Colony: The beginning of the end?

In a move that could end a fractious stalemate, the board of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association voted unanimously March 2 to work with an Orlando developer to try and re-open the shuttered resort.

The association’s 9-0 vote paves the way for further negotiations with Orlando-based Unicorp National Developments Inc., which has been hoping to revamp the Colony for more than two years.

Although past developers have worked with the association on plans for a future resort, the agreement with Unicorp is key because it includes a global settlement of most litigation surrounding the property.

But don’t uncork the champagne just yet.

The association needs at least 80% of the resort’s unit owners to proceed the development proposal, which also allows the unit owners to dissolve the condominium association and move forward with a development.

The two sides hope to reach a development agreement within the next four months to present to unit owners for a vote.

“We’re hopeful,” says Jay Yablon, president of the Colony’s association. “I think we’ve realized we cannot do anything without the other. We’ve put practicality over ideology. It’s our hope that we can begin moving past recent history and get together.”

Talk of the town

Town officials have heard frequent concerns about the shuttered resort since it closed in 2010 about the deteriorating property, although it’s largely taken a hands-off approach to ongoing litigation. Instead, it’s mostly limited its role to law and code enforcement.

Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board Director Alaina Ray said town staff has met with Unicorp but hasn’t seen plans beyond the proposal the company provided to unit owners.

“It dealt primarily with the financial aspects, which is not part of staff’s purview,” Ray said. “The rendering is too general for staff to comment.”

Mayor Jack Duncan expressed cautious optimism Monday after the association board’s vote.

“Obviously, my reaction is positive, and I’m very positive if this leads to fruition as far as creating a first-class resort…” Duncan said.

“We’d like to see the ground get scraped and in a much better condition than we are right now. Every year that goes past, the deterioration keeps getting much worse,” he said, citing concerns that are especially pronounced each year during hurricane season.

Unicorp National Development President Chuck Whittall attended the Longboat Key Town Commission’s meeting later and expressed optimism about ending ongoing litigation.

“If there’s holdouts there’s going to be a little bit of litigation left, but ultimately the property will be developed whether we’re able to start this year or next year it will happen and hopefully it won’t have to come to a termination of the condo because that’s the next thing that happens,” Whittall said. “If all the owners can’t ever come on board on something, the only way would it can happen is for some judicial dissolution of the condominium.”

If that vote occurs and the agreement is approved, a plan to redevelop the Colony with a 180-room luxury hotel and an equal number of upscale condominiums could be presented to town officials later this year.

Whittall told the Business Observer that Unicorp is hoping to persuade the Four Seasons hotel chain to operate the planned five-star hotel at the Colony.

Future partners?

The relationship wasn’t always harmonious between Unicorp and the association. The Orlando-based company threatened unit owners with lawsuits beginning in 2014 related to a 2.3-acre recreational property it has an agreement to purchase from Colony Lender LLC; a judge sanctioned both Unicorp and Colony Lender for their actions in April 2005.

Both the developer and Yablon say loggerheads were loosened in December, when Whittall made a presentation to Colony homeowners to outline its proposal.

“What broke the ice was that neighborhood meeting,” Whittall says. “They got to know us, they saw that we aren’t bad people and that we want to do good things for the Colony.”

If a development agreement is hashed out and approved between the homeowners and Unicorp, however, it would likely dash other plans that have been floated to resurrect the Colony.

MW Corp., a company headed by Manfred Welfonder, has been hoping to redevelop the Colony with $200 million worth of hotel rooms, retail space and new condos for the past decade.

Last fall, it unveiled a partnership with prestigious Naples developer Lutgert Cos. to revamp the resort with 350 residential units, a 190-seat restaurant and amenities.

“I think we have a good working relationship with Unicorp now,” Yablon says. “We can do business with them.”

Additional reporting by Business Observer Commercial Real Estate Editor Kevin McQuaid and Longboat Observer Staff Writer Jack Short.