2010 Aug-Sept Newsletter

BELLEVIEW BILTMORE RESORT - AUGUST/SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

My daughter, Tina

On a personal note – My daughter’s wedding (which was wonderful), along with the influx of out of town company that always accompanies such an event, was more time consuming than anticipated. Therefore, I apologize for the lateness of this bi-monthly newsletter.

BonSue's Speaking Engagement

On an additional personal note – I will be the featured author at the Safety Harbor Library at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 28th. My topic will be the fascinating history of the Belleview Biltmore and how it’s intertwined throughout my paranormal romance novels. I will also read a bit from my first novel, Pearls & The Spirits of Belleview, yet to be published (but getting closer.) There’s no charge for the presentation, but copies of my children’s book, “Where Do You Live, Exactly?” will be available for purchase (cash or check.) If you’re in the area, please attend -- I don’t want to be there all by myself! The library is located at: 101 2nd Street N. in Safety Harbor, FL. The Library is located located near the intersection of Main Street and Philippe Parkway in the heart of Downtown Safety Harbor. (We are across the street from the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa.) For more information, contact: Lisa Koth This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The fenced Belleview Biltmore appears neglected	The 'pagoda' lobby will be removed as part of the renovation

BELLEVIEW BILTMORE – A LACK-OF-PROGRESS REPORT
Most people who care about the Belleview Biltmore Resort are disappointed; many are angry.  Some believe as I do, that the Resort should have remained in operation until the renovation was ready to get underway. At least people could still be enjoying the White Queen of the Gulf and hotel management could stay on top of issues like roof leaks. The hotel would still be producing income. Still have life. Instead, an aura of desolation and neglect permeates the property, emphasized by the chain link fence put up to designate the construction site. Security personnel watch over the hotel to protect it from those who would do it harm, but they can do nothing to stop the effects of general neglect. 

Residents of Belleair and many thousands of fans world-wide, feel helpless to change the situation. Government officials in Belleair are frustrated by the owners’, Latitude Management Real Estate Investors (LMREI), failure to make repairs to the roof, despite the accumulation of approximately $70,000 in unpaid fines.

With a heavy sigh, I wonder how far along the renovation of the Belleview Biltmore Resort would be, had things stayed on track. According to the schedule initially proposed by LMREI, the demolition of the Pagoda and spa would surely have been completed. The white aluminum siding (over 1,800 large squares plus 4.8 miles of window trim) would probably have been removed, as would the damaged green shingles from the roof. Most likely, the engineers would be assessing damage to the load-bearing walls and foundation, determining if the heart of pine wood lived up to its reputation and petrified during the last century; thereby protecting the hotel from wood-boring insects and water damage. They might be starting construction on the new spa and annex hotel. Another crew would probably be working on the Sand Key Beach property, preparing the site for the new restaurant and boutique hotel. Neighbors would be getting used to the construction and enjoying watching the project take shape. I would be publishing pictures of the progress for you in these newsletters.

But none of these things have happened.

How did LMREI lose its investors, causing the renovation go off-track? Mostly, it was just bad timing. While LMREI was in the midst of settling two lawsuits, the economy tanked, the banking industry nearly collapsed - largely due to its real estate investment practices, and the largest oil spill the world has ever known threatened Gulf Beaches.

With the lack of new construction, the recent resignation of Joe Penner (former acting manager of LMREI), and the release of Martin Smith (former managing director for the Resort), it may be hard to hold onto our optimism, but if we are to restore the Belleview Biltmore, we must do exactly that. All is not lost. Remember, the lawsuits were settled in favor of the Resort, the oil didn’t affect local beaches and even though the economy is still sluggish, the recession is over.

The new manager of the Belleview Biltmore Resort and Golf Club, Chuck Eade, has shown the property to several potential investors during the last few weeks. Gun shy real estate investors may be going over every detail of potential investments with a fine tooth comb these days, but they are beginning to invest. We must make sure everyone knows the Belleview Biltmore Resort has the support and loyalty of many thousands of fans, and therefore, its renovation would be a sound investment.

How can you show your support? Let everyone know you want the Belleview Biltmore to survive because she provides such a wonderful and rare glimpse into America’s past. If you live near Belleair, show up for meetings. No matter where you live, write to the editor of local newspapers. Leave comments on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Google/Bing the Belleview Biltmore Resort on a regular basis. Forward these newsletters to everyone you know. All of these actions keep the Resort in the public eye and make it is more difficult for those who care only about lining their own pockets to act. If you’re interested in another potential avenue to demonstrate your support, please keep reading.

