The Ritz Carlton Ghost Hotel

One of my early memories of ‘luxury’ in Sarasota is about a building that never happened – the “Ghost Hotel” on Longboat Key. We now have many First Class hotels in Sarasota, but in the 1920’s, this never-completed structure was to be one of the few luxury hotels in the area. John Ringling conceived the idea to build a Ritz-Carlton on the south end of Longboat Key to draw visitors to what he called ‘the finest in the State of Florida” It was to have 200 rooms, dock facilities, and a railroad line that would bring passengers right to the hotel, along with an 18-hole golf course paid for by local subscriptions, built on adjoining land. But…it turned out to be a far cry from today’s Ritz-Carlton in downtown Sarasota!

By November 1926, the first of the hotel's three units was nearly complete when Ringling gave the stop work order. Ringling continued to state that he would resume construction on the hotel. But as the hotel neared completion, the Florida land boom bubble burst, and Ringling’s huge holdings that included real estate, banks and circuses began to rapidly dwindle. Some estimates state that as much as $650,000 was spent on the unfinished hotel. In 1959, the Arvida Corporation purchased the land from John Ringling North with plans to develop Bird Key and Longboat Key.

By the early 60's, the old unfinished Ritz-Carlton was called a "fortress." When I was in high school, my boyhood friends and I would frequently go out there to explore, climbing the old brick and mortar walls, which were between 16 and 20 inches thick. It’s a good thing our parents didn’t know. According to Sarasota County historian Jeff LaHurd, as many as eight people fell to their deaths in the abandoned hotel. Visitors would later claim to have seen the ghost of a Sarasota High School student, who was one of those teens who died in the hotel, calling out the names of his friends. After that death in 1954, officials placed a steel fence around the building. But it didn’t keep the trespassers away, myself included.

Today, my memories live on and Ringling's idea lives on as the land he once owned is now the Longboat Key Club resort and we have a beautiful Ritz Carlton as one of the crown jewels on Sarasota Bay.

If you are looking for a luxury property in Sarasota, Florida, give me a call at 941-315-1185 and I will help you find your dream home…and tell you some stories of life in Sarasota ‘back in the day’!

Here's a cool video about The Ghost Hotel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqRkNFQtUfU

Credits: Sarasota History Alive, The Observer, Jeff LaHurd