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Address 453 Edgewater Dr, Dunedin, FL 34698, USA | ||
Fenway hotel restoration update
Fenway Hotel is a historic Jazz Age hotel building in Dunedin, Florida.
Contents
Construction
Building plans and funding plans were obtained in 1924 and construction of the hotel began the same year, before a hiatus due to financing problems. Construction was completed in 1927.
As of 5/8/15 it is definitely considered a construction site and is under heavy police surveillance. Trespassing may result in felony charges.
History
The hotel operated seasonally until 1961 when it became home to Trinity College. In 1988, Trinity College moved to Pasco County. In 1991, Schiller International University purchased the property and kept it until 2005.
The Tampa Bay Times called the hotel building Dunedin's "most historically valuable structure". Herman Everett Wendell, who also designed the Suwannee Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida was the building's architect.
The 110-room hotel was home to radio station WGHB, the first in Pinellas County, which began broadcasting in 1925. The station was named after developer George H. Bowes, and was the precursor to WFLA.
Guests included Harley M. Kilgore, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Stephen Early, Alfred M. Landon, Charles Kettering, Clarence Darrow, Alanson B. Houghton, James H. McGill and J.M. Donaldson. Robert A. Bartlett, an arctic explorer, stayed at the hotel and presented a talk on his journeys.
As a private club in the 1950s, the hotel hosted an exclusive clientele of mostly Northerners during the winter months, changing owners in 1956 when it was bought for $300,000.
Restoration
Plans to restore the hotel and add two independent wings to the building, creating "a hotel with 132 rooms, a spa, a ballroom and a 150-seat restaurant, all surrounded by lush landscaping and a 6-foot-tall masonry wall", developed in 2007, raising traffic concerns from some residents. An earlier plan for a larger redevelopment was rejected. Redevelopment of the Jazz Age hotel stalled in 2010 over legal disputes and a foreclosure proceeding.
On June 13, 2014, the non-profit organization, Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA purchased the hotel for $2.8M to become its new national headquarters and a new international centre for its parent society, the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism. The Society had proposed a two-phase development, renovation and restoration of the hotel building and grounds to suit the Society`s purposes, then construction of 27 three-story town homes behind the hotel on the landward half of the 5.2 acre property, but later withdrew the town homes phase. The amended development proposal was approved by the Dunedin City Commission on March 5, 2015. Later, the Tai Chi Society decided based on public opinion that they would revise the plans of how much space they would occupy. The final decision that was made stated that over 100 rooms would be used for a public hotel under the Marriott International Autograph Collection Hotels brand to preserve the building mainly as a hotel. A rooftop terrace and bar will also be incorporated with the plans to creat a lively new addition to Dunedin.