Widow in fight with Westgate Resorts sues Orange County

Article Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel
By Stephen Hudak

Published November 27 , 2016

 

A widow in a fight with Westgate Resorts is suing Orange County for allowing the timeshare giant to build a condominium tower behind her vacation home.

The lawsuit is the latest tussle in a rumpus between 82-year-old Julieta Corredor and Westgate, one of the world's largest timeshare companies.

 

Filed in circuit court, the lawsuit contends that Westgate's tower harms the widow's property interests and conflicts with principles established in the Orange County comprehensive plan, which guides development.

The lawsuit, assigned to Judge John Marshall Kest, does not seek money from the county. The widow's lawyer, Brent Siegel — no relation to Westgate's billionaire founder David Siegel — wants a judge to overturn the county's decision to approve the timeshare project.

If granted, the order could halt construction.

The company is building its 161-unit timeshare tower about six feet from the widow's townhouse. She rejected the company's $150,000 to buy her out.

When Westgate officials first submitted plans for its project, estimated at $24 million, it wrongfully claimed ownership of all parcels making up the 180-acre site near the Orange County Convention Center.

The widow was the lone holdout. Her sons, William and Carlos Corredor, who have represented her at hearings, contend they are fighting for her property rights.

Westgate officials say the family is being greedy.

The widow and her late husband bought the 1,125-square-foot townhouse in 1985 for $154,000, and their family has used it for weekend getaways, vacations, honeymoons and holidays, although not much recently.

Construction activity on a piece of land continues Thursday, May 26, 2016 around a vacation home, center, at Westgate Resorts. Neither money nor bulldozers have loosened the grip an Orlando vacation home as on the Corredor family. The vacation home bought by their mother and late father 30 years ago, the two-story townhouse near Sea World has served as the family's vacation base for decades, a hub to entertain kids and grandkids at theme parks. But the house stands in the way of grander plans by Westgate Resorts, which has knocked down every condo and palm tree on the adjoining 100 acres.


 

The property appraiser estimated the unit's market value at $35,000.

Orange County temporarily halted the Westgate project this summer for misrepresenting ownership of the widow's townhouse in development plans but then gave an OK to a new plan to build around the condo.

Earlier this month, a code-enforcement magistrate ordered Westgate to repair damage caused by a contractor's bulldozer that hit the widow's condominium as a work crew was clearing the site around her property.

The squabble between the widow and Siegel's company has earned national notoriety as an example of a property owner holding out against a developer with deep pockets.

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