During the housing boom many luxury developers flocked to the Florida Keys,Monroe County, paying top dollar for campgrounds, marinas, motels and other landmarks that make The Keys, well....the keys!  Even the popular Holiday Isle and its World Famous Tiki Bar on Islamorada wasn't immune to these developers and their wallets.  These transactions troubled the locals on the islands, fearing that they would lose their Island Paradise to costly projects.

The economy has put a halt on these projects, albeit only temporarily, but it is giving the locals a reprieve.  The downside is that the halt that was put on these projects has left the Florida Keys under construction.  Many homes have been torn down, fences have been erected and "keep out" signs have been placed.  Developers that have gone under have lost these properties to the bank.  Banks that have gone under have lost the properties to a different bank.  And the list goes on and on.

Other properties that were purchased, have lost value and are back on the market at slashed prices, leaving developers upside down on their mortgages.  Some of the projects never arrived at the construction stage before the developer went bankrupt and now all that is left is a demolished parcel of land and sign noting what the property once was.

Many locals believe these developers deserved to go bankrupt, due to the greed during the boom that led them to where they stand today. Instead of purchasing up 20 parcels of land, with dollar sign dreams, perhaps one or two parcels at a time would have been beneficial to both the developers and the locals.

Well known, Holiday Isle, "The Home of the Rum Runner", was purchased at an incredible $98 million, with plans to tear down all of the buildings and re-construct a luxury Greek-themed resort called Ocanos.  However, those plans, like many others are a thing of the past....for now.