Longboat Key town commissioners react to Colony settlement

A deal at the end of April involving the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort could clear the way for Unicorp National Developments Corp. to build a proposed hotel and condominium complex on Longboat Key.

Here is how Longboat Key town commissioners reacted to the deal between Unicorp and Andy Adams:

Question: Does this deal make you more confident a resort will get built?

Mayor Ken Schneier: Yes, this was the dispute between Unicorp and Andy Adams [that] we felt was the last major stumbling block to this moving ahead.

Vice Mayor Mike Haycock: Oh, absolutely. I’ve lived on the island for 23 years, and I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t some sort of litigation that had to do with the Colony. I’m absolutely thrilled that it looks like that phase of the redevelopments [are] behind us.

District 1 Commissioner Sherry Dominick: Yes, I think it makes me and others a great deal more confident that this will happen.

District 4 Commissioner Jack Daly:  Obviously, it's going to be a question of economics. And a question of what the market will be — not so much for the hotel, I think, as it will be for the condominiums which are the lynchpin for the economic support for the whole project.

Question: What does the settlement mean for the town?

Schneier: It means a number of things. One, is that the prime site will be used again for a positive purpose. Two, I think we’ll have a very good, responsible, community-minded neighbor, in Unicorp and St. Regis.

And three, it'll mean the numbers that were used when the application was made [are] somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million a year in the various taxes that the town will realize from the property once it's operating. And that includes the largest portion, [which] is a real estate tax, which obviously is directly paid to the town, and also our share what would be tourist development taxes or bed taxes and sales taxes attributable to the business and some other things.

 So that comes up and we’re just about to begin on the budget for next fiscal year in the next few weeks. So that’s about the right number in the $16 million range. So $1.5 million is a good 10%.

Haycock: So the developer has to finish closing on the rest of the properties and then he can start developing it. And, we're hoping in three [or] four years from now, we have a five-star hotel, some additional restaurants and, of course, the tax base that will come in from the complete development.

Dominick: Well, the settlement, if it leads to the construction of the resort, will increase tax revenues dramatically. So I think it's a very good… it's a very good event to have happened. 

Daly: Obviously, it’s not public. I guess there’s a confidential provision in the settlement itself, but I think both the [Longboat Observer] and the Longboat Key News have provided for the public viewpoint, I think, a good recap of the settlement.

I think most people talked to or those who have talked to me, they’re interested in the project going forward. So I guess that the bottom line is two remaining parties that have been litigants for a long time have gotten together and resolved their issues and the project now is approved. Economically, [it] is ready to go.

Question: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Schneier: I know they need to do some pre-sales of condo units, and I hope the economy and the issues that are going on with it, don't slow them down too much. And we hope that they can get up and running pretty soon.

I think they're talking about early next year being in a position to request a building permit.

Haycock: I'm thrilled that we've got a settlement and it looks like, like I said, that [the] litigation phase of the redevelopment of Colony is behind us.

Daly: I would simply add the good news. As you know, gee, a year and half ago we approved the project that was presented by Chuck Whittall and the like after long, long government sessions.

It looks like now with the settlement, that clears the way for him to develop the project that was approved and I think that’s good news for the Key and provides some tax revenue, ultimately, for the town.