Eustace Mita's connection to the Jersey Shore goes back generations, to a great uncle who owned one of Avalon's first hotels and Mita's own first job as a busboy nearby. Decades later, Mita leads both Icona Resorts and Achristavest homebuilders, and together the two companies have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into transforming the Shore's luxury market, from acquiring and rebuilding Avalon's Golden Inn into Icona Avalon, now the largest of his seven luxury hotels, to constructing some of the region's most expensive waterfront homes, including a planned mansion that would be the largest residential property in Avalon.
Mita isn't done. He has proposed a $200 million, seven-story resort for the site of Ocean City's shuttered Wonderland Pier, a project that has split residents between those excited for the investment and others concerned about traffic and the loss of the boardwalk's small-town feel. Between his hotel expansion and Achristavest's growing portfolio of multimillion-dollar spec homes, Mita's projects offer a useful lens on where Jersey Shore luxury real estate is headed next, toward bigger builds, bigger investments, and a hospitality brand increasingly synonymous with the Shore itself.
- Eustace Mita leads both Icona Resorts, which operates seven luxury hotels at the Shore, and Achristavest, a luxury homebuilder
- His companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Jersey Shore hospitality and residential real estate
- Mita has proposed a $200 million, seven-story resort for Ocean City's former Wonderland Pier site, a project that has divided local residents
- Achristavest is currently building some of the Shore's most expensive spec homes, including a planned record-setting mansion in Avalon
For buyers and sellers watching the top of the Jersey Shore market, Mita's continued investment is one of the clearest signals of where luxury demand at the Shore is headed.
Attribution: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquirer
