40+ Members Suing Caliente Resort
In the mid-90’s, a piece of land covered in swampy lakes, palmettos, and scrub oaks was sold for a relatively small amount to the developers of Caliente. The ground-breaking ceremony was held in a sandy lot alongside a dirt road on the shores of the largest of these lakes. It was attended by several members of the nudist community, the Caliente team, and represenatives from AANR, and County & State Government.
The developers were, even then, pre-selling lots for their proposed nudist resort. They were promoting their low cost casitas, small trailers built to a Spanish theme. I believe at the time the asking price was $39,000. Through several changes in development teams and management, they still pushed the idea to prospective buyers.
After almost 8 years of development and planning, Caliente Resort finally came into being as the showcase clothing-optional resort in Pasco County.
Now some residents say they were promised Casitas for $50,000 and when the deal finally went through they were charged $100,000.
The rest of the story from the Tampa Tribune is below.
Nudists File Suit Against Resort
By TODD LESKANIC The Tampa Tribune
Published: Mar 20, 2007
DADE CITY - More than 40 members of a central Pasco nudist resort are suing because they say employees used bait-and-switch tactics to sell lots in the 120-acre complex off U.S. 41.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Pasco Circuit Court, accuses Caliente Resort & Spa of offering prospective buyers property for about $50,000, then increasing the price to more than $100,000 once the land became available for sale.
The plaintiffs purchased mobile homes, called casitas, for the property as part of their agreement to buy the lots. Because the Casita Village had yet to be approved and platted by the county, the buyers agreed to rent the lots until they could buy them.
The county approved the plat in October, and the club began offering the lots to the plaintiffs at double the original price. Now, the plaintiffs fear they’ll lose their club memberships, which can cost hundreds of dollars, for participating in the lawsuit.
“My clients are very concerned about compromising their membership because that’s their lifestyle,” said John Lakin, the Bradenton attorney representing the buyers. “Any retaliatory measure by [the resort] would be wrong. They shouldn’t be penalized for exercising their legal rights.”
An attorney for the clothing-optional resort couldn’t be reached Monday.
Caliente Vice President Chuck Foster sent a letter to the casita owners in December after receiving e-mails threatening lawsuits against the club.
In the letter, Foster says that the buyers were never promised the lots for a specific price, nor did they sign contracts locking in the lower prices. He wrote that the club once contemplated selling the lots for $50,000, but the rising real estate market made that impractical.
“The recently published price list for casita lots conservatively reflects the price appreciation that has occurred here at Caliente over the past several years,” he wrote. “The prices for the casita lots are very fair and are simply based upon the current real estate market.”
Foster also informs the buyers that the club will view any action “seeking to damage Caliente’s financial well-being” as “grounds for the suspension/termination of a casita owner’s club use rights.”
Four days later, Foster sent out a second letter to the casita owners touting the positive attributes of the club and calling it the best nudist resort in the country, “possibly in the world.”
“To have this degree of privacy and security, you would probably have to buy into a gated community of $500,000 plus homes, would pay much higher homeowner fees, and you would not have the ability to practice nudism,” he wrote.
Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.
