Longboat Key Club resubmitting plan Wednesday

The Longboat Key Club and Resort will resubmit its $400 million Islandside application by the end of the day Wednesday, May 5.

Club officials say the application formally outlines changes made to its $400 million redevelopment plan in direct response to concerns voiced by the Islandside Property Owners Coalition.

A press release issued to The Longboat Observer states the changes to the project, announced earlier this year, were made after IPOC President Bob White expressed objections to the height of two proposed golf course condominium residences, and what IPOC members perceived to be a blockage of their secondary views.

The following changes, club officials say, were made as a result:

• The club reduced the height of both golf course condominium buildings from nine stories with 66 units each (seven floors of residences over two levels of parking) to five stories with 35 units each (four floors of residences over one level of parking).

• The club made a reduction from 132 to 70 golf course residential units.

• To ensure the second compromise would still make the overall redevelopment financially viable, 42 residential units were relocated from the golf course condominium buildings to the top of the proposed five-star hotel. This addition of 42 units adds four floors to the hotel — increasing its height from eight stories (seven floors of tourism and residential units over one level of parking) to 12 stories (11 floors of tourism and residential units over one level of parking). As a result, residences in the new hotel have increased from a total of 34 to 76 units.

• Eight of the units removed from the golf course condominiums were transferred to the south parcel as villa townhouses. This increased the number of villa buildings from two to three and increased the number of villa townhouses from 10 to 18.

• The reallocation of golf course condominium residences also necessitated changes to the configuration of parking within the master redevelopment plan. For example, the proposed wellness center slightly increased in height to accommodate a second level of parking underneath the building.

The club said a consequence of moving residential units from the north parcel to the south parcel was the creation of additional departures and waivers for the application. Overall, club officials say, changes to accommodate the concerns of IPOC resulted in a net loss of 12 residential units from the redevelopment plans for the north and south parcel.

Said Key Club General Manager Michael Welly in a prepared statement: “We are fine with Plan B — it works for us, it works for the town, and although we have yet to hear a response, it should work for IPOC. That said, Plan A — our original plan as presented in June 2009 — was the best plan. It was the most balanced and well-designed master plan for Islandside. The time for negotiations has passed. We have spent millions of dollars on legal fees and redrawing these plans, while enduring two years of harassment and rebuffs from Bob White’s IPOC group. We are now in the 11th hour and we are ready to proceed with Plan B.”

This is the second time the club has scaled back its project. In 2008, club officials scaled back its original $500 million proposal more than 20%. At that time, it was made clear that any further reductions would jeopardize the financial viability of the club’s overall redevelopment project.

The club hopes to hold its first resumed hearing on the project 9 a.m. Monday, June 7.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].

The following remains unchanged from the June 2009 application:
• 196 tourism units in a new five-star hotel
• New golf clubhouse
• New 28,000 square foot Wellness Center
• New meeting center with 17,000 square feet of usable meeting space
• New Rees Jones redesigned golf course at Islandside

Summary of changes to June 2009 application:
• The number of residential units decreased from a total of 372 to 360 units.
• 12 residential units and about 20,000 square feet of saleable building space have been eliminated.
• 42 residential units were preserved and relocated from the North Parcel to the South Parcel.