MW Group forms Colony alliance with Naples-based developer

Longboat Key-based MW Development Group principal Manfred Welfonder has reached a development agreement with Naples-based The Lutgert Companies to redevelop the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort as part of a $195 million project.

In a Nov. 2 news release, Welfonder and Lutgert President Howard Gutman announced they have formed a partnership “to pursue the right to redevelop the Colony on Longboat Key.”

Lutgert has built more than 2,500 condominiums and numerous commercial and residential properties and has roots in Sarasota as the parent company of Sarasota-based Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

Most recently, Lutgert sold a Naples-based upscale mixed-use lifestyle center called Mercato for $240 million.

Lutgert, which has more than five decades of experience in all aspects of real estate and coastal redevelopment, wants to help “lead the redevelopment of the Colony with an anticipated Thanksgiving 2018 opening.”

The only hitch?

Lutgert and the MW Group doesn’t currently possess a development agreement with the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association.

Colony Association President Jay Yablon declined to comment on a future partnership with MW and Lutgert, noting, though, that the association’s board recently expressed support of MW and the company’s redevelopment efforts.

In an Aug. 22 letter to Welfonder, Yablon wrote that the association appreciates Welfonder’s “long-term efforts for the upcoming redevelopment of the Colony property.”

“As we continue our efforts to resolve disputes among the stakeholders, we encourage you to continue to work on your proposal and to secure business partners for its implementation once the legal disputes with the Chapter 7 trustee have been cleared,” Yablon wrote. “It would be helpful to include statements from the third parties (i.e. co-developer/capital/operator partners) which will be necessary when the time arrives to negotiate and finalize a detailed development agreement with what we hope will be your group and its partners.”

Welfonder said the four-star hotel project will cost $450,000 per room to build a 400-unit shared ownership project with owners.

MW’s plan calls for the construction of 220 hotel units built in one or two midrise buildings developed and/or managed by an international hotel company and owned by the developer; the construction of 180 one- and two-bedroom hotel suites; and a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with 190 seats, a pool bar, ballroom, meeting rooms, spa, Har-Tru tennis court and an agreement with nearby golf courses allowing for the use of facilities.

A construction management company has also been hired to guarantee a project cost estimate, and three hotel partners that guarantee a 62% or higher occupancy rate have signed letters of intent to work with MW Development Group. 

“We have everything we need in place now to redevelop the resort,” Welfonder said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to help clean up what’s left of the bankruptcy case and move forward.”