Jamilla's Apple
Biltmore Greensboro Hotel
We’ve all seen it or at least taken a stroll past our city’s Biltmore Greensboro Hotel on South Elm and Washington, downtown Greensboro, NC. Rich culturally and historically, the hotel has yet to make a cent financially. And many have tried. Since 1902, our city’s most scandalous hotel has been a virtual money pit wrought with disappointment.
However, its beginnings are the core of Greensboro, North Carolina’s real property that has changed hands more than goodness and is the foundation from which our city’s major players sprung. First purchasing the property in 1899 for $25,000 of acreage and building space, Moses and Ceasar Cone was the immigrant that initially did the honors. Yesssss. That would be the same Cone that we know and love in this area from Cone Mills Corporation to one of our city’s largest health care system conglomerates, Cone Health.
Now, story goes that the Cone Export & Commissions Company had the space
from 1899 to 1926 when it was purchased by W.W. Dick also known as “Willie.” The property was turned into a post office with rooms for rent. Next, William “Bill” Stern III owned it from 1953 until the 1970s. Then in 1982, it became the Greenwich Inn. And, after some intellectual property rights were sorted out with the Biltmore Inn due to licensing, it is now and since known as the Biltmore Greensboro Hotel in 1992.
The owner with Chase Development turned it over to The Patels as its first DBA or “Doing Business As” for tax purposes. Then to a private couple where they dubbed the hotel as the “closest place to home” when you travel. Rather than financial gain, the hotel was their retirement plan and hobby until 2005. Then the hotel went to Bogart’s Hall that took over in 2007 to preserve the historical nature of the property.
Now, we say goodbye to our favorite look downtown. A place that few have visited, but all know. A slice of Greensboro’s history to be converted into... Well, we don’t know. The sale of the Biltmore Greensboro Hotel will close after my interview with the Assistant Manager, Lee. But the hotel will always be known as what dreams are to be made in this area and how beginnings are harnessed. We have a lot of expectations for our city’s gem as it changes hands to the new ownership. And we expect it to continue to sparkle with them.