Commercial Project One in TH Brown’s In Residence series
From property play to passion project
Some projects begin with vision.
Others begin with logic, then slowly ask for something more.
That is how The Shores, Miami came to be.
Chris Strode did not buy the motel because he was setting out to become a hotel developer. He bought it initially as a land-banking investment, a practical property play with long-term potential. At first, the plan could easily have remained a modest one: tidy it up, do the minimum, and hold the site. But somewhere along the way, that stopped feeling like enough. What had started as a straightforward investment became something much more personal, and much more ambitious.
That pivot is what makes Chris’s story interesting.
Because The Shores does not feel like a motel that was simply renovated.
It feels like a place someone decided to truly make.
Before hospitality, Chris was best known in tech, and that background still seems to shape the way he thinks. There is a commercial clarity to his approach, but also a strong interest in how people move through an experience, where friction sits, and how to remove it. At The Shores, that meant creating a motel with retro charm and nostalgia, but one that still felt seamless for the modern guest. He wanted people to be able to use their phones for access and feel they were stepping back in time without the experience becoming clunky.
That says a great deal about what he was really building.
Not a museum piece.
Not a novelty.
A place with mood, but also ease.
Once Chris decided not to settle for a minimal refurbishment, the whole nature of the project changed. He brought in Jason Grant to shape the design direction and worked closely with his brother, Greg Strode, whose building company delivered the transformation. What followed was the familiar push and pull of any strong commercial project: creative ambition on one side, cost, operations and practicality on the other. Chris described the group as a kind of “dysfunctional dream team”. The vision was bold, but it still had to be buildable, workable and commercially sound.
That balance is part of why The Shores feels the way it does now.
It has personality, but it still works.
It has style, but it still functions.
It feels distinctive, but it never feels careless.
Chris trusted Jason’s vision, particularly his colour confidence and his ability to see the whole scheme before everyone else could. Some of the bolder choices did not make immediate sense on site. The green tiles. The Catherine Martin wallpaper on the verandah ceilings. The layered palette. These were not the safest choices, and there were moments where builders or trades needed to trust what they could not yet fully see. But that is often the nature of strong design. Not every decision explains itself halfway through. Then the final coat goes on, the last pieces come together, and suddenly the whole thing lands.
That trust seems to be one of the real stories here.
Chris did not simply commission a safe result.
He backed an idea until it became real.
What he appears to love most about The Shores now is not only that it looks good, but that it became exactly the kind of place it needed to be. Chris has been clear that he wanted it to appeal to people with taste, not only people with money. The Shores was never meant to feel exclusive in a cold or obvious way. It was meant to feel special, but still open. Guests across demographics have responded to that.
That principle also creates a natural connection back to TH Brown.
The Trend Lounge by the pool is not there simply because it suits the palette, though it does. It belongs because it shares the same values as the wider project: nostalgia without awkwardness, character without fuss, and design that is there to be used. Like The Shores itself, it has a clear point of view, but it still knows how to perform in real life. It helps make the pool area feel inviting, memorable and easy to inhabit.
Chris has said that one of his key measures of success is the quality of the customer reviews. That feels revealing. It suggests he is less interested in whether the concept sounds good on paper than in whether the motel is actually landing with the people who stay there. Reviews, for him, are not just praise. They are feedback. They tell him whether the place is doing what it promised to do.
Perhaps that is the human truth at the centre of his story.
The Shores may have started as a property investment.
But it became something else the moment Chris decided not to stop at what was commercially acceptable, and instead keep pushing until it felt right.
That is what gives the project its energy now.
A practical investment became a deeply considered place.
A retro idea became a seamless guest experience.
And a motel became a project that feels not simply developed, but made.
Explore more from our In Residence series.
Check out The Shores for yourself
Photographer - Louise Rocher - The Design Villa
