Colony Association pursues foreclosure

The penthouse units that Colony Beach & Tennis Resort longtime owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber has lived in for more than 30 years are in foreclosure.

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association is pursuing a foreclosure against Klauber’s penthouse apartment and office, known as Units 500 and 501, which are on the sixth floor of the resort’s hotel.

The association is seeking to recover a total of $35,906.89, which includes both a principal sum of $28,000, along with interest and attorney fees.

Unit 500, which is Klauber’s residence, has a lien for a principal sum of $14,000, for a total sum of $17,953.44 when combined with interest and attorney fees.

Unit 501, which is Klauber’s office, also contains a lien for a total sum of $17,953.44.

When asked about the monies being sought, Colony Association President Jay Yablon said that for the last two years, each unit in the association has been assessed $5,000 per year (payable in quarterly $1,250 assessments) and a $4,000 special assessment for legal fees the association voted in favor of in fall 2009.

Yablon said he didn’t have a comment regarding the foreclosure of the two units.

“This is an internal matter between the association and one of its unit owners,” Yablon said.
If Klauber does not pay the amount, the units will be sold to the highest bidder at a public sale set for 9 a.m. May 12 online at www.sarasota.foreclose.com.

Klauber told the Longboat Observer the auction won’t happen, and he intends to pay the money owed, although he doesn’t agree with the payment.

“Those units are in my name; I paid for them individually and they are not in the partnership,” said Klauber, who said he thinks it’s “ludicrous” that he will be paying assessments that, in part, go to pay legal fees for rulings he is appealing. “I will pay those assessments this week to avoid the auction, but they (the association) are not deserving of the funds. I will pay it because I will never put them (the units) up for sale.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected]

KLAUBER UPSET WITH RESORT DETERIORATION
Longtime Colony Beach & Tennis Resort owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber is furious with the way the shuttered resort looks today.

“This place is a total disaster, and nothing has been done to it until recently when the association decided it wanted to allow unit owners to use some of the units,” Klauber said. “If past guests saw what this place looked like right now, they would never come back in the future. The reputation I built here is being destroyed.”