New owners will turn iconic Magic Beach Motel in Vilano into a boutique hotel
Just after the sale of the assets to a further developer fell via following a very community battle with neighbors, the Magic Seaside Motel in Vilano Beach has been marketed.
But the new proprietors — a boutique resort management organization — say they have no ideas at this time to transform the legendary vintage motel, aside from some standard repairs and renovations.
“At the second, we are just centered on running the property,” mentioned Sonny Bhikha, a principal with Shivam Houses.
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Crucial Worldwide, a Miami-based developer, had planned to get the Magic Beach Motel and flip it into the 194-home Vilano Seashore Resort. The company backed out of the deal past December just after the St. Johns County Fee voted 4- to deny its design application. Critical International is the identical firm behind the Embassy Suites in St. Augustine Seashore.
On May well 9, Shivam Homes finalized the $3.8 million transaction to get the 24-room motor lodge at 50 Vilano Highway from Earl and Remy Jensen who have owned it given that 2010.
The business also manages motels and accommodations in Jacksonville Seaside, in which it is based, as perfectly as the Rodeway Inn on Ponce de Leon Blvd. in St. Augustine.
Ordinarily, Shivam Properties purchases a franchise of a nationwide chain and then refurbishes it with smooth, present day features.
“There is certainly these kinds of a need for hotels that are not cookie-cutter,” Bhikha said. “We saw the opportunity listed here and just variety of moved on from there.”
Shivam Houses has presently taken above management of the Magic Seaside Motel and is continuing operations as typical, which include honoring earlier reservations.
Magic Seaside Motel acquired its identify from its use as a set place for the 1999 Warner Brothers Tv collection “Safe Harbor,” starring Emmy winner and Golden World nominee Rue McClanahan. Also showcasing Gregory Harrison, the collection was about a sheriff and father of three boys residing in Magic Seaside, Florida, a fictional city.
The motel, developed in 1951, functions Artwork Deco style and has become a community fixture in Vilano.
Neighbors started the North Beach front Local community Alliance, a team of citizens and area compact businesses, in 2021 to tackle fears above a development they thought could negatively influence the setting and top quality of everyday living.
Past August, the group put out a petition inquiring the county suspend permits for commercial and blended-use developments in Vilano Beach City Centre which garnered approximately 700 signatures. Community citizens also spoke out at the first organizing meetings in which Vital Intercontinental floated the strategy of the 194-home hotel.
Michael Clare-Salzler, a 10-year Vilano resident who does not belong to the North Seaside Community Alliance but is involved about overdevelopment, spoke to The History on Wednesday.
Clare-Salzler mentioned he not read about the buy of the Magic Beach Motel by new owners. When specified a description of the new owner’s designs for the home, Clare-Salzler said, “Very well, which is very good information to hear.”
In new decades, the Vilano space has turn into a lot more commercially produced.
In addition to current accommodations and Airbnb rentals, the 50-room Holiday Inn Express has opened and a Hyatt Area 120-home lodge will open this drop.
To Bhikha’s intellect, opposition is good and he can recognize why vacationers come across the place interesting.
“The total Vilano Seaside is walkable, harmless and a position in which men and women want to appear disconnect,” Bhikha stated.
This report initially appeared on St. Augustine Report: Magic Seashore Motel in Vilano will be turned into a boutique hotel
