St. Pete developer acquires Treasure Island boutique resort
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 19, 2023

St. Petersburg developer Jonathan Daou has acquired the Nordvind Beach Resort on Treasure Island for $6.5 million.

An entity linked to Daou purchased the resort at 12700 Gulf Blvd. on Oct. 6, according to a deed filed in Pinellas County. Daou also secured a $6.7 million mortgage with Clearwater-based Waterfall Bank. The seller was the Nordvind Condominium Association Inc.

Daou, president of Eastman Equity, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal his team wanted to add to their hotel assets; the group also owns Inn on the Beach in Pass-a-Grille. It currently has no plans for the site other than to evaluate its potential. He said they’re currently operating it as a hotel, but they’ll be taking a “hard look” at repositioning the asset as it is “somewhat dated.”

“We’ve owned Inn on the Beach for almost nine years now, which is a boutique hotel on Pass-a-Grille, and we really like the Treasure Island market,” Daou said. “We think Treasure Island is definitely headed toward what we’re seeing in St. Pete Beach with so many big sales and renovations to hotels.”

The 21-unit beachfront resort has a private beach, a swimming pool and a whirlpool spa. Each unit on the site has oceanfront views. According to the resort’s website, it features a mix of one-bedroom units and two-bedroom townhouses. It was built in 1983 and has been operating as a timeshare hotel for at least 30 years, according to Daou.

The property sits on a corner lot along the water and is adjacent to Sand Dune Suites and the Johns Pass Beach Motel. It lies across the street from Crabby’s on the Pass and is within walking distance of John’s Pass Village Boardwalk and John’s Pass Park.

Boutique hotels are in high demand, Daou said, and he said his philosophy with any project is to never do “big box” developments but rather to keep things smaller and unique to what else you can find in Tampa Bay. Inn on the Beach has ranked No. 1 or No. 2 on TripAdvisor for the last nine years, eclipsed only by The Saint Hotel, a boutique establishment.

Daou said customers are more interested in something unique and intimate where they can have a quiet experience than staying in a large hotel with several hundred rooms. He said they’re adopting the same mindset with the Treasure Island asset as they did when tackling building the Edge district in St. Pete 10 years ago. He envisions, unlike St. Pete Beach where large resorts dot the beachline, Treasure Island will highlight boutique experiences that offer a “different kind” of vacation.

“Everything that’s old is new,” Daou said. “Treasure Island has all these beautiful hotels from the ’50s and ’60s, and it doesn’t have a lot of large buildings. It feels like it’s set in time, like it’s still in the golden period. There’s stories of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio staying on Treasure Island. It has a pretty unique history, and the properties definitely have the potential to be brought up to today’s customer standards.”