Former Suni Sands Mobile Home Park Could Become 110-Key Inlet Hotel and Condos in Jupiter

 

• Charles Modica plans a three-story, 110-key hotel and 44 condos on about 4.5 acres of the former Suni Sands Mobile Home Park.
• The site sits at 961 and 997 North Highway A1A on the Jupiter Inlet. Modica's entities paid $17.2 million for it in 2013.
• Plans also include a 7,500-square-foot restaurant, a 3,560-square-foot spa and a 17-slip marina.
• A January settlement with the town preserves the rest of the 10.5-acre site as historic land and a public park.

Modica Brings Hotel and Condo Plans for the Sperry Parcel

Developer Charles Modica is back before the town of Jupiter with a smaller, hotel-led plan for one of the last open waterfront sites on the Jupiter Inlet.

The plan, filed under the name Sperry parcel, calls for a three-story hotel with 110 keys and 44 condominiums. It also includes a 7,500-square-foot restaurant with 1,890 square feet of outdoor seating, 400 square feet of retail, a 3,560-square-foot spa and wellness center for hotel guests, and a marina with 17 boat slips. Studio DB produced the renderings.

Modica is asking the town to approve the project along with land-use and zoning changes. The Town Council was scheduled to take it up on Oct. 29.

From Mobile Home Park to Inlet Hotel

The bulk of the site, about 9.9 acres at 961 North Highway A1A, was the Suni Sands Mobile Home Park, which closed roughly a decade ago and has mostly been cleared. The other 0.6 acre, at 997 North Highway A1A, holds a 5,700-square-foot retail building from 1956 whose tenants include an ice cream shop and a surf shop. That building would be torn down.

Two entities tied to Modica bought both properties in 2013 for a combined $17.2 million, about $1.6 million an acre. Modica also developed Charlie & Joe's at Love Street, the waterfront restaurant next door.

His 2023 proposal called for a 125-room inn, 72 townhomes and condos, and about 12,000 square feet of restaurants and shops. That plan stalled after the town found that part of the site holds a significant Native American archaeological area: a shell midden tied to the Jeaga and Jobe people, which dates back roughly 5,000 years.

The Settlement That Set the Footprint

After more than two years of mediation, the Town Council approved a settlement 4-1 on Jan. 20. Under its terms:

• Modica can develop about 4.5 acres.
• He deeds the 4.07-acre shell midden in the center of the site to the town.
• The town buys a 1.41-acre northwest corner for $10.5 million and keeps it as a passive park. That payment covers about 61% of Modica's 2013 purchase price.
• A 950-foot strip that traces the route of the 1890s Celestial Railway stays preserved.

The settlement also lets Modica seek amendments to the growth plan and zoning, including adding condo-hotels as a defined use in the town code. Modica's team plans architecture in the local vernacular style, drawing on the area's history.

What's Next

Under the settlement, the council has to rule on Modica's plan by Dec. 31, 2026, after public hearings. If the plan is approved by then, the town moves ahead with its $10.5 million purchase of the park parcel.