Colony redevelopment slated for P&Z judgment

Unicorp National Developments Inc. is scheduled to officially begin its second run at town approval Tuesday, Dec. 19 with its redevelopment proposal for the former site of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort.

Its application to the Planning and Zoning Board includes a request for 165 tourism pool units, a modification to the zoning code to allow six units per acre rather than four-and-a-half and a final site plan that includes demolishing the existing structures and erecting new buildings on 40% of the 17.6-acre property.

“This is the largest development on Longboat Key,” said Unicorp National Developments Inc. President Chuck Whittall. “It’s been a shuttered resort for a decade. A new five-star hotel is going to help property values.”

The project Whittall submitted to the town includes 102 residential condominiums — ranging from 2,700 square feet to 7,000 square feet — a 166-room St. Regis Hotel, a 15,700-square-foot spa, two restaurants, a lounge and bar, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom, 6,700 square feet of meeting rooms, and 2,750 square feet of boardrooms.

All of the proposed amenities, if the project is approved and completed, would be open to the public, Whittall said.

See also: Colony unit owner: I want my condos

Developers also proposed that none of these building will exceed five stories and 65 feet in height. The prospective development also includes a “meandering salt water lagoon.”

“We’ve been at this battle for many years,” Whittall said of the application process. Previous plans failed by a vote of 3,220 to 465 in a referendum earlier this year to increase the site’s density. “I would hope the commission sees that I’ve made a huge investment into the Longboat Key community.”

Unicorp estimates the project could be completed by the first quarter of 2021 if construction gets underway in late 2018.