Biltmore Hotel–Return it to the National Park Service
July 23, 2010 1 Comment
One option that has not been considered so far is to return the Biltmore Hotel to the Federal Government. It has the money and the ability to maintain it and the authority to negotiate with a management company.
The taxpayers of Coral Gables cannot afford to keep subsidizing the management company and the community cannot stand the spectacle of the City Commission to acting like they are the owners and users of a facility we can’t afford.
About Stephen E. McGaughey
Coral Gables Watch 
The taxpayers of Coral Gables do not and never have subsidized the Biltmore. The Biltmore was conveyed to the City for no consideration by the United States government in 1985 “for historic preservation purposes” pursuant to Federal law (40 U.S.C. §484(k)) to be accomplished by the operation of a luxury hotel in the style of the original Biltmore within the Historic Monument property. The U.S. government retained the right to take back the property if the Federal requirements were not observed. The Federal government recently confirmed that all of the costs of repair, restoration and maintenance of the Biltmore should be paid before any “excess income” is recognized. Rent under the City/Seaway Biltmore Lease is “excess income” under Federal regulations. So far Seaway has paid more than $17 million in Rent to the City although no “excess income” has yet been realized by the property due to the excessive costs of restoration and maintenance of the property.