Gurney's Resort board votes to buy out remaining timeshare owners

The majority owners of Gurney’s in Montauk are poised to assume full control of the iconic resort after its board of directors voted Monday to buy out the remaining timeshare owners.

Timeshare owners were notified of the board’s decision in a letter emailed after the meeting.

Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa has gone through a dramatic transformation since Manhattan-based developers George Filopoulos of Metrovest Equities and Lloyd Goldman of BLDG Management purchased it in 2013 from the Monte family, which had run it for decades. The resort formerly attracted middle-class families from the tristate area as well as celebrities. The developers have been making renovations to turn it into a more glamorous destination for affluent vacationers, with a high-end restaurant and beachside cocktails.

When Filopoulos and Goldman purchased control of the resort from the Monte family, they offered timeshare owners the chance to either sell their shares right away or wait five years. Now the transition is about to be completed.

Timeshare owners had the right to stay at the resort — or rent out their unit — for a designated week each year.

Under the plan approved by the board of directors Monday, Gurney’s will offer amounts ranging from $11,881 to $35,643 to the remaining timeshare owners, depending on the size of their units. Those with rights to stay more than one week per year will get paid for each week. The payments are higher than those made to owners who surrendered their shares five years ago.

The plan will go before all shareholders, including the timeshare owners, at a meeting on March 29 at the resort, Filopoulos, the resort’s president, wrote in the letter to timeshare owners.

However, the resort’s majority owners control about 84 percent of the stock, enough to give final approval to the merger regardless of whether other shareholders agree, according to a statement accompanying Filopoulos’ letter.

After the merger, Filopoulos will remain the resort’s president, and its vice president will be Goldman, according to the statement sent to timeshare owners.

Reached on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Filopoulos said he would not comment. Goldman and other Gurney’s representatives did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

The resort was appraised by brokerage CBRE Inc. in February for $84 million, and “there were no other offers for the purchase of the Property, even though the Property was marketed to experienced hotel operators who were provided with detailed financial and other information, protected by nondisclosure agreements,” the majority owners wrote to timeshare owners, in a document sent after the board of directors’ meeting on Monday.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.