The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL Update – with Photo’s, timeline & investor info

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL Update – with Photo’s, timeline & investor info

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

Fourteen companies/investors — which includes six participants that either have local roots or businesses in the area — are in the running to either redevelop or teardown and rebuild the shuttered 41-year-old Colony Beach & Tennis Resort.

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort Association Board sent a report March 8 to unit owners that revealed Colony unit owner Andy Adams and his AdamsMark LLC; local resort developer Larry Starr; Ocean Properties, Ltd. (owner of the Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort, the Lido Beach Resort and Holiday Inn Lido Key); Sarasota-based MW Development & Investment Advisory; local commercial Realtor Stan Rutstein; and Sarasota-based Floridays Development Co. have all submitted proposals to restore the resort.

The eight other non-local companies and investors are Naples-based Coral Hospitality; New York-based Starwood Capital Group; Broomfield, Co.,-based Quintess; Harper Sibley; Stamford, Conn.,-based JHM LLC; Sonoma County, Calif.,-based Mayacama; The Koru Group; and Bob Understein and Greg McMurtrie.

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort closed Aug. 15 after a U.S. Bankruptcy judged ruled to convert the Colony’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with its 232 units owners to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

Colony owner and Chairman Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber and the unit owners had been entangled in a legal battle since 2007, when Klauber filed a lawsuit in Sarasota County alleging the unit owners owed $14.1 million in resort repair costs. The Colony Association filed for bankruptcy in November 2008; and Bank of America filed a foreclosure suit against Klauber and seven of his corporations in April 2009.

The Chapter 7 liquidation ruling gave the Colony Association Board of Directors (the unit owners) control of the majority of the 18-acre property.

FOR FULL ARTICLE, BY KURT SCHULTHEIS | LONGBOAT OBSERVER, CLICK HERE <——-

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL

TIMELINE

1968 — The Klauber family moves to Longboat Key from Buffalo, N.Y.

1969 — Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber and a business partner purchase the Colony for $3.5 million and turn it into the first “tennis-centric resort” in America.

1972 — Klauber forms the first condominium hotel rental partnership agreement in the state.

1985 — The Colony is inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame.

1988 — Katie Klauber Moulton becomes president and general manager of the Colony.

2004 — The Colony is recognized as the No. 1 tennis resort in the U.S. by Tennis magazine for an unprecedented eight consecutive years.

2007 — Klauber files a lawsuit in Sarasota County, alleging the Colony Association unit owners owe $14.1 million in resort repair costs.

November 2008 — The Colony Association files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Tampa, forcing a federal bankruptcy judge to make the final decision on a two-year-old disagreement between the unit owners and resort operators.

April 2009 — Bank of America files a foreclosure suit against Klauber and seven of his corporations.

July 2009 — A federal bankruptcy judge rules the association does not have to pay $14.1 million in repairs.

Sept. 22, 2009 — Klauber and Moulton announce hotel operations will be suspended until further notice.

October 2009 — The Colony’s hotel-operating entity files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, putting the resort’s debts on hold.

December 2009 — Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida Judge K. Rodney May approves the re-opening of 100 rooms at the Colony and a $175,000 loan to Murf Klauber.

January 2010 — The Colony’s hotel-operating entity submits a reorganization plan that would renovate the resort at a cost of $20 million.

Feb. 26, 2010 — Developer/entrepreneur Randy Langley and businessman/lawyer David Siegal purchase loans for $10 million from Bank of America for Klauber-owned property and announce a plan to revitalize the resort.

April 2010 — The Colony Association asks May to convert the case from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to a Chapter 7 liquidation, which would make the Colony into a condominium association instead of a hotel resort.

June 2010 — May appoints William Maloney, a St. Petersburg-based, chief financial officer, restructuring partner with Atlanta-based Tatum Partners, as trustee to oversee all aspects of the Colony.

July 2010 — Siegal confirms that he and Langley will pursue mortgage foreclosure against Murf Klauber.

Aug. 9, 2010 — May converts the Colony Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation, giving the resort’s 232 unit owners complete control of their units.

— Robin Hartill

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort on Longboat Key, FL