PBSCV1599
Gen. James Patton Anderson Camp 1599
Celebrating 34 Years 1992 - 2026
Alhambra Hotel
The Palm Beach Post
Fri, Oct 29, 1978
Page 33
By David Palleson, Post Staff Writer
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DEMOLITION ORDERED FOR ALHAMBRA HOTEL
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Saying the only occupants of the deserted Alhambra Hotel are termites stacked in inch thick, West Palm Beach building officials convinced a city board yesterday to put aside objections from the owner and have the hotel demolished.
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Philip Crenshaw, one of the owners of the downtown Olive Avenue building, pleaded with the building Board of Adjustments and Appeals to give him a year to begin restoring the building, saying it has historic value. He also denied the degree of termite damage.
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“The termites were so active I practically had to push my way through them. They were an inch thick on the floor,” said building inspector Rocco Lozito.
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Crenshaw said after the meeting he plans to seek an injunction halting the demolition. He called the inspector “biased” and said the termites aren’t that bad.
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“It seems to me it would be to the benefit of the city to allow the building to be renovated,” he said. “it’s a question of preserving a historic building with a gorgeous courtyard.”
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Unless he is successful in court, the city will open bids to demolish the 55-year-old, three-story building on October 30.
Six years ago, the city declared the building unsafe but repairable, citing 16 deficiencies and 7 electrical violations. The owner was given 60 days to make repairs or demolish it. “In 1972, the roof was 60% deteriorated,” city building director, Joe Hughes said yesterday.
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No permit was ever issued for the work. Then in April 1975, the appeals board gave the owners one year to repair the roof, turn off the gas and electricity, install fire sprinklers, and a security system.
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During September 1976, the board granted another one-year extension, saying it was the final one unless repairs were made.
“I’m just a guy who lives next door,” said County Court Judge James Carlisle, who appeared at the meeting as a private citizen. “Since it’s been boarded up, I haven’t been bothered by drunks or vagrants. I think something could be done with the hotel to make it an asset.”
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“We aren’t champing at the bit that the building be destroyed. At the present time, I’m simply not bothered by it.”
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The judge said several years ago, before the hotel was boarded up, there were drunks crawling out of the place right and left, and vagrants lighting fires in it to keep warm at night.”
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Crenshaw said he and four other owners had been considering turning the building into offices which might mean tearing half of it down to provide parking.
The Palm Beach Post
Sun, Nov 02, 1952
Page 32
The Palm Beach Post
Tue, Jan 31, 1933
Page 5
Payment Of $364,000 Or Sale Of Hotel Is Order Made By Court
Alma Property Is Affected By Ccourt Decrees, Signed By Judge Thomas
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The Alma Hotel, located at Datura and Rosemary Avenue, will be sold at court sale unless defendants in the foreclosure of two trust deeds, of which the Central Farmer’s Trust Company is successor trustee, pay into court $364,000 and other sums within three days of the signing of the decree last Saturday at Fort Pierce, according to the decree filed in this circuit court here Monday
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Circuit Judge Elwyn Thomas signed the decree last Saturday as of January 13 acting in the disqualification of Judge C. E. Chillingworth.
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Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Meerdink, of this city, and the Alma Hotel Company are defendants together with other parties.
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In the first of the trust deeds, Mr. Meerdink or any other defendant who may care to make payments, shall pay $137,000 .61 with interest from January 13 and $37.61 per cent of all other costs and expenses of the suit.
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In the foreclosure of the other deed, which was issued by Alma Hotel Company, payment of $227,397.94 with interest from January 13, is required together with 62.39 per cent of all other costs in the suit.
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The second deed is a first lien on the south 43 ft of the property, but a second lien is on the north 100 ft of the lot #5 block 23.
The two parcels, all together comprising the site of the hotel, will be offered separately by J.R. Bullock as Special Master in the event the sums are not paid.
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In addition to the above sums, W.D. Hines, appointed receiver of the property, October 6, 1928, is allowed $3,025 as compensation exclusive of any sum already paid him. The suit is held subject to further orders of the court.
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No bid will be considered unless accompanied by payment of $5,000 cash or certified check to the master. The sale will be subject to all taxes, assessments, penalties and costs, and also will be subject to confirmation of the court. Winters, Foskett & Willcox represent the successor trustee.
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The Palm Beach Post
Sun, Feb 6, 2000
Page 133
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Alma Hotel is Still There
John Bizub of Wellington wrote History Sunday about his fond memories of the Alma Hotel in West Palm Beach. “I have looked but can’t find the Alma Hotel. Could you please let me know where it is or was?” Sherry Piland, Historic Preservation Planner for the City of West Palm Beach, saw the letter and wrote to say that Alma still exists at 532 Datura Street, (southeast corner of Datura and Rosemary). Ms. Piland noted that it is one of the few surviving tourist hotels from the 1920s in West Palm Beach.
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The Palm Beach Post
Sat, Nov 30, 2002
Page 39
by Antigone Barton
Palm Beach Post staff writer
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Evacuations Caused By Careless Smoker
West Palm Beach -- Careless cigarette smoking caused the fire that set off the sprinklers that displaced as many as 150 residents of Palm Beach Assisted Living Facility on Thanksgiving night, a fire rescue spokesman said.
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After spending hours huddled outside the center at 534 Datura Street, about 50 of the residents spent the night on floor mats at the Salvation Army Northwest Community Center, about five blocks away. Those in need of more care were sent to the Palm Beach Shores Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and to a Boynton Beach assisted living center owned by the company that owns the West Palm Beach Center, a center social worker said.
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Two residents who had been taken to the Salvation Army Center were later hospitalized after suffering seizures Friday morning, a facility nurse at the center was trying to find anti-seizure medication.
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Facility director, Joseph Glucksman, would not comment on the fire or damage to the center Friday morning, except to say the residents would return around noon.
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“Who said there was damage? I didn’t,” he snapped. But West Palm Beach Fire Rescue spokesman, Phil Kaplan, said water damage was extensive. Fourth-floor sprinklers, set off by a small fire in one of the units, drenched the building from top to bottom, sending water through the ceiling and electrical conduits, Kaplan said. After an all-night cleanup effort, managers were planning to bring residents back in the afternoon, Kaplan said. He could not say who inspected the building before approving it for the residents' return.
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At noon, residents were still watching movies in the Salvation Army Community room. A couple wandered the streets clutching blankets. One entered the facility alone while another passed the facility saying she had been told residents could not return until after 4 PM. Att 4:30, a facility representative refused to say when or if the residents had returned.
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The facility opened in 1997 in a building once known as the Alma Hotel that dates to 1924. Florida Housing Corp. owns the four-story building, according to Palm Beach County Property Appraiser records. It provides housing and support services for low-income elderly and handicapped residents.