No resolution reached in the Colony mediation

Key players in the longstanding dispute over the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort had high hopes going into a Nov. 12 mediation conference.

Jay Yablon, president of The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association Board, wrote in an Oct. 27 email to unit owners that Nov. 12 was the target date to resolve the “myriad of issues” surrounding the Colony. And Katie Moulton, longtime president and general manager of the Colony, told the Longboat Observer that she and others were “looking for a productive day.”

But, after eight hours at the negotiating table in the Tampa office of federal mediator Peter Grilli, the parties hadn’t reached an agreement.

“There is absolutely no settlement and no resolution,” said Colony owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber.
So, what happened at the conference? All parties are bound by a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them from discussing specifics of what happened at the conference.

The conference was scheduled more than a month ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline set by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday in his Oct. 12 ruling that ordered both parties into mediation. And both Moulton and Klauber agreed that another mediation conference is likely before that date.

“There is always an opportunity to resolve this, and we’re still optimistic that we can do so,” Moulton said.

And if the parties don’t resolve the dispute through mediation?

The Association has appealed Merryday’s Oct. 12 rulings, which ordered a bankruptcy court to decide whether the Colony Beach & Tennis Association should return possession of units to the partnership that ran the Colony and recommended the partnership receive damages of $7,751,470 or it recommended an award of $20,646,312 for the partnership with no return of units.

Merryday remanded the dispute over a recreational lease, which previously allowed unit owners to use the tennis courts when the resort was operating, to bankruptcy court to recommend an amount of damages owed to Klauber and other lessors. The judge’s rulings also allowed the bankruptcy court to consider the Association’s counterclaims for damages against the partnership.

But although the legal dispute continues, the Association is moving forward with Club Holdings LLC, the Broomfield, Colo.,-based company that the board recommended to redevelop the resort.

“We’ll be moving forward full-steam to redevelop the Colony with Club Holdings, making use of all of the properties and assets which our association members control,” Yablon said when asked about plans for proceeding with Club Holdings.