Big plans for ISB? Why Rooms To Go wants to tear down its old store near Daytona Speedway

Clayton Park, Daytona Beach News-Journal
Updated ·3 min read
Rooms To Go vacated its old store, pictured on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at 2375 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach last year to move to a bigger new store three miles north at Tomoka Town Center. Lois Realty Corp., real estate arm for Rooms To Go, is temporarily leasing its old ISB property to operators of a seasonal Spirit Halloween store. Lois Realty is considering replacing the building with a bigger one to make it easier to lease or sell to a permanent new user.

DAYTONA BEACH ― The old Rooms To Go store on the corner of West International Speedway and Williamson boulevards is temporarily home to a seasonal Spirit Halloween costume shop.

For the most of this past year, the aging building has been a ghostly presence sitting empty on one of Volusia County's busiest roads.

Property owner Lois Realty Corp., real estate arm for the Seffner, Florida-based Rooms To Go chain, believes it has figured out how to breathe new life into the site.

Here's what we know about the company's proposal:

The old building was vacated last year

Rooms To Go vacated its longtime location at 2375 W. International Speedway Blvd. in June 2022 when it opened its 55,400-square-foot superstore three miles to the north at Tomoka Town Center next to the Interstate 95/LPGA Boulevard interchange.

The old standalone ISB store, which opened in 1993, was one of the retail furniture chain's oldest and smallest at only 16,880 square feet.

Rooms To Go vacated its old store at 2375 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach last year to move to a bigger new store three miles north at Tomoka Town Center, seen here on Aug. 2, 2023. Lois Realty Corp., real estate arm for Rooms To Go, is considering replacing its old building on ISB with a bigger one to make it easier to lease or sell.

It occupies a prime location

The 1.43-acre property is on the southeast corner of one of the county's most heavily-traveled intersections, just a couple doors west of Daytona International Speedway.

According to a marketing brochure for the separately owned Volusia Square shopping center across the street, the intersection sees an average of 47,500 vehicles pass by daily on ISB, the main thoroughfare between I-95 and the "World's Most Famous Beach."

The intersection also sees an average of 22,500 vehicles a day on Williamson Boulevard, a north-south road that runs from Pioneer Trail in New Smyrna Beach to West Granada Boulevard/State Road 40 in Ormond Beach.

This is a preliminary site map for a proposed new 41,962-square-foot commercial building that Lois Realty Corp., the real estate arm for the Seffner, Florida-based Rooms To Go home furnishings chain, is considering building on the site of its old 16,880-square-foot store at 2375 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach. The 1.43-acre property is on the southeast corner of ISB and Williamson Boulevard.

So why tear down the old store?

Jessica Gow of Cobb Cole Law Firm in Daytona Beach is one of the land-use attorneys representing Lois Realty Corp.

Gow said her client wants to replace the former Rooms To Go building on ISB with a bigger one because "the original development agreement for the site was pretty limited on what could be placed on the property."

The property is governed by a Planned District Agreement that only permits the site to be developed as its current retail footprint, according to Gow. "With the furniture store relocating to Tomoka Town Center, I think they are just looking to provide flexibility for future redevelopment of the site," she added.

To construct a bigger commercial building on the property, Gow said her client intends to ask the City for a rezone to allow it to be redeveloped to accommodate uses similar to nearby properties.

The property is under contract to be sold

Peter Weitzman, a vice president at Lois Realty Corp./Rooms To Go, confirmed his company has a potential buyer for its old ISB property.

"Someone's going to redevelop it," he said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. He expects the sale to close in the next few months.

Weitzman was not at liberty to identify who the property is under contract to, but said, "It'll be retail I believe, but I'm not sure."

DOWNSIDE OR OPPORTUNITY?: Empty boxes left behind

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Why Rooms To Go wants to demolish its old store near Daytona Speedway