City, CRA Reach Settlement to Obtain Walesbilt Hotel

The City of Lake Wales negotiation team has apparently approved a settlement agreement with Dixie Walesbilt LLC that will result in the return of the landmark Walesbilt Hotel to the City.

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The elaborate interior of the Walesbilt Hotel, originally part of the Dixie chain of hotels, features deeply-coffered ceilings imported from Italy, along with fluted columns with Corinthian capitals, marble floors, and wrought iron railings. The mezzanine level featured a promenade and ballroom, while a large kitchen and banquet facility were part of the expansive ground floor.

The City Commission and CRA agendas Tuesday evening include the agreement which should end a two-year legal battle and set the stage for renovation of the 98-year-old hotel.

The agreement attached to the meeting notices has already been executed by Dixie Walesbilt owner Ray Brown and City Manager James Slaton, who also serves as CRA executive director. Both the CRA and the City were parties to the lawsuit seeking to regain the title to the hotel, which they had given to Brown's company more than a decade ago.

Brown had pledged to convert the building to condominiums, despite a prior investor's attempt which indicated it would create a financial loss.

The settlement document was signed Friday evening after a marathon negotiating session that lasted from 11 a.m. until nearly 8 p.m.

City commissioners had retreated to a "shade" meeting after their recent CRA meeting to discuss settlement options outside the Sunshine Law covering official business. That exception covers discussions involving lawsuits.

The City will pay Brown $450,000 to release the title and all claims against the city. The city likewise will release all claims against Brown and Dixie Walesbilt LLC. Both parties will pay their own legal fees, which have run well over $100,000 on each side.

"I am so gratified that it has finally come to a conclusion," Slaton told Lake Wales News. "We were never going to let that hotel be what holds downtown back."

"We like to do big historic things." Slayton said, alluding to at least a half-dozen inquiries from private firms seeking to obtain the historic hotel to return it to its original purpose.

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Historic postcards featured the Walesbilt Hotel alongside Bok Singing Tower as Florida landmarks. The 10-story building was constructed in a three part vernacular with a large base, tower, and crown and housed 96 hotel rooms. Advertised as completely fire-proof, it also featured a central vacuum cleaner system that remained in use throughout its six decades as an active hotel.

CRA Chairman Robin Gibson, part of a three-person negotiating team that included Slaton and attorney Kevin Ashley, was also looking to the future of the structure.

"I believe we are going to be able to do business with some folks who have the capacity to renovate the hotel," he told Lake Wales News.

Gibson referred to an economic study that the city had commissioned that indicated very significant impacts. That study was based upon the renovation of the Terrace Hotel in Lakeland, a key to the subsequent revival of a declining downtown area.

Citing "the benefits that will inure to the CRA and subsidiary benefits to surrounding properties flowing from a viable hotel," Gibson suggested that good things lie ahead. "For the CRA that means an increase in property values for the surrounding area. That's a subsidiary increase that I am, really looking forward to.

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The large banquet room at the Walesbilt Hotel was used for decades as the meeting place of civic groups and clubs, while also hosting innumerable wedding receptions and other private affairs.

If the commission, which also sits as the CRA board, approves the deal as expected Tuesday, the next step would likely be the transfer of the asset to the CRA, which can negotiate directly with potential redevelopers. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) would screen out any under-financed proposals that would be presented.

The historic property was constructed in 1927 at the height of the Great Florida Land Boom. It consisted of 96 rooms on floors three through ten, as well as retail and office space lining arcades and sidewalks on the ground floor and mezzanine levels.

Marble floors, ornate columns, wrought iron and imported Italian ceilings made the building a showcase for the opulence of the period.

After several ownership changes during the 1970s and '80s the hotel was sold at auction in the mid 1990s and has remained closed since. The city obtained title after foreclosing on code violation liens in 2003, eventually gifting the building to Brown on the promise of a condominium development.