The redevelopment team is New York-based Kelco/FB Winecoff LLC. Kelco Management Development Inc. is a Weston, FL-based company that had planned to reopen the hotel in 2002 but backed off when the economy soured, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The hotel's owner, RD Management Co. of New York, took the property off the market in 2004 when it decided to redevelop the structure rather than sell it.

The Steve Holtz Hotels chain in Denver also retreated from a planned $28-million renovation and restoration of the Winecoff that was scheduled to begin in June 2004. The hotel's prime location is near the old Macy's Department store at Peachtree and Ellis streets.

Area construction sources familiar with comparable restoration projects tell GlobeSt.com the Winecoff will probably be renovated at a hard construction cost of about $235,000 per room or an estimated total $30 million. Tentatively planned in the restoration are a bar, restaurant and mini conference center, Downtown sources tell GlobeSt.com.