Langford sale would bring major changes

Sherri M. Owens
of The Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on September 29, 1999.

WINTER PARK -- The Langford Resort Hotel could be under new ownership by November, and by next spring converted into a smaller hotel with luxury condos next door.

The property, at 300 E. New England Ave., would be run by a Naples group of former executives with the Ritz Carlton Hotel chain. Among them is John Ayres, chairman of Coral Beach Hotels and Resorts, developer Clark Johnson said.

Johnson would not discuss the sale of the hotel, but has previously told city officials that he intended to buy the Langford and that he was looking for partners to operate it.

Renovation plans have not been submitted to the city, and Johnson would not discuss them in detail, but he said the new Langford would be "graded along the caliber of Ritz Carlton lines."

Currently, the hotel has 220 rooms, but new plans call for 130 rooms along with 50 luxury condominiums and a
fitness center that would include the outdoor pool.

City planner Jeff Briggs said rooms in the eight-story building at the resort would get larger, and the "motel building" nearest Lyman Avenue would be torn down and replaced by the condominiums. The hotel is expected to continue operation during the renovation, giving the Langford a good chance of maintaining its current staff.

The Winter Park City Commission on Oct. 12 will consider a request from the Langford family to put back into the city code the apartment/hotel provisions that allowed the existing hotel to be built. That move would pave the way for the redevelopment.

"Informally, they [the Langfords] say that they are talking to people about a renovation, not a demolition, but they
can't do anything without those provisions back in the code," Briggs said. "They can't sell to anybody."

The Langford family, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, has been in the hotel business 106 years.

Robert Langford Sr., 87, moved to Winter Park in the 1940s. He built the Langford Apartments in 1948 and the hotel in 1955. Drawing famous guests such as President Reagan, the hotel has been owned and operated by the family ever since.

Changes are likely to draw mixed emotions from longtime residents.

But Gary Brewer, president of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, feels good about the potential.

"I have always had the attitude that change is good and positive," he said. "There will be opportunities to improve that property. It's certainly prime real estate."