KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A popular hotel on Kissimmee’s tourist strip is getting a facelift by its new owners, but its abrupt closure has left dozens of people without a home and others without a job as well. 

The lives of Joe and Mary Plain have been uprooted because they didn't receive a warning about the sale. The Plains have seven years' worth of belongings in a self-storage unit. You can find their television, bags of clothes and refrigerator among many other things.

Walking out of the self-storage is a grim reminder of what recently happened to them. Right across from there, they can see the Magic Castle Inn & Suites off U.S. 192, the place they lived in for seven years.

They were kicked out of the bright purple hotel with suitcases on hand and their dreams on hold, given 24 hours to start over.

“Our hopes and dreams, that was our home … That was our home for seven years,” Mary Plain said.  

The Plains said they cannot afford market-rate apartments and resort to this lifestyle.

“Because everybody is going to be out there looking for something. Everybody is out there looking right now,” Joe Plain said. “I mean right now, the housing market for either renting a house or an apartment. Probably looking for three to four months just to go on a waiting list after you’ve been approved. And that’s not even gonna be guaranteed, I think. That's a real bad thing.” 

The Plains received temporary help from a nonprofit paying for their stay at another hotel. But it will only help temporarily, he said, covering up a bigger problem: lack of housing for the working class.

“And what I am hoping for is for I can find something and get back into a house,” Joe Plain said.  

Joe Plain not only lived at the Magic Castle for seven years but worked there, too. He was the maintenance manager. Joe Plain said he cannot even watch TV in peace, as he’s always on the phone looking for his next gig.

“I received an email from SeaWorld,” he tells his wife. 

Joe Plain has been on the job hunt since leaving Magic Castle. It’s the same story for his wife, who was the head housekeeper there. Most of their paychecks went toward their room, and the money leftover was mainly used to cover food and gas.

They say it was impossible to save for an apartment. 

Mary Plain said, “Every night I wake up and I think, ‘It's a bad dream.’ I think it's a horrible dream. That I will wake up, I will wake up. No, you don’t wake up from this.” 

But Joe Plain said he’s not giving up. He has skills and experience he wants to put to good use, so he’s physically knocking on people’s doors and asking for a job. 

He’s hoping for a chance and a change because he believes something has to give.

“Gotta pick yourself back up. Yep, pick yourself back up, brush yourself off and keep going. Find a way to do it. No one is going to knock on your door, you gotta start knocking on their doors,” Joe Plains said.   

The colorful Magic Castle Inn & Suites is known for being featured in the award-winning movie from 2017, The Florida Project, which focuses on homeless families. 

The Magic Castle ended up being purchased by Kissimmee Developer Inn. The company has plans to rebrand and revamp the property. The new owners are not sure if the updated hotel will allow extended stays. 

‘Concealing facts’

The inn’s lawyer, Chris Robert Tinton, was at the Magic Castle on closing day for several hours.

He said the original owners signed a purchase and sale agreement as well as a seller’s affidavit stating that the property would be delivered vacant but failed to do so. 

“One thing is not realizing, not understanding, making a mistake. But the other thing is concealing facts. This is evidence,” Tinton said, “We have hard evidence — two documents signed by the seller — where he knew from the very beginning and had 106 days to prepare.” 

Spectrum News 13 reached out to the former owners for this story but did not hear back. However, Spectrum News 13 did speak to them last month, and they said they were blindsided and were not aware of the industrial-sized dumpsters and shipping containers that arrived on the property from the new owners on closing day.

The former owners did not have legal representation during the commercial transaction.