WOULD YOU INVEST IN HISTORY? RETHINKING OWNERSHIP
Since I write fiction, you may have already guessed that I tend to think outside the box. In doing so, I’ve come up with an idea for a grassroots movement to help finance the restoration of the Belleview Biltmore Resort. I’m hoping that each of you will agree with the basic concepts of the plan and want to be a part of it. If I hear from enough of you, I will pursue the idea through legal channels. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A historic castle repurposed as hotel

The idea began to form while I was casually watching a TV program on the history channel. A guide on the show pointed to a large castle, originally built in 1603, which had been preserved and carefully converted into a luxurious hotel, thereby allowing all to continue enjoying the historic property. I became curious about the historic structures in the United States of America, so I did a bit of research. Other than a few homes built by the Pueblo Indians, I found no historic structures still in existence in the USA from before the mid to late 1600s.  Between the mid-1600s through the 1700s, only a handful of homes, log cabins and buildings still exist - most of which are preserved as museums. In fact, very few buildings exist even from the 1800s. The research confirmed what I already suspected - the vast majority of historic properties (over 100 years old) in the United States have simply disappeared, destroyed by neglect or plowed under in the name of progress.  The knowledge steeled my resolve to do everything in my power to make sure the Belleview Biltmore Resort remains a viable property that people can enjoy for decades to come.  But like many of you, I felt helpless, watching LMREI’s renovation plans stall, due to a lack of investors.

Green Bay Packers are a nonprofit org.

Then I remembered the Green Bay Packers football team. My husband is from Wisconsin and a huge Green Bay Packers fan, so I was aware the team is the third oldest franchise in the National Football League.  I also knew the team is owned by the community, rather than any particular individual or entity, despite the fact Green Bay is a small town - about 44 square miles, with a population of about 100k. That’s right. The Green Bay Packers is the only non-profit, community-owned professional sports team in the US, and yet they’ve won more league championships than any other team in the NFL and have a larger fan base than most teams in the league.  I was intrigued by the idea of a community owning its’ most prized treasure and dug into the details of how this was accomplished and why this ownership structure continues to succeed.

I discovered semi-professional football began in Green Bay the same year the Belleview Biltmore was built – 1896 (an interesting coincidence.) When Earl “Curly” Lambeau bought the team in 1919, he named it for the Green Bay Indian Meat Packing Company, who had invested $500 in the team to pay for uniforms and equipment. A year later, when the team was in danger of folding, a group of five Green Bay businessmen assumed ownership and formed the basis for the current ownership structure. Over the years, the stock has split several times, but since 1921, no stockholder has ever received a dividend. After expenses are paid, all profits from the football team go into the Green Bay Packers Foundation, which supports a wide variety of programs and activities that benefit education, civic affairs, health services, veteran services, human services and youth-related programs. In other words, an investment in Green Bay Packers stock is an investment in the community. Of the Foundation’s 45 member Board of Directors, 44 are volunteers. The stock is $200 per share and no one can own more than 200,000 shares. Currently a little more than 100k people own just under five million shares of stock.

But if Green Bay is small, then Belleair is tiny – less than three square miles, with a population a little over 4,000. It’s not feasible to think its citizens could raise $100 million for the renovation and operate the Belleview Biltmore as a nonprofit. But a hybrid system might be doable. If enough fans of the Belleview Biltmore Resort were willing to come together to form a nonprofit foundation by buying shares of stock ($200/each), then the foundation could become one of the hotel’s primary investors. Rather than paying dividends to the shareholders, the foundation could spend its share of annual profits to improve the surrounding community and fund additional historic preservation efforts. 

If you could, would you invest in the Belleview Biltmore?

I believe residents of Belleair, together with world-wide fans of the Belleview Biltmore and history buffs, would be willing to invest and consolidate into a single group of non-dividend earning investors. But before I look into the legal aspects of forming such a foundation, I need to know if I’m right. That’s where you come in. I need your help. Please take a moment to do the following:
1. Send me an e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and let me know if you would be willing to purchase stock in a nonprofit foundation to benefit historic preservation. If you know how much you would be willing to invest, that would be even better.
2. Whether or not you can afford to purchase stock, please forward this newsletter to your friends, relatives and other acquaintances.
3. Please respond right now, as procrastination is the enemy in this endeavor. 
Thanks in advance for your help!

