- September 12, 2024
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The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort was a Longboat Key legacy.
Many long-time Longboaters are familiar with the former resort, and when "Murf" comes up in conversation, locals know the name.
When it first opened in 1954, the Colony Beach Resort was more focused on golf with a nine-hole pitch and putting course. Then, in the mid-60s, six tennis courts would replace the golf features.
The Klauber family moved to Longboat in 1968, and Dr. Murray "Murf" Klauber began his Longboat legacy when he began leasing The Colony in 1970. Klauber then bought The Colony in 1972 with a business partner, and set a goal to make the resort America's first "tennis-centric resort."
The Colony would develop a high reputation through the years, first being inducted into the "Nation's Restaurant News" Fine Dining Hall of Fame in 1985.
Then, in 1996, "Tennis" magazine named The Colony the No. 1 tennis resort in the United States. The Colony would go on to earn that title for an unprecedented eight years in a row.
But after 2004, The Colony took a turn. Unit owners rejected three assessments from 2004-2006 to pay for repairs. New board members audited the resort owner and stopped paying operational expenses in 2006.
That began a period of legal battles between Klauber and the Colony Association, which eventually led to The Colony closing in 2010.
During The Colony's 56-year reign, it left its mark on the island and its residents and drew in big names from across the country. Now, it's time for the St. Regis Longboat Key to live out a new legacy, bringing new traditions while keeping the memory of The Colony alive.
Here are the milestones on the path of how we got here.
Aug. 15, 2010: The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort closes its doors, and its bankruptcy claim is converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation. This led to the dissolving of the partnership that backed The Colony, led by Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber.
April 2013: The Town of Longboat Key holds several workshops to try to help parties reach an agreement as to what happens next with the land. Staff were close to reviewing plans to condemn the property when the commission decided to take a more passive approach.
August 2015: The former resort remains boarded up and unoccupied, and neighbors tell The Longboat Observer it has become an eyesore and a nuisance. Extra police presence is required after the resort closes.
August 2016: Unicorp National Development Inc. officially purchases the former resort's recreational property, valued at $22 million.
March 14, 2017: Unicorp's referendum to add 180 residential units to The Colony's existing 237 tourism units is rejected by Longboat Key voters 3,220 to 465.
July 2017: Unicorp presents a new plan, this time with 102 residential units and 166 tourism units within five-story buildings, and the affiliation with St. Regis is first announced.
January 2018: The St. Regis project draws contention from locals due to the size of the 10,000-square-foot ballroom and public spaces, and concerns about parking are first raised.
March 2018: In response, Unicorp reduces the number of units to 78 condos and 166 hotel rooms, but all other aspects are kept the same. The plans receive commission approval 6-1.
May 2018: The town issues an emergency order to demolish what is left of The Colony's buildings.
June 2018: Legal challenges to the town's demolition order are denied, and Unicorp wins the bid to demolish all but one building with a zero-dollar bid.
October 2020: Before the resort even breaks ground, half of the St. Regis Longboat Key's condos are sold. Units range in price from $2 million to $20 million.
October 2021: Town commissioners and staff approve construction for the St. Regis Longboat Key. Unicorp and town leaders celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony.
February 2022: Unicorp receives a milestone building permit for the foundation work after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection signs off. The work was valued at $12.4 million.
October-December 2022: Construction goes vertical and rolls through the end of 2022. About 200 bathtubs were ordered ahead of time to prevent supply-chain issues, and more than 60,500 cubic yards of concrete had been poured — enough to build a 4-foot-wide sidewalk 234 miles long.
January 2023: Unicorp seeks approval for a parking garage to be included on the site, which would increase parking from 100 to 157 spaces by replacing mechanical lifts and surface parking with a garage.
February 2023: Unicorp celebrates the resort's topping-off, which signifies that the building's structure is complete. Companies raffled off 13 televisions, Yeti coolers and tool sets at the event.
June 2023: The town commission votes 6-0 to deny Unicorp's multilevel parking garage proposal after a meeting that lasted nearly six hours.
October 2023: After a continuance is granted to draw up new plans, Unicorp nixes the parking garage and finds space for a net gain of one parking space from the 2021 plans. The reconfigured plans receive commission approval and end the parking dispute saga.
June 2024: The St. Regis Longboat Key executive staff host a hiring event to fill more than 400 positions ahead of the resort's grand opening.
Aug. 16, 2024: Fourteen years after The Colony closed its doors, the St. Regis Longboat Key opens its own to the Longboat Key community at an unveiling ceremony.
