1614-8 Various Miami Beach WED OCT 08 1986 ED: FINAL
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 4B LENGTH: 12 . 96" MEDIUM
ILLUST: photo: the Royale Group' s seven ART DECO hotels MIAMI
BEACH
SOURCE : DORY OWENS Herald Business Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO:
ART DECO HOTEL OWNER GETS SET TO RESUME WORK
Flush with $12 million in new capital, the owner of six Art Deco hotels
on Miami Beach plans to resume the long-delayed restoration of the historic
buildings .
FCA Mortgage Corp. , an affiliate of American Savings & Loan, recently
agreed to lend the money to subsidiaries of the Royale Group Ltd. to settle a
lawsuit the companies filed against it in January.
"Neither Royale nor FCA had anything to gain by letting the buildings
sit there idle, " Royale ' s attorney Barry Richard said. The company owns the
Carlyle, Cardozo, Cavalier, Leslie, Victor and Senator hotels, located along
Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue
in the southern section of Miami Beach. All but the Carlyle and Leslie are
closed.
Royale Vice President Keith Swenson said the company wants to open as
many of the hotels as possible before the winter tourist season begins in mid-
January. But the the company' s plans must first pass muster from members of
Miami Beach' s design review and historic preservation boards. Swenson said the
new requirement makes it difficult to predict when work will resume or when it
will be completed.
The city of Miami Beach created its first two historic preservation
districts, both on South Beach, in July. Although the law requires those who
restore buildings to follow specific guidelines, Miami Beach Planning Director
Jud Kurlancheek said the city has already approved Royale ' s plans for the
Senator Hotel and expects to approve all of the company' s plans.
Swenson said the Carlyle and Leslie require only some minor
refurbishment. Royale President Leonard Pelullo has said the Cardozo Hotel is
about 70 percent complete and could be finished in eight to 10 weeks. He said
the Cavalier is 90 percent done and could be finished in three weeks and that
the Victor and Senator are less than half finished.
Work on the buildings all but stopped last winter after Royale
subsidiaries sued FCA in January, charging that the lender abruptly and
improperly stopped funding the restorations.
FCA answered with a foreclosure lawsuit, seeking the return of $16 . 3
million it had already loaned Royale for the work.
Kurlancheek said the court settlement and FCA loan bode well for the
historic district that extends along Ocean Drive from Fifth to 15th streets
and along Collins Avenue, from Sixth to 16th streets.
"It indicates a commitment by a financial institution to South Beach. We
think it ' s very positive. This will help stimulate the renovation of other
properties, " Kurlancheek said.
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