NORTH REDINGTON BEACH, Fla. — Owners of the Coral Shores Resort in North Redington Beach, led by board president Vicki Hoffman and treasurer Rick Wilson, have launched a fundraiser and applied for a loan to cover roughly $1.7 million in hurricane repairs. The 19-unit, pink-colored motel-conversion has been a multigenerational gathering place and was slammed by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Longtime guests like Eric Schuster are pitching in emotionally and financially as repair crews work on-site and owners plan a staged reopening.

The Coral Shores Resort has been a low-key, family-focused escape for decades, a “mom-and-pop” place that converted to units in 1981 and kept its old Florida charm. Owners describe it as a sanctuary where kids and grandparents meet on the beach and neighbors become extended family. That history makes the damage here feel especially personal.

Back-to-back storms left rooms and common areas underwater in parts, and the impact was immediate and overwhelming. “It was surreal because there was this absolute complete destruction,” Rick Wilson, treasurer of the Coral Shores board, said. Wilson, an engineer, stepped up to supervise contractors and coordinate the technical side of the rebuild.

“It’s a place that we’ve raised our children and our grandchildren, and it’s just beautiful,” Vicki Hoffman, Coral Shores board president and a unit owner, said. She emphasizes that Coral Shores never aimed to be fancy; its value is the memories and the nights neighbors share on porches and in parking lots. That soul is what owners are trying to recover.

Longtime guest and owner Eric Schuster framed the loss in personal terms tied to family history at the resort. “Unfortunately, I lost my father last October, and it is one of my father’s most favorite places to go in the world,” Schuster said, recalling winters his parents spent at Coral Shores. For many owners, restoring the property is an act of preserving family tradition.

The financial hit has been steep: initial remediation topped $800,000, while full rebuilding is estimated at about $1.7 million. Insurance covered cleanup but not all of the reconstruction, so owners have applied for a loan and launched an online fundraiser to close the gap. They stress that every dollar donated goes directly into repairs and upgrades.

“Every dollar that we raise, it goes directly into our rebuild fund. We don’t have a corporation that’s bailing us out on this. We are the owners of this,” Schuster said, underlining how grassroots the effort is. The board has counted on a mix of owner funds, sweat equity, and community support to pick up where insurance and bank loans fall short. That DIY ethic is shaping the timeline and choices during reconstruction.

“It’s a lot of money, but we have really with determination and creativity and hard work and owners’ funds, but these are owners, you know, these are not rich people. These are people that just love being with their families on a vacation,” Hoffman said, pointing out that the financial burden is spread among ordinary folks. The owners are making cost-conscious decisions while aiming to preserve the resort’s character. Their approach is practical: repair what must be fixed, keep what matters, and invest modestly in improvements that protect against future storms.

“Oh my gosh, it is incredibly important, not just for us, but for all the owners [to make the repairs]. As I mentioned before, they’re like family, so they come down here. They have potluck dinners. They all do things together. They are such a tight-knit group,” Wilson said, describing the social fabric that keeps the community motivated. That closeness is driving volunteer labor, shared design choices, and a willingness to stretch budgets to preserve gathering spaces. Neighbors are trading time and skills to help meet contractor schedules and design common areas that will hold up to coastal weather.

Repair crews are currently on-site handling structural work, and owners hope to welcome guests back in a couple of months if timelines hold. While some rooms are being gutted and rebuilt, others are receiving cosmetic touch-ups and flood-mitigation upgrades to reduce future risks. The fundraising campaign and loan application together will decide how quickly the board can finish all phases of the restoration.