Florida's Unbelievable ABANDONED Beach Resort

not acceptance you know this is a resort that really knows how to take care of tennis players and has a passion for taking care of tennis players well you're absolutely right when you walk in the door you get a sense that there's something special about the atmosphere what are the features that make that so special [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] what's up guys my name is Jake welcome to one of the most surreal places I have ever been this enormous almost untouched 18 acre property has 19 lodging structures including one six storey tower with three penthouse suites one of which is where President Bush stayed on the morning of September 11th 2001 I'll go into some more detail on that later in the video the property also boasts a massive restaurant complex and 21 tennis courts throughout this video I'll be popping in and out providing some information on what you're looking at as well as some history behind it this video is likely going to get very long so if you want to skip to some interesting key points in the video you can do so with the time codes on the screen back in 1954 a man named herb field who cleared the land himself had constructed one of the first resorts on the strip of beach it wasn't until the early sixties when two men had an ambitious idea for a resort the idea was to build something that would cater to tennis enthusiasts not with pro tournament courts but with the fun recreational atmosphere to play in Murray clobber had begun developing the idea and seeking the land to do it on they settled on the already existing property built by herb fields they had purchased the resort for 3.5 million dollars kept the name and began constructing their idea in the late 60s they began with individual wooden loft buildings and expanded in the 70s and 80s with the tower I think it's important that I acknowledge that finding this resort won't be very difficult although I do encourage you not to visit this location yourself it's not only a legal risk for you but as you'll see later in this video it can be a serious safety hazard please do not destroy or vandalize anything on the property the way these rooms were rented out worked pretty well with clobbers concept the resort was one of the first to adopt what we know now as the timeshare model owners were viewed as investors and were given 30 days a year to use their units the rest of the time when owners weren't staying there the units would be rented out just like how a traditional hotel would operates oh my god this is a lot hey here close the bedroom this is crazy as if the guests were forced out overnight tons of personal belongings are still left exactly where they were seven years ago this was like someone typed up a lot this is weird the Soviet land is still plugged in holy [ __ ] anyone up for some tennis through the 70s and into the 90s this resort became an icon of the city attracting hundreds of thousands of guests including notable celebrities and figures like Jimmy Carter Burt Reynolds Al Gore and Denzel Washington my god this can't be real oh man what are you serious [Music] holy [ __ ] [Applause] [Music] I read hundreds of reviews and stories of guests stayin here claiming that this Resort had a type of atmosphere that most hotels couldn't replicate Korso we have a great bar with a multitude of different massage and body treatment a salon where you can get facials and hair and nail treatments [Music] that's baby problems began emerging after the 2004 hurricane season as repair costs began to quickly add up since pretty much all of the buildings are made of wood maintenance expenses were becoming a serious issue and on top of the 2006 housing crisis finances were falling clobber who still own the resort was seeking $15,000 per units paid by the owners to bring the resort back up to standards during this time owner Andy Adams who had three units in the tower was requesting an extension to his thirty days a year and the ability to tear down the walls separating his three units and combining them since this was in violation of their contract Kluber refused to allow it for my guy hold Adams's ultimately joined and became the president of the association of unit owners and began actively lobbying against Kluber and the resorts management the association that he joined which oversaw most of the unit's in the resort stated that they would refuse to pay the fifteen thousand dollars in repair costs repair costs continue to rise as to the tension between clobber and the condo association this ultimately resulted in lawsuits being filed and along with the recession clubbers ability to keep the resort operating was deteriorating in 2007 clobber alleged the condo association owed 14 million dollars in repair costs as a federal bankruptcy judge denied the request the resort filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 which eventually turned into chapter 7 in 2010 on the 11th of August 2010 the resort officially closed access to the units that weren't owned by clobber were shut off as they were deemed uninhabitable which is likely why the majority of the resort is exactly the way it was left in 2010 let's me know this is the first penthouse unit in the building and it's quite a spectacular one fitted with its own rooftop pool [Music] laughing oh my god this penthouse was owned and lived in by Murray clobber and his family in June of 2013 everything in this unit had been sold at auction it is incredibly sad considering the items that were put up for auction were collectibles antiques and pieces of art it seemed like everything they owned was liquidated the second floor of their penthouse is clobbers office which still contains tons of documents and photographs of all sorts so this is a model yeah that's a model okay there was a model of the development I don't know what development this was in this very room president george w bush fell asleep on September 10th 2001 he woke up here the next day on September 11th went for his morning run then traveled to a school in Sarasota where he was notified that two aircraft had hit the World Trade Center natural things that's weird oh my god Wow something this resort was well-known for was its restaurant and bar called the monkey room the waterfall is there on the arrival of President Bush on September 10 2001 a large dinner celebration was set up to welcome the president's a special menu was created for the occasion as both President Bush and state Governor Jeb Bush ate dinner watch for bees and wasps pleasure [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] amazingly seven years later the kitchen pantry still has some food and beverages stocked the resort right now is sitting on incredibly sought-after land and the first question I asked when we found this place randomly was how is this still here while the land is in a very complicated and legal nightmare now in 2014 a developer had purchased the land for fifteen million dollars and has proposed several concepts to build all of which have been denied by the community there are also still people who own units in the resort and the new developers are desperately attempting to buy the Matt woods in 2016 two very small service buildings were demolished as they were the only structures they can legally take down the current developer hopes to have a new resort on the site by 2020 but at the rate they're making progress in it doesn't seem all that likely [Music] [Music] [Music] the pool which I believe is the only standing remnant of the first iteration of a resort has certainly seen better days this resort came off the dream of Murray clobber who operated the resort for over 40 years it achieved incredibly high esteem with guests and tennis enthusiasts it's not only surreal to see such an incredible beach resort sit abandoned like this untouched with beds still made but also really sad to see what Murph clobber who seems like a really sweet man had built up achieved amazing success only to end up here one of the only reasons this resort lasted so long in its active and abandoned states is because Murph had fought to repair and keep the resort going the legal trouble followed soon after though I'm gonna leave you on a quote from Murray's daughter who acted as general manager said in 2010 quotes what's really important is my family spent 40 years creating a very special place that became a world renowned destination at least the legacy that is the colony cannot change thanks for watching everyone [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 2,288,920

Rating: 4.8753262 out of 5

Keywords: The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, Longboat Key, creepy, family, friendly, PG, 2018, 2017, President Bush, Denzel Washington, music, drone, 4K, sony a7s, abandoned, explore, urbex, urban exploration, tower, abandoned resort, hotel, penthouse, abandoned penthouse, tennis, beach, gulf of mexico, florida, Sarasota, abandoned hotel, motel, september 10th 2001, HD, lofts, untouched, 2010, spooky, beautiful, travel, Dan Bell, this is dan bell, Matt Sonswa, Jake Williams, documentary, west florida, George Bush

Id: 1R_RNuDB_Ko

Length: 31min 54sec (1914 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 01 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/holifukwitulo]

“The lamp is still plugged in”

Okay...........and? Do you unplug your lamps before leaving the house?

[u/[deleted]]

“The beds still made!” ... “HOLY SHIT”

[u/joeltb]

That was pretty interesting. I may have missed it but someone tell me why people just left all their belongings behind as if they all left abruptly... I know there was legal issues etc but that can't be the reason right?

EDIT: OH MY GOD