Unicorp closes deals on more Colony units

Ownership rights for five former units at the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort have transferred in recent weeks, records show. 

Since late August, Unicorp Acquisitions II LLC has paid of a total of $783,651 to the five owners of the units of the now-demolished resort at 1620 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Unicorp National Developments Inc. proposes to build a five-star hotel and condominium resort under the flag of luxury hotelier St. Regis, and has been purchasing units to pave the way for the project. 

Longboat Key granted Unicorp permission to build the project in 2018, with a building permit contingent on the company taking ownership from all the former unit owners. In May, Unicorp CEO Chuck Whittall and unit owner Andy Adams agreed on the sale of 75 units, breaking a years long legal stalemate and heading off a potential civil trial.

The 12-month mortgages for the 75 units with Unicorp Acquisitions LLC II totalled $15.25 million: $14,183,333.33 for 70 units with Adams listed as the mortgage holder; $546,667.67 for two units with Dotty Adams listed as the mortgage holder and $520,000 for three units, with the mortgage holder listed as Andrea A. Brown as a trustee for ACG Team Trust. 

As listed in public property records, most recently Unicorp paid the owners of five additional units:

• John and Kathleen McCarthy, of White Plains, NY, received $270,851 for Unit 407.
• Kathleen Humphrey, trustee, of Town and Country, Mo., received $170,900 for Unit 245-N
• Peter Kohnstamm, of Pelham, NY., received $170,900 for Unit 232-S
• George Wehrlin, of Mendham, N.J., received $85,500 for Unit 241-N
• Robert and Kathleen Kulig, of Sharon, Conn., received $85,500 for Unit 241-S

Whittall, who now owns 120 of the former resort’s 237 units, is under contract to buy the remainder.  He said in a previous interview he hopes to close those sales and begin marketing and selling St. Regis units by the day after Thanksgiving, complete with a planned on-site sales office, if economic conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic allow.

"The contracts are in full force and effect,'' Whittall said in May. "I need the world to return to a little bit of normality. So whether we close on those units in 90 days or 180 days, I think they understand we're going down the path to bring it to conclusion.'

The planned development proposes 166 hotel rooms and 78 residential condominium units. The 18-acre parcel has been empty since the last building was demolished in November, 2018 following a determination from the town the abandoned buildings posed a hazard.