Many claims of ghostly encounters

GHOSTS OF THE BELLEVIEW BILTMORE RESORT
Halloween is coming, so what better time to talk about ghosts at the Belleview Biltmore? In past newsletters, I’ve shared many stories of ghostly encounters reported by guests, hotel staff, and paranormal investigators. While it’s easy to attribute many ghostly sounds to wind, the building foundation settling and overactive imaginations, it’s more difficult to discount reports from several unrelated sources reporting eerily similar events. Many people have reported hearing voices crackling nearby, when there are no people around. Similarly, numerous guests have reported the sound of children playing in the hallways, who seem to always disappear as soon as someone opens a door to investigate. Several guests claim they woke to find an apparition of a woman standing by their bed or saw a bearded man dressed in white. Countless hotel workers claim they felt a sudden and eerie chill in the basement, or experienced sudden, unexplainable feelings of doom in the old servants’ quarters on the fifth floor. A number of guests claim they felt an invisible presence sit or lie down on their beds. Others experienced the sensation they were being watched when they were alone in their rooms. Likewise, there are dozens of reports about ceiling tiles lifting; doors, windows and drawers opening/closing; door knobs falling off; towels being thrown to the floor; items being swept from dresser tops; lights turning themselves on/off; the smell of cigar smoke filling the elevator or wafting by in the hallway, as if someone walked by while smoking; some report the ghost of a small boy claims he drown and is waiting for his parents to find him… the list goes on and on. It’s difficult for even the most skeptical to explain away so many unusual occurrences.

Does a bride haunt the BBR?

Like most people who are familiar with the Belleview Biltmore, I believe spirits of the past linger, crossing paths with the living on an infrequent basis. However, I don’t believe all the ghost stories. For instance, I don’t believe the story about the bride who committed suicide at the Belleview Biltmore on her wedding day. For those not familiar with the story, it’s claimed that a bride once leaped to her death from the fourth floor balcony of the Belleview Biltmore Resort when she learned that her fiancé – a doctor completing his rounds in the community – was killed in a car accident on the way to join her at the resort, where their nuptials were scheduled to take place.

Maybe this story comes to mind because my daughter just got married, but I’ve noticed a suicidal bride seems to haunt every old hotel I’ve ever visited. Perhaps I doubt the story because I’m not convinced a bride would die if she jumped from the fourth floor balcony in a wedding gown, where she was sure to land on soft shrubbery and grass. Of course, I wouldn’t want to test this theory, but it seems more likely that a woman would just break a leg from that height. Secondly, I’m not sure a bride in a gown could manage to climb over the rail. Anyone who’s ever worn one of those knows it’s difficult to even walk in one! And why did everyone leave the bride alone to do herself in? I know my family and girlfriends would stick to me like glue after breaking such awful news.

And even if the bride did off herself, why would she stay at the Belleview Biltmore? Wouldn’t she go someplace with happier memories once her spirit was released from her body? I mean, why would she stay at the location of the worst day of her life? If you believe a ghost has to stay at the location of its death, that would mean her doctor fiancé would have to haunt the middle of the road where he met his end, so they wouldn’t be together even in death. Now, if you buy into my theory that spirits can move about, then an argument could be made that the bride’s spirit chose to stay at the Belleview Biltmore hoping the ghost of the groom would come to where he thought she would be waiting for him to get married. Maybe. But how would he know she had taken her life and would still be there? Hmm.   So, like I said, I’m skeptical about the whole suicidal bride haunting story. However, if it did really did happen and the bride and groom found each other at the Belleview Biltmore, then maybe they are the Victorian couple that has been seen dancing together in the ballroom. Wait… did Victorian doctors use cars to make their rounds? Man, this stuff can hurt your brain after a while! Oh well… Happy Halloween everyone!

PEARLS AND THE SPIRITS OF BELLEVIEW:

It’s been said the publishing world moves with all the speed of molasses in the wintertime. I’m finding this is a true statement. My work is currently in the hands of four very busy literary agents, and waiting for them to read my manuscript and determine if they’re interested is difficult. But as ‘they’ say, no news is good news. I understand that literary agents reject 98% of the submissions they receive from unpublished authors, but by the end of October, I should know if I am in the remaining 2% (which would mean the agents are interested in moving forward with me as a client.)  Hopefully, I will have good news to report in my next newsletter.