PLAYA BLANCA, PANAMA-Nikki Beach, a resort company based in Miami, has pulled out of a $40 million condominium hotel project here. Santa Fe Holdings SA, based in Panama City, and the local Galvez family were the developers of the property, and said they have taken over the management of the almost-finished resort.

The property has 240 condo hotel units in three separate buildings, with about 80% of them sold, according to a statement by law firm Carey Rodriguez Greenberg & Paul LLP, based out of Miami. The firm is representing the owners, though no lawsuit has been filed.

The owners said they formed a partnership agreement with Nikki Beach, which operates and plans to open luxury resorts throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In August 2008, Nikki Beach put out press releases that it would open the Panama resort in March 2009.

However, the company said it has severed ties with the Panama resort. “In 2007, Nikki Beach signed an agreement to operate Nikki Beach Hotel and Resort Playa Blanca, the first condo hotel in this coastal location,” the company details in a statement on its Web site. “The opening was originally scheduled for 2008, but the project was delayed for more than two years. The agreement has been terminated and all ties severed.”

The Nikki Beach statement also states that its brand name cannot be used with the Panama location. The company has had some setbacks itself, as the firm’s Nikki Beach Resort and Spa on Turks and Caicos Islands was closed in late 2009 when the owner, Leeward Resort Ltd., was placed into receivership.

The Panama resort Web site still uses the Nikki Beach brand, but the hotel reservations page appears to link to a former Nikki Beach page that has been taken down. It is not clear what the new resort will be called. Neither group returned calls for comment.