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By Jerome R. Stockfisch, Times Staff Writer
Tampa Bay Times
published May 11, 2016
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ST. PETERSBURG — The city’s stately landmark hotel,
which has reflected opulence, neglect and rebirth as a catalyst
for downtown redevelopment over its 90 years, will be getting
a facelift as it enters a new era.
“We’re a historic landmark and that will always be
who we are. We have to honor that legacy. But we also have to
make it relevant to the next generation of millennial traveler,”
said Barbara Readey, general manager of the "Vinoy Renaissance
St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club". “I do think this
redevelopment is going to make a statement as to the changing
demographics of St. Petersburg. Younger families are moving here,
and restaurants are popping up appealing to the trendier (clientele).”
The resort hotel, sitting just off the waterfront at 501 Fifth
Ave. NE, will get a multiphased renovation and redevelopment,
starting immediately with the "Vinoy Golf Club", a
section of the complex spreading onto Snell Isle. It will include
a new pool deck with a kids’ splash zone, redesigned clubhouse
restaurant, new poolside food and beverage service, redesigned
locker rooms and improvements to the golf course and practice
facility.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday, and the golf club
phase of construction will begin immediately. Toward the end
of the year, a second phase will focus on the hotel itself, with
a new spa, fitness center, additional parking, new tennis courts
and a marina-front restaurant on the drawing board.
Readey said the hotel phase of the renovation is still “in
ideation” and “the cash registers are still ringing,”
so owner "FelCor Lodging Trust" hasn’t said how
much the overall project would cost. It wouldn’t approach
the $93 million pumped into the 1992 rebirth of the historic
resort, she said.
According to local lore, the Vinoy was born out of a golf bet.
Legendary golfer Walter Hagen was challenged to hit balls off
the pocket watch of Aymer Vinoy Laughner, a wealthy Pennsylvania
oilman and winter visitor. From Laughner’s yard, Hagen did
so cleanly — without cracking the watch crystal — and
members of the golf party goaded Laughner into building a hotel
where the balls had fallen.
The "Vinoy Park Hotel" opened on New Year’s Eve
1925. Over the years, the rich and famous flocked to the hotel,
among them President Calvin Coolidge, Babe Ruth and Marilyn Monroe.
During World War II, the hotel was leased to the military. It
reopened to the public after the war, but demand for rooms sank,
and Laughner sold it. After decades of decline, it closed in
1974.
The building sat in squalor through the 1970’s and ’80s,
its windows broken, its halls roamed by the homeless and the
mischievous. But in the late 1980’s, New York developer
Fred Guest foresaw a grand hotel amid bustling streets, shops
and residential development.
He pumped $93 million into the facility, doubling the size of
rooms and building a tower of 100 new rooms. The Stouffer Vinoy
Resort reopened to much celebration in 1992.
Architects and designers focused on that rich history with the
new renovation, said Miriam Torres, principal designer with Parker-Torres
Design Inc. of Sudbury, Mass..
“When we were awarded the project, the most important thing
to me was how to celebrate the history,” Torres said. She
read historical accounts of the resort, she said, “and I
realized how important it was to bring back the grandeur of the
1920’s.”
That will be reflected in particular fabrics and patterns such
as the herringbone common to the era. There will be special touches
— columns partly wrapped in red leather, conjuring the look
of golf club grips from the 1920’s, and personal liquor
lockers appearing as suitcases from the time.
“These are references that people at first would not realize,
but as they look into it, they’ll know how important it
was to design the very small details and the very elegant references
to the property,” Torres said. “The property was so
iconic. It was important to take a special look and to reference
to the past before we go into the future.”
New York developer Guest was just slightly premature with his
downtown vision — the hotel was foreclosed on in 1993 and
ownership has changed hands several times. But there is little
doubt a viable, high-end hotel played a role in St. Petersburg’s
remarkable resurgence.
“To have a space like this on the waterfront that was really
the heart and soul of the city, that was shuttered for as long
as it was, it kind of reflected in some ways the city,”
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said at Wednesday’s event.
“And as this facility came to life, the city started coming
back to life. Today, it’s hard to imagine our downtown and
our waterfront without a Vinoy.”
“It’s the heart that keeps the blood flowing through
the downtown area,” he said.
Construction is expected to take roughly two years. Both the
golf club and hotel will remain open during renovations.
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