Owner of Resort Partially Swallowed by Sinkhole: We're "Open for Business"
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
By: Nicole Creston

August 13th, 2013 | WMFE - The owner of a Disney-area Clermont resort where a 100-foot sinkhole swallowed part of a building is encouraging guests with upcoming reservations to "come on down."

Summer Bay Resort President Paul Caldwell says the 24 units in the collapsed three-story villa represent only three percent of the hotel’s total capacity.

“We are open for business, taking care of our guests, all of our amenities in full service," Caldwell told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.

Caldwell says engineers have examined the sinkhole that drove dozens from their rooms Sunday night, and they’ve determined there's no reason to believe it will grow. He says the resort underwent geological testing when it was built about 15 years ago, showing the ground to be stable.

Guests were evacuated Sunday night before the building collapsed. No one was injured.

The resort, located about ten miles west of Disney World, is taking claims from guests whose rooms were destroyed. People who were staying in the two buildings closest to the collapse are being escorted in to retrieve their possessions.