SARASOTA, FLORIDA, August 17, 2017 – Some perks may be added to condos for sale at Aquarius Club in Longboat Key if the revival proposed for its neighboring Colony Beach & Tennis Resort eventually pans out.
Unicorp National Developments, the Orlando-based company pursuing the Colony’s revival, has entered a quid-pro-quo contract with residents of Aquarius and with those in another neighboring condominium, Tencon Beach. These two condos flank the Colony north and south on Gulf of Mexico Drive, respectively.
The contract with the condos’ residents was signed following the rejection in a town-wide referendum last March of Unicorp’s original Colony revival plan. This proposal was for a total of 417 residential units consisting of hotel rooms and condos, maximum building height of 16 stories, plus expanded meeting space.
To address the density and building height issues, Unicorp recently revised its plan for the Colony property of nearly 18 acres. Its proposal was scaled down to 102 residential condos and a five-star, 166-room hotel to be operated by St. Regis. Building height sought was likewise trimmed down to just five stories.
Unicorp’s revised plan won’t have to pass a referendum, although it will still require Town Commission approval. For its project to gain some traction, the developer signed a contract to grant Aquarius and Tencon residents some membership privileges to the revived resort’s future amenities in exchange for their support to Unicorp’s new plan.
This revised plan includes two restaurants, a lounge with a bar, fitness facilities, a 15,700-square-foot spa and a salt water lagoon. All of these facilities will be open to Aquarius and Tencon residents if the Unicorp’s latest proposal is carried out.
The future amenities in a redeveloped Colony under the revised Unicorp proposal indeed looks quite tempting. St. Regis which shall operate the hotel in the property is under the banner of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts and amongst the luxury brands of the Marriott hotel chain.
Unicorp is also proposing 6,700 square feet of meeting rooms and 2,750 square feet of board rooms under its new plan for the Colony’s revival. Though much work still lies ahead for the resort to reopen, Longboat Key condos for sale should pick up some positive vibes on the redevelopment of this property.
Sitting idle since its closure in 2009 due to management issues, the untended property has been considered a blight in its neighborhood hosting some prime Longboat Key homes for sale. Besides Aquarius and Tencon, the property’s immediate neighbors include multi-million dollar single family homes at Bay Isles located across east on Gulf of Mexico Drive.
Notably, there’s a new Bay Isles listing for a four-bedroom home with a floor area of about 2,500 square feet and an asking price approaching the mid $800s. The top listing here currently is located just a short distance southeast of the Colony. Priced at $4.65 million, it features four bedrooms within a floor plan of nearly 6,100 square feet.
The price points are considerably softer at the Aquarius where the units are priced in the $400s–$600s range. Their living areas fall between 1,550 and 1,650 square feet designed with two bedrooms and two baths, plus the fair chance of having access to luxury hotel amenities at a revived Colony property.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA, October 7, 2019 – Property values of communities in the Sarasota-Manatee region now face lesser threat from neighborhood eyesores brought about by abandoned, foreclosed homes. Known in the real estate trade as zombie foreclosures, these properties have shrunk significantly in the region. According to an August report of ATTOM Data Solutions, abandoned […] more>>