If you drove across Treasure Island in the late 1950s, one landmark was hard to miss: the Thunderbird Motel.
Built in 1957 by Tom and Hazel King, the 64-unit motel officially opened in January 1958. The Kings had developed the property for about $750,000, creating a courtyard-style beach motel at 10700 Gulf Boulevard, where Central Avenue meets the Gulf of Mexico.
Its most memorable feature was the towering five-story neon sign. Designed by Roland Jette, the colorful Thunderbird became a beacon for travelers arriving from the St. Petersburg mainland and an instantly recognizable part of Treasure Island’s mid-century beach landscape. The motel was part of the era when family-owned properties and neon signs helped define Florida’s postwar beach tourism.
Over the years, the property expanded to 106 rooms and was renamed the Thunderbird Beach Resort around 2006. After more than six decades of family ownership, the King family sold the resort in 2021 for $25.5 million.
Then came Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. The back-to-back storms damaged more than 80 percent of the property, forcing the resort to close.
The Thunderbird is now slated for redevelopment. Plans call for a new, more storm-resilient resort while retaining the Thunderbird name and its famous neon sign. In November 2025, Treasure Island commissioners rejected a proposal to increase the project’s height from 60 to 80 feet, sending the owners back to the drawing board.
Whatever comes next, the Thunderbird’s sign remains a familiar reminder of Treasure Island’s mid-century tourism history and the golden age of Florida’s roadside beach motels.
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