State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is currently celebrated as an opulent resort. It has persevered through storms, organized crime, bankruptcy, abandonment, and is also rumored to be haunted. The Biltmore Hotel was the brainchild of John Bowman of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation, and Coral Gables real estate developer, George Merrick Read More...