BELLEAIR — A single wing of the historic Belleview Biltmore will escape the wrecking ball and find new life as a renovated boutique hotel under a plan unveiled by the developer.

The revamped project comes months after St. Petersburg developer Mike Cheezem of JMC Communities announced that he intended to buy the long-shuttered resort from its South Florida owners for $6.6 million and redevelop the property with condos, townhomes and a small replica inn.

Under the proposal revealed Monday to representatives of the neighborhood surrounding the site, JMC will salvage the westernmost wing's carriage entrance, most of the lobby and rooms above it then relocate the four-story building to the front of the hotel site.

The building, once remodeled, would serve as a boutique inn with conference space, an ice cream parlor, social room and a bar — overhauling plans for a replica.

"There's a meaningful portion — the original first part of the hotel that was built — that will be saved," said his attorney Ed Armstrong.

"We're just so excited," added Tamara Peacock, the Fort Lauderdale architecture expert who helped craft the preservation plan. "I know Mike Cheezem is relieved that he doesn't have to take the whole thing down. He was looking and trying to find a way, and I think this is a great solution."

Peacock's historic preservation credits include transformation of cereal magnate Marjorie Merriweather Post's 1920s Palm Beach mansion, "Mar-A-Lago," into a lavish members-only club for Donald Trump in the late 1990s.

She says she first examined the Biltmore years ago for Daniel and Raphael Ades, Miami investors who bought the hotel in 2010. JMC, which entered purchase negotiations with the Ades brothers early this year, contacted her several months ago.

"When I looked at the original structure, I realized the roof damage was not as severe on that (west) part of the building, and that the hotel component they were proposing and the building were really close in scale," Peacock told the Tampa Bay Times Tuesday. "It's really fortunate. This is the most significant part of the whole structure and it's not as damaged. That's just a gift."

Sagging on the second and third stories, in which the floor has dropped 3 inches as you move east, might require fill work or reflooring. A south-facing rear porch would be removed. Lead paint would be stripped and the brick chimneys rebuilt. And the west terrace patio, which once overlooked the water, would need to be temporarily detached during the move.

But, Peacock said, the building's lightweight wood frame and three-story wall trusses surrounding the lobby mean that "from a technical standpoint, the structure is sound enough to relocate" using a frame brace they would construct in order to lift the building as one mass.

The result? A 33-room inn that converts the original rooms, which are too small for today's standards, into two-room suites featuring a bedroom and living room area.

Builders intend to salvage the original windows, paneling, monumental lobby stairs and other elements, Peacock said.

JMC hopes the plan will help appease hotel neighbors, former guests and admirers who have been fighting for restoration of the 1890s National Register of Historic Places structure, or at least preservation of a portion of it, since it closed in 2009.

Cheezem's initial proposal had included saving part of the hotel. But he abandoned it after experts put the cost of renovating the entire original structure into a 260-room, four-star hotel and spa with underground parking, pool and other recreational amenities at a "fiscally unfeasible" $200 million.

Peacock said they were still assessing cost estimates of the new undertaking, which Armstrong said will be "quite expensive."

In early October, the town's Historic Preservation Board recommended via a 5-1 vote that town commissioners grant Cheezem's request to demolish the entire building. Armstrong said Cheezem's firm intends to take the new proposal for a rehearing before the board.

The Town Commission will hear the preservation plan before it considers rezoning, development agreement and demolition requests Monday and Nov. 13.

The proposal has already won praise from state restoration officials, Armstrong said.

"It's our hope that this will become a registered historic inn and be this authentic living piece of history that will serve a wonderful function as the centerpiece and a social hub of the community,'' Cheezem said, "much as (original builder) Henry Plant envisioned."

Contact Keyonna Summers at ksummers@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4153. Follow @KeyonnaSummers.