The Commercial Real Estate Alpha Site

by: Kurt Schultheis | City Editor via The Observer

The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, a Longboat Key landmark for 41 years, is closing.

As of Sunday, Aug. 15, the historic tennis resort will shut down hotel/resort operations and all on-site businesses.

The closing comes after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge K. Rodney May ruled Monday to convert the Colony’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with its unit owners to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

The ruling marks the end of the first condominium-hotel, rental-partnership agreement formed in Florida in 1972 by Colony owner and Chairman Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber.

May also ruled Monday to give complete control of the resort units to the 232 unit owners.

That ruling also gives the Colony Association Board of Directors what it has wanted: control of the majority of the 18-acre property, which, for the past 41 years, was managed by Klauber and his daughter, Colony President and General Manager Katie Klauber Moulton.

…

Colony time line

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

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