Longtime hotelier and real estate investor George Anderson has died

DAYTONA BEACH — Longtime local hotelier, condo developer and prolific real estate investor George Anderson – who one friend called "a real estate guru" – has died at the age of 83.

Anderson, who was heavily invested in beachside properties throughout Daytona Beach and Daytona Beach Shores since the early 1970s, died before dawn Thursday morning. Friends say he had been very ill with multiple health problems for about six months.

"He was a mentor to many people," said Eddie Hennessy, who bought and overhauled the historic Streamline Hotel on Daytona's beachside several years ago. "When I was renovating the Streamline I had several meetings with him. He was a great businessman. I looked up to him as a mentor. He was a real estate guru."

Hennessy said Anderson heard in 2015 that he was overhauling the Streamline, where NASCAR was born. The Streamline's rooftop bar overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Halifax River was the site of several meetings in 1947 that resulted in the formation of NASCAR, the national stock car racing-sanctioning body.

"He knew I was developing in the area and he wanted to meet me," Hennessy said. "I have nothing but good things to say about him. He was a go-to guy. He owned a lot of real estate."

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Anderson grew up in Kentucky, and he was a big fan of the University of Kentucky and its basketball program. His family owned a feed and seed business, but Anderson ventured out on his own.

His first job was with an investment company, and when he did well there, he was given a free trip to Daytona Beach as a bonus. He fell in love with the area and made it his home.

Anderson and his wife, Gretchen, have lived in Daytona Beach Shores in recent years.

Anderson's funeral service is planned for 1 p.m. Wednesday at Westminster By The Sea Presbyterian Church, located at 3221 S. Peninsula Drive in Daytona Beach Shores. The public is welcome to attend.

Anderson remembered as 'a really generous and noble man'

Gary Brown, the longtime owner of the Sun Viking Lodge who recently sold the Daytona Beach Shores property, knew Anderson since he first came to town in 1972.

"We were very active together in the hotel association and Convention & Visitors Bureau for a long time," said Brown, who considered Anderson a friend as well as a business associate. "He and I, and others, used to walk the beach together every morning for three miles. We did that for years."

Brown said Anderson was "a really generous and noble man" who was very active in the community.

"He will certainly be missed," Brown said.

He said Anderson juggled a variety of investments in hotels and real estate, and he was a condominium developer. He bought and sold many properties and he had "a multitude of other business interests," Brown said.

"He was a wheeler dealer," Brown said.

'George Anderson was a visionary'

Among Anderson's many investments were Main Street and Boardwalk properties that he co-owned with Theresa Doan and other local investors. For decades Anderson, Doan and other partners have owned a Daytona Boardwalk property that they had hoped to one day use for a new hotel development.

The Boardwalk property has been tangled in lawsuits for several years, and earlier this month a judge ordered tenants in one of the investment group's Boardwalk buildings to clear out by the middle of next month. That could make it easier now to pursue the hotel idea.

Manoj Bhoola, president and CEO of Ormond Beach-based Elite Hospitality Inc., said Anderson "will be missed by all."

"Along with (the late hotelier) Tom Staed, George Anderson was a visionary and saw great potential in Daytona Beach," said Bhoola, whose company’s roster of area hotels has included the Best Western Castillo Del Sol in Ormond Beach, Best Western Plus International Speedway, Hampton Inn by Hilton Daytona Speedway Airport and the Hilton Garden Inn at Daytona Beach International Airport.

"I had the pleasure of knowing the two of them for years, and they have inspired our family to better our community as they have done for decades," Bhoola said.

At one time Anderson was the chairman of the Halifax Area Advertising Authority Board, an 11-member group that oversees the spending of bed tax funds to market the Volusia County area to leisure and business travelers.

The HAAA Board was just one of many organizations Anderson was involved with, and he amassed a large number of friends and business associates in his 50 years in the Daytona Beach area.

"I've known George for many, many years as a hotelier and a developer," said Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Volusia County Lodging and Hospitality Association. "He contributed to many elections and charities. He was a straightforward guy and a gentleman."

Davis said Anderson was a partner in several different hotel ventures over the years, and "he blossomed in Daytona Beach."

Davis said Anderson had just sold the El Caribe hotel on Daytona Beach's oceanfront, but he was still involved with the Bahama House, another State Road A1A hotel in Daytona Beach.

Over the years, Anderson was also invested in a local Sheraton Hotel and the Mayan Inn, Davis said.

You can reach Eileen at Eileen.Zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: George Anderson, Daytona Beach hotelier and condo developer, has died