A developer wants to build a hotel, dozens of condos, a restaurant and a marina on one of the last stretches of undeveloped waterfront near Jupiter Inlet, reviving a long-stalled project that was once halted after archaeological testing uncovered artifacts and human remains at a site many believe to be a Native American burial ground. Charles Modica has submitted plans for the mixed-use Sperry project at 961 and 997 North Highway A1A, and the Jupiter Town Council is set to consider it Thursday.
The roughly 10.5-acre proposal, as detailed by The Real Deal, calls for a three-story, 110-key hotel, 44 condominium units, a 7,500-square-foot restaurant with 1,890 square feet of outdoor seating, 400 square feet of retail space, a 3,560-square-foot hotel spa and wellness center, and a marina with 17 docking spots. Modica is seeking town approval along with land-use and zoning changes needed to move the project forward, according to the same report. The site is known in planning documents as the Sperry parcel, and entities tied to Modica own the underlying land.
It’s a notable comeback for a site that has sat largely vacant for years. The 961 North Highway A1A parcel, measuring 9.9 acres per The Real Deal’s reporting, was once home to the Suni Sands mobile home park, which closed roughly a decade before this week’s council meeting and has since been largely demolished. The smaller, 0.6-acre parcel at 997 North Highway A1A still holds a 5,700-square-foot retail building constructed in 1956 that housed an ice cream shop and a surf gear store; that building is slated for demolition under the proposed project.
A Decade-Old Dispute Over Buried History
Modica previously sought to develop the same site, paying a combined $17.2 million for the two properties in 2013, according to The Real Deal. Those earlier plans stalled after the property was discovered to be a Native American archaeological site, a finding that reshaped years of negotiations between Modica and the town. As CBS12 reported, archaeological testing at the site uncovered extensive historic artifacts and human remains, contributing to the yearslong delay…