Only a short time ago in a canal not so far away….
On May 26, attorneys for Cortez Road Investment and Finance — corporate owner of the Hunters Point green-home development on the north side of Cortez Road near the Cortez Bridge — filed a complaint in 12th Judicial Circuit Court against MHC Cortez Village, a company that owns the Loggerhead Cortez Village Marina about 275 yards to the east.
CRIF maintains the marina, 12160 Cortez Road W., Cortez, has invited its approximately 350 customers to unlawfully utilize a private canal leading to the Intracoastal Waterway.
CRIF owns about 67% of the approximately 3,300-foot-long L-shaped canal, which cuts inland to the northeast from the Intracoastal Waterway near the eastern terminus of the Cortez Bridge — creating a natural boundary along the western edge of the Hunters Point development — before forming a right angle and heading southeast along the northern border of the development as well as a residential neighborhood, the marina and the Holiday Cove RV Resort.
According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser website, an approximately 183-foot-long section of the canal at the mouth of the marina is owned by a Cipriani family trust.
The RV resort owns the final 858-foot-long stretch of the waterway.
In addition to monetary compensation for property damage greater than $30,000, the developer seeks to permanently prevent marina staff and patrons from piloting boats in the canal.
Marina customers have used the inlet to reach Anna Maria Sound since the mid-1990s, but CRIF maintains they’ve done so without permission.
The canal is the only waterway leading out of the marina’s harbor.
The May 26 filing is the latest development in the conflict between the Hunters Point developer, the marina and a property owner on the western side of the canal.
Real estate investment trust company Equity Lifestyle Properties, led by Chicago-based billionaire Sam Zell, lists Loggerhead Marinas — a 23-marina chain operating in five states — as part of its portfolio.
The trust, headquartered in Chicago, owns MHC Cortez Village, a foreign limited liability company.
Zell’s outfit acquired the marina in March 2021.
In July 2021, MHC Cortez Village filed a petition in administrative court requesting that environmental resource permits from the Southwest Florida Water Management District allowing CRIF to construct docks in the canal be revoked.
The company maintains the docks, which would reduce the navigable width of the channel, could make vessel ingress and egress difficult or dangerous.
The petition has forced CRIF to delay construction on a row of homes on the western border of the 18.73-acre development.
A hearing for the case is scheduled for June 14-15.
Marina general manager Skip McFadden declined to comment June 1 on the legal conflicts and Equity LifeStyle Properties did not respond to a May 31 email inquiry from The Islander by the newspaper’s press time June 6.
On May 16, CRIF staff reported workers at a vacant triangular lot on the western side of the canal adjacent to 126th Street West and a narrow 127th Street West bridge that spans the waterway were installing a boat lift in the canal without CRIF permission.
According to Hunters Point developer Marshall Gobuty, CRIF attorneys sent letters May 18 to the owners of the lot, George and Wendy Kokolis.
In a June 1 email to The Islander, the couple, who own Gulf Drive Cafe in Bradenton Beach, included a link to a news article containing a 2018 quote from Caleb Grimes, Gobuty’s attorney at the time, indicating the developers “(did) not intend to change any of the historical uses of the canal, prohibit anyone that has a lot on the canal from being able to put a properly permitted dock in front of their lot, or in any way limit the navigation on the canal.”
CRIF purchased the canal, including its underwater rights, and a few feet of land on the waterway’s western edge in 2016, Gobuty said May 31, and has allowed preexisting permitted docks to remain.
Green homes site update
The Hunters Point site plan calls for the construction of 86 eco-friendly, single-family homes.
Gobuty said 11 dwellings were being built as of June 2 and that the first home could be completed by August.
Later this summer, workers will begin four new homes each month until the project is completed.
The site’s infrastructure, including roads, could be installed as early as mid-June.
CRIF will cede a southern portion of the development site to the Florida Department of Transportation for the construction of a retention pond and looping access road in 2026-27.
The pond and road are part of the DOT project to replace the Cortez drawbridge with a 65-foot-tall fixed-span bridge.
CRIF and the department have agreed on the boundaries of the acquisition, Gobuty said.
