1614-2 Various Miami Beachimmm
FRI OCT 14 1983 ED: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 6D LENGTH: 624 MEDIUM
ILLUST: photo: Jack Musial
SOURCE: DORY OWENS Herald Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO:
FIRM VOWS MILLIONS FOR ITS DECO HOTELS
The new owner of seven Miami Beach Art Deco hotels, a company with a
history of financial problems, promised Thursday to spend $5 . 5 million to
restore the hotels.
A Cavanagh Communities Corp. executive said, however, that the company
doesn ' t yet have the money to back its plans to fill the 1930s-era hotels with
1980s comforts.
Jake Hagopian, Cavanagh' s executive vice president, said the company is
seeking a loan from five lending institutions in Dade County and outside the
state and expects to make a loan agreement final within two months.
"There ' s a lot of interest in the South Beach area. There are a lot of
people who have seen the recycling process <in other cities> and think this
area is ripe for that, " Hagopian said.
Miami Beach officials nodded their heads and gushed over Cavanagh
executives at a press conference Thursday at the Carlyle Hotel.
"Miami Beach and Greater Miami can use this as a major hook for promoting
this area. Thank you for coming, " said Jack Musiel, executive director of the
Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority.
"The Art Deco District will move forward in this community probably even
faster than the rest of the restoration, " Commissioner Bruce Singer said.
"What you people stand for is the optimism I have in this city. "
Cavanagh, which owns property in Atlantic City zoned for casino gambling,
has already begun the first phase of its restoration plan, a $500, 000
renovation of the Cardozo Hotel. It plans to replace plumbing and wiring and
to install modern conveniences such as color televisions and push-button
telephones.
The company said it will transform the Cardozo' s lobby into a 100-seat
nightclub that will offer jazz and swing music from the Deco period and
theater productions nightly. The work will be completed by the Cardozo' s Dec.
15 opening, Hagopian said.
Cavanagh also plans to transform the 300-seat ballroom of the Victor
Hotel into a nightclub featuring swing bands and says it is considering
turning the basement into a health club.
In addition, the company wants to restore the pool at the Senator Hotel,
the only hotel of the seven that is not on the oceanfront. The pool, company
officials say, will be available to guests of all the hotels.
Phase two of the project, scheduled for completion by the spring or
summer of 1984 , includes converting the Oceanfront Apartments into office
suites and shops and upgrading the Leslie and the Cavalier hotels.
Elderly residents who live in the buildings will be moved to the Victor
during the project and will not be displaced when the work is complete,
Hagopian said. He said Cavanagh will open food and beverage and water sport
concessions on the beach.
The company bought the hotels last month by assuming a $5.6- million
mortgage from Art Deco Hotels Ltd. The 68 limited partners of Art Deco Hotels
received an undisclosed amount of Cavanagh stock as a down payment.
vanagh, of Coconut Grove, was one of the state ' s largest land-sales
companies until 1975 when the Federal Trade Commission accused its officials
of using deceptive practices to sell swampland to 25, 000 buyers.
The company reorganized under the Federal Bankruptcy Code and sold most
of its land business four years ago to buy 17 acres of Atlantic City property
that was zoned for casinos.
When a Cavanagh subsidiary was unable to make payments on its casino
property, the company filed for protection under the Federal Bankruptcy Code
from a $10-million debt.
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