Whittall misses target date for new Colony proposal

Chuck Whittall, president of Unicorp National Developments Inc., missed his own target date to submit a new proposal for the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort property.

In May, the developer said he intended to have the proposal ready to file with Longboat Key staff by Monday, June 26. However, Whittall affirmed this week that the process is going to take more time.

“It’s just a lot of work,” Whittall said, noting that the town requires developers to have full engineering plans complete before submitting proposals.

Whittall’s new target date? July 24.

Should Whittall stay on that course, Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray said the proposal could go before the Planning and Zoning Board at the group’s Oct. 17 meeting. The board would review the plan, then it would be forwarded to the Town Commission as early as November for a decision.

Pending approval from commissioners, Whittall hopes to break ground on the project within a year.

The developer said that his new proposal will be a five-star resort with maximum building heights of 65 feet. 

The project will include between 237 and 268 total units, split between residential condos and tourism units.

“We think the community is going to embrace it,” Whittall said.

Whittall’s initial proposal, which failed in a March referendum by 87% of the vote, called for adding 180 residential units to the property’s existing 237 tourism units. His vision also included maximum building heights of 12 stories.

In May, Whittall urged the Town Commission to include language in an ordinance regarding planned-unit developments that would allow buildings on the Key to reach a maximum of 80 feet above elevation. The town’s current benchmark is 65 feet.

Despite support for Whittall’s request from residents of Aquarius and Tencon, which are the two condos immediately neighboring the Colony property, commissioners moved to table the ordinance in question, citing a need for further examination and discourse.

In light of the commission’s decision, Whittall said he would limit the size of the buildings in his proposal to 65 feet by decreasing the amount of open space on the property.

Along with drafting a new proposal, Whittall has kept busy since the March referendum:

• In April, Whittall gained the support of Jay Yablon and other members of the Colony Association’s development committee when he reaffirmed Unicorp’s initial offer to Colony unit owners: $130,000 to $200,000 per unit. The developer had said after the referendum that he would need to reduce that amount.  
• On June 1, Whittall met the deadline to pay $22 million to Colony Lender LLC to acquire the former Colony’s 2.3 acre recreational property.