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Matthew Sexton, Owner of Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club in Marathon, Florida that is an eco-friendly boutique resort located at Mile Marker 58 in the heart of the Florida Keys joins Enterprise Radio.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Matthew Sexton discuss the following:
- Â Tell us a bit about yourself and your athletic background.Â
- What made you decide to call the Florida Keys home?
- Tell us about Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club. What makes the property special?
- We understand that Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club is an eco-friendly resort. What makes the resort eco-friendly? Are there special initiatives in place to protect the environment?
- Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club is currently undergoing renovations. Can you tell us what travelers can expect to see when renovations are completed?
- We know that Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club also has a sister property for the adventurous traveler. What can travelers expect when visiting The Lagoon on Grassy Key?
- What are some important things that travelers who plan to visit you to try watersports need to know?Â
Matthew Sexton, Owner of Grassy Flats Resort & Beach Club and The Lagoon on Grassy Key
Matthew Sexton is a modern-day Renaissance man of the tropics. He is also a serial entrepreneur with an entertainingly diverse set of skills and interests. A former action sports athlete turned hotelier; he is a restauranteur and entertainer with a passion for sustainability, education, and culture. At 35, Sexton is one of the youngest developers in the Florida Keys. While he prefers the title rehabilitator over developer, it is undeniable that he is helping to shape the future of the Middle Keys as it reaches maximum buildable densities.
As a decade-long resident of Grassy Key, Sexton operates Grassy Flats Resort and Beach Club and The Lagoon on Grassy Key. Grassy Flats Resort and Beach Club is a sustainable watersports-oriented boutique resort reborn from the bones of three conjoined – and now defunct – mom-and-pop resorts. With only 38 guest rooms, Grassy Flats is still on the small side in terms of Keys resorts — and that is precisely how Sexton intends it to stay: small, personable, nostalgic, and focused on quality amenities and great experiences. The Lagoon, located just a mile away, is an island-style day resort and adventure park called The Lagoon, complete with a craft beer bar, botanical garden, surf shop, and a floating terrain park for wakeboarders and board sport enthusiasts. Turning an abandoned industrial fish farm into the Florida Keys’ only licensed amusement park set the path for Sexton’s entry into the ever-booming Florida Keys hotel market.
Originally from New England, Sexton moved to Florida at 18-years-old, setting up his first watersports company in Saint Petersburg, FL. Primarily focused on board-sport instruction and event production, Sexton also traveled with several brands to help market and develop new equipment. After eight years of living out of trucks, airplanes, board bags, and hammocks, he finally landed on Grassy Key, where his primary projects all currently take place. Most of the year, Sexton can be found spending his days doing a number of things, from working with tourists and locals and cultivating his tropical fruit farms to milling naturally-fallen tropical hardwood, working with street artists, or foil-boarding with his crew somewhere in Hawks Channel.
A breath of fresh air from the corporate overhaul that has transformed the Florida Keys over the last 30 years, Sexton and his properties feel like an authentic flashback to the days of old, storied by artists, recluses, smugglers, and salty conchs.
Website: https://www.grassyflats.com
Social Media Links:
Facebook: facebook.com/GrassyFlats
Instagram: instagram.com/GrassyFlats
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