The Salty Mermaid Oceanfront Hotel Story
A few steps away from Flagler Avenue are two of most iconic places on the island of New Smyrna Beach, a quaint restaurant and boutique hotel. Both started in the 1950s. The Salty Mermaid Oceanfront Hotel story is an amazing one. And of course, Toni & Joe’s Patio, another of our feature stories.
The story of the property begins in 1953, when the first single family home was built on it, which was ultimately torn down to build the hotel.
The hotel when it first opened in 1957 was called Ward’s Ocean View Motel. It was owned and operated by Benjamin Ward, Sr. Ward was quite the entrepreneur who made his mark on New Smyrna Beach by acquiring property. He originally purchased several apartment buildings and land that would be developed into the Ward Motels. One of those was Ward’s Ocean View Hotel.
At the time he touted it as the “World’s Safest Bathing Beach”. The phrase appeared on the Motel’s business cards. Also mentioning “Wall to Wall Carpets”, a luxury in the 1950s. Additional amenities included air conditioning and “Beautyrest” beds.
In the early 1960s Ward would add an extension to the Motel, that was even closer to the ocean. Unlike the original single-story building, this expansion would be 2 stories, containing 3 rooms, 2 on the ground floor and a penthouse upstairs. This can be seen in some of the original photos. Unfortunately placing it even closer to the ocean would be its demise. More on that later.
He and his wife, Willie Lee, operated the hotel until 1977 when it was sold and unfortunately fell into disrepair for years with several different owners.
The story picks up again in 2001 when 4 individual investors purchased the property. The property operated as more private housing than hotel during this period until Friday, August 13, 2004, when it was all but destroyed by Hurricane Charlie.
That year within a 6-week period, 4 hurricanes hit central Florida. Charlie was the first followed by Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.
As can been seen from this photo taken when the hurricane hit, the 3-room extension was all but swept out to sea, it could not be saved. This also closed Toni & Joe’s Patio for several years.
The hotel was purchased by Blue Tropic Development Corp in 2007 who created the Turtle Run Inn which would become the Wild Dolphin Inn in 2013.
Just 2 years later, on May 28, 2015, businessman John Kostoglou and his wife Lisa Cordell, would purchase the property. After a full year and complete renovation, the new hotel would open in May 2016.
Originally called the Salty Mermaid Hotel, then Salty Mermaid Boutique Hotel, ultimately the name Salty Mermaid Oceanfront Hotel was chosen. The “oceanfront” not only depicting the location but reference to the original “Ward’s Ocean View”.
Today John and Lisa still operate the hotel along with their daughter Lia.
As the Hotel reviews show many customers return repeatedly.
