A lonesome, legendary house that famously fended off developers and bulldozers for decades is now for sale in Clearwater Beach.
Located at 887 S Gulfview Blvd., the home was built in 1963 and is literally the only single-family house still standing at the end of Clearwater Point, which was once dotted with beach homes but is now almost entirely engulfed by condos.
The beach house overlooks a busy channel section of Clearwater Harbor and over the years has been known to locals by a few different names; "The Gray House," the "Holdout House," and "Fort Akert" after its original owners, Carl Wilkens and his wife Mary Ackert, and their long-fraught battle with relentless developers.
"All the tour boats used to point to the house and say 'That's where the old hold-out lady lives," said Mary in a 1979 Sun Sentinel article. "That's because I got many, many offers to sell my house, but I wouldn't. It meant too much to me."
In a 2012 story, Gabber publisher and former Creative Loafing editor Cathy Salustri, detailed how the legend of the house, and Miss Mary Ackert, grew partly because of the tour boats and the rumors they helped spread.
"You see, she loved her home and she loved her view. See that gray house right there? That was her home, and no matter how much money the developer offered her, she politely refused," read a tour guide script from a local dolphin watch boat. "Then things got not-so-nice. As construction started on the condos, things got increasingly nasty. Workers 'accidentally' cut her power lines. A bulldozer 'accidentally' broke the water main that supplied her drinking water..."
The home was finally sold in 1979 to former WFLA News anchor Joe Mannion and his partner Elizabeth for $133,200 after they convinced Ackert they weren't fronting as developers.
"'She did ask us if we would agree not to sell the property for two years,'” said Elizabeth to Salustri in a later interview. "Their attorney told them such a promise wouldn’t hold up in court, but the Mannions had every intention of living in the home."
And they did.
Joe and Elizabeth have since passed away, but the home is still currently owned by the Mannion estate.
The two-story, 2,604-square-foot house now comes with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well as a wrap-around porch, a two-car garage, and arguably the best view in Clearwater.
The "Holdout House" is currently asking $5,999,000, and the listing agents are Kristin Hallamek and Ron Henkel Jr. of Engel & Volkers Belleair.
