a violation and red tag the work so they would not continue, and I spoke to the city attorney, and we both determined that it would be appropriate to issue them a letter so that we could reserve our authority over the issues that may develop down the road and then staff has been working as diligently as they can trying to figure out where we are at with the building. There are areas that we have not gone inside. I’ve asked staff to do a top-to-bottom review of everything that was done and make sure that all is addressed as per our lease and as per our code. That’s where we’re at today.”

Commissioner Melissa Castro said she spoke with Mr. Prescott several times last week and he takes responsibility for everything he’s done.

“He’s more than willing to work with the city to do what is needed and go through the process,” she said.

An update and report from staff need to be completed first to understand what the necessary procedures are going to be to restore the building more properly, added Commissioner Rhonda Anderson.

“In particular, we need a conservator to govern how things are done so it’s done correctly and no more damages, and that that should be paid for by Seaway, which is the current operator, and I have spoken to Mr. Prescott, and he agreed to pay for the conservator,” she said. “I can hear from the tone that he’s agreed to take whatever steps are necessary going forward. Huge mistakes were made by him. I agree, but we need our staff who are experts in this field – none of us are experts in historic preservation – to guide us on what needs to be done at the Biltmore Hotel and how it should proceed forward.”