By Kayla Higgs
The historic Hollywood Beach Hotel at Ocean Drive and Hollywood Boulevard in Broward County, may be the recipient of a well-needed facelift.
News of the refurbishing of the building was welcomed by residents who are happy the deteriorating building is finally getting a facelift, but there is some worry that the building will be replaced by condominium towers, that resemble many other hotels in that area.
The structure was built by Hollywood founder Joseph Young in 1925 and later on renamed the Hollywood Beach Hotel. In its day it was the central spot for Hollywood’s high society soirees. During World War II, the hotel became a training school for naval officers. In 1987 it was named the Hollywood Beach Resort after undergoing renovations.
As of now the facelift is set to include the construction of two luxury towers, the reconstruction of the Hollywood Boulevard Bridge and the possibility of a new parking garage. The building has been standing for 92 years, so remodeling should be expected at this point.
Executive director of the community redevelopment agency, Jorge Camejo, believes remodeling is unavoidable at this point.
“There’s a number of life safety violations that are in place today that haven’t been resolved,” said Camejo.
Many residents agree that the hotel is in desperate need of repair. They hope that developers will simply enhance the building and restore its original ambience. Other residents are worried that if it is demolished a part of the history of Hollywood Beach will be erased.
President of Hollywood’s Historical Society, Karen Albertson, thinks the building should continue to exist.
“I’ve never seen anything get remolded without being destroyed, we would not like to see it destroyed, if they do what they say they’re going to do and make a lovely hotel out of it again I would have no problem but if they turn it into another 19 story condominium I would not be happy at all” said Albertson.
In 1925 the seven-story hotel cost about $3 million to construct. Developers today are predicting that the remodeling will cost more than $25 million. Most residents are now left to question where will that money come from. According to Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, the remodeling fits into the City’s budget.
“What makes this potential project interesting is that it is located within what is called our community redevelopment agency for the beach, the hotel is within the beach’s CRA district so we will have tax increment financing available to assist with public portions of what this project might entail” said Mayor Levy.
There is no official start date for the remodeling, however, developers hope to start remodeling by the end of the year.
