Daytona Beach hopes buying $2 million of mostly blighted land will help start a renaissance

DAYTONA BEACH — For decades, local residents have watched blight and decay metastasize around Daytona's beachside and mainland urban core.

Many thousands of dollars and hours have been spent on masterplans and redevelopment plans, and only the downtown riverfront is finally seeing a real renaissance.

Within the course of four hours Wednesday night, city commissioners took a series of votes that maybe someday will be remembered as the spark that ignited the redevelopment desperately needed east of Clyde Morris Boulevard.

Commissioners agreed to spend nearly $2 million buying privately owned property in Midtown and on the beachside that's hoped to become the site of a new hotel, restaurant, shops, a movie theater, office space, multi-family housing, and an African-American museum.

Commissioners also voted to donate 10 city-owned lots, some of which are in the impoverished Midtown neighborhood, to two agencies that will use the land to build affordable housing.

"We're asking you to help us change the way we look," Daytona Beach Redevelopment Director Ken Thomas told commissioners before they voted.

Strategic land buys

Thomas told commissioners that change and improvements won't be immediate, but they can happen.

"Developers are afraid to make an investment," Thomas said at Wednesday's City Hall meeting.

The city is opening its wallet first to communicate that it believes the areas chosen for redevelopment can turn around.

"We want to make it known you can invest your money and you won't lose your money," Thomas said.

Other Florida cities have managed to attract new hotel construction to their struggling areas. Thomas highlighted the Luminary Hotel built in the Fort Myers community redevelopment area and the Hotel Melby built in Melbourne's downtown community redevelopment area that has a rooftop bar, restaurant, and parking garage.

Daytona Beach commissioners agreed to buy a 1-acre property at 210 N. Peninsula Drive in the Main Street Redevelopment Area with the goal of finding a developer who'll build multi-family housing there. Once closing costs and broker fees are added in, the total bill will be about $860,000.

A church and another building that once stood on the site at the corner of Earl Street have been demolished.

Commissioners also voted to buy two properties in the 500 block of West International Speedway Boulevard at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. With brokers' fees and closing costs included, the total cost will be about $1 million.

"The property located at 562 and 558 W. ISB were appraised at $430,000 and $207,000 respectively," Thomas wrote in a meeting agenda item summary. "Although the appraised values are lower than the asking price, the purchase and removal of slum and blighted conditions along our major corridors is consistent with our Midtown Master Plan intent."

'We're starting the renaissance'

City officials have big hopes for the two ISB properties in Midtown, which are currently home to aging buildings that don't appear to have had much investment or beautification for years.

"That's one of the major intersections in the city," Thomas said. "By acquiring it we have the ability to change the way we look."

Conceptual renderings shown to commissioners depict a new plaza, an outdoor cafe, new landscaping, a large multi-story hotel, and mixed-use development that could include both new housing and offices. There is also mention of melding new development with the Bethune-Cookman University campus that has property fronting ISB.

Another color rendering shows a large town square complete with an amphitheater and public art where festivals and community events could be held.

The city hopes to make back some of its money by possibly selling the properties, and with the increased property taxes the sites would generate with new development. If more new development is attracted nearby, that will also provide more property tax revenue.

It's too early to determine if the city would donate any of the land or provide incentives to clinch deals with developers, Thomas said.

While the mayor and at least a few commissioners are excited about what could happen on the newly acquired property, City Commissioner Monica Paris is skeptical. She cast the lone no vote on the purchases.

"Why do you think private developers have not already acquired the property?" Paris asked Thomas.

She said she doesn't believe it's "the business of the city to be in real estate." She also queried "what would be different" once the city owned the land?"

"We're starting the renaissance," Thomas said. "The private sector is waiting for us to start. In a few years after we clean it up, our phone will be ringing off the hook."

If the city had waited to buy the property, the price just would have risen, he said.

'We can't just sit here wishing'

Mayor Derrick Henry said he expects the city will have to offer some enticements to investors to get top-notch development.

"It's not going to be easy," Henry said.

Now that the city owns the land, change can begin, said City Manager Deric Feacher.

"The biggest thing is being able to control what goes there," Feacher said.

The city can clean up the properties and maybe create some green space and allow food trucks there until new development comes along.

"No one will invest in it looking the way it does now," Henry said. "We're investing because we want the community to be better."

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The change could be dramatic. Over the past 20 years, a section of Winter Haven has gone from having just one restaurant to more than 30 now, Feacher said.

It all started with Winter Haven's community redevelopment area purchasing one property, he said.

"We've been waiting for something to happen on ISB for a long time," said City Commissioner Paula Reed, whose zone includes Midtown. "We can't just sit here wishing. I'm definitely in favor of this."

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

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona buying beachside and urban core properties to redevelop land