People to Watch: Manfred Welfonder and Chuck Whittall

Welfonder vs. Whittall: In Colony Beach & Tennis Resort speak, it’s the latest battle in a larger eight-year legal war to resurrect the shuttered resort.

In 2016, the one thing that’s close to certain for the dilapidated resort at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive: Unit owners will decide whether to support a development proposal by either Manfred Welfonder or Chuck Whittall — or opt to auction off their 15-acres of units to the highest bidder as bankruptcy litigation and appeals are resolved.

Whittall, president of Orlando-based Unicorp National Development LLC, has been working to develop the resort for two years. He has a contract to purchase the assets of Colony Lender LLC, which include 2.3 acres of recreational property in the middle of the vacant resort.

Whittall presented a $30 million all-cash proposal to unit owners Dec. 15 that offers most owners $126,000 for their units or 30-days of guaranteed use at the resort each year, plus an extra $200,000 payout to owners of beachfront units.

Whittall’s project calls for a 360-unit project with 180 condos and 180 hotel rooms in towers with heights to be determined.

Town officials, though, warn that Whittall’s residential units are an issue.

Whittall, though, says he will do nothing that jeopardizes the property’s existing density. If he has to, Whittall says he’ll seek a nine- to 12-month referendum process to ask the voters to allow for residential only condos.

On the other side of the ring sits Welfonder, principal of Longboat Key-based MW Development Group and his partner, Naples-based The Lutgert Cos. Welfonder has been seeking to redevelop the Colony for more than seven years.

The MW/Lutgert duo is proposing a $195 million project of 400 tourism units in a main mid-rise building near Gulf of Mexico Drive and in two- and three-story villa buildings that complies with all current Longboat Key building codes and won’t require a referendum.

Welfonder, though, has yet to present a hard-figure offer to unit owners for their units like Whittall, other than noting that past sales of units have fetched an average price of $50,000. Welfonder said he and his development partner are prepared “to make a cash total buyout offer” to unit owners when the board meets again early next year at a date yet to be determined.

Welfonder believes his team will convince unit owners its project is superior, which would then pave the way to purchase the 2.3 acres from Whittall and Colony Lender. But Whittall says that strategy won’t work.

“We’re the right choice because we control the entire center, and we plan to develop the entire property,” Whittall said.