Only two walls and parts of the facade of the 1924 Great Southern Hotel will be incorporated into the new condo and retail complex. (Save the Great Southern Hotel)

Last week a grassroots group in Hollywood, Fla., requested a judicial review of the city council's approval of the partial demolition of the 1924 Great Southern Hotel. The city council last month gave Miami-based developer Southern Facilities Development final approval to move forward with a project that will incorporate elements of the building's facade.

"There are always going to be people who say you didn't go far enough," says Alan Koslow, attorney for the developer. "We are doing the preservation."

The city has worked with the developer for three years to reach an agreement with the city to preserve as much of the building as possible. In a compromise with the city, Southern Facilities agreed to incorporate two sides of the hotel into its project, which includes 25,000 square feet of retail space, a 19-story condominium complex, and a parking garage. The developer also agreed to a conservation easement on the facade and will design an entryway highlighting the history of the building.

Because the hotel is part of the Hollywood Boulevard Historic Business District, the project has sparked some concerns about the project's impact on the designation.

"If you take a wrecking ball to the most significant building in a historic district, there's the likelihood that they could lose their designation," says Alysa Plummer of Friends of the Great Southern, the group petitioning for judicial review. Even with the facade intact, the group feels that the size of the project is too large for the location. "It's like fitting a size-12 foot in a size-five shoe."

The group says that the criteria the city commissioners used in making the decision was inadequate and hopes that a review of the decision will force the city to come up with more specific guidelines for historic preservation, especially regarding the use of facade easements.

"You need more than facades," says Ralf Brookes, the group's lawyer. "We can't just have Hollywood sets of historic districts. We need to establish precedents that result in real preservation."

The city has tried for years to find a way to save the hotel but lacked the resources, according to Cathy Anderson, city commissioner and former chair of the Broward County Historical Commission. To her, the decision wasn't about pacifying a developer but about saving the historic building, which closed for safety reasons in 1991 and has remained empty.

Read more about the Great Southern Hotel on Preservation Online >>

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