New industrial park in Daytona Beach to provide badly needed, move-in ready space

DAYTONA BEACH − Developers recently broke ground across the street from the Amazon last-mile delivery station here to provide Volusia County with one of its scarcest commodities: move-in ready industrial space.

The yet-to-be-named industrial park is on the Mason Avenue Extension, a quarter-mile north of Dunn Avenue. It offers easy access to Interstate 95, located just to the west.

It's part of a growing commercial corridor that already includes Amazon, the new headquarters for Florida Health Care Plans down the street, and Center Point Business Park and the headquarters/distribution center for Daytona Beverages to the north.

"We're carrying on the legacy of our (late) father, Joseph V. Fisher, who was a developer in the area," said Renee Versaw.

Versaw and her sister Tracy Nypaver are the industrial park's developers.

Who are the developers?

The sisters are doing business in developing the project under the name "Fisher Entities." The project went through the city's approval process under the working title "Tiki Supreme Inc."

Their father, who died in 2011, was a prominent real estate developer in Daytona Beach. Projects he developed locally included the Speedway Business Center behind Volusia Mall and the headquarters for Teledyne Marine on Williamson Boulevard.

Versaw and Nypaver carried on their father's legacy by developing the $10 million headquarters campus for TopBuild Corp., which opened in 2018 at 475 N. Williamson Blvd., just south of Dunn Avenue. TopBuild is one of the country's largest distributors and installers of insulation and other building materials.

The industrial park Versaw and Nypaver are now developing is on a 12-acre property their father purchased in 2006 as future expansion space for Teledyne Marine, whose corporate campus is located immediately to the east.

Why develop an industrial park?

The sisters began marketing the property as available industrial space in 2019 after it became clear that Teledyne Marine would not be expanding its campus, said their commercial Realtor, Dick McNerney of Adams, Cameron & Co. Realtors.

Versaw and Nypaver eventually decided to develop the industrial park as a "spec" (short for speculative) project without lease commitments from future tenants.

"This is the first project we'll be doing without a tenant in hand," said Nypaver. "I'm quite confident that we'll lease it up."

The industrial park has already generated interest from several potential tenants, said McNerney.

Exactly what's being built?

The three-building industrial park will offer a combined total of nearly 86,000 square feet of "flex" commercial space with move-in ready units available as small as 5,000 square feet.

Tenants will be able to customize their spaces within the buildings to suit their specific needs, which could include warehouse/distribution, light manufacturing and offices.

The first building on the project's south side will offer 18,500 square feet of space and is expected to be ready for occupancy by September, said Gary Roberts of Commercial Construction Inc., the project's general contractor.

The other two buildings, both 33,500 square feet in size, should be completed in the second and third quarters, respectively, of 2025, he added.

The industrial park will also offer a roughly 30,000-square-foot secured outdoor storage area behind the southern-most building.

The total estimated cost to build the industrial park is $12 million, said Versaw and Nypaver.

What makes this project significant?

Volusia County has a scarcity of move-in-ready industrial space, said Kent Sharples, president of the CEO Business Alliance.

The alliance is a group of private business leaders working to recruit companies to move or expand to Volusia County, with an emphasis on those that can create high-paying jobs.

"We've got six to eight prospects right now, but our biggest handicap is a lack of available inventory − commercial buildings suitable for industrial that can either be leased or purchased. There's nothing out there," said Sharples.

The alliance has one prospect in particular, a company currently based in New York State, that has already come down to visit Volusia County to scout out potential sites, said Sharples. "The building that Dick McNerney and the Fisher women are building is a reason to bring him (the prospect) back."

Keith Norden is the CEO of Team Volusia Economic Development Corp., a public/private partnership also involved in efforts to recruit businesses to Volusia County. He said the new industrial park gives his group another facility to tout when speaking to companies interested in moving or expanding here.

"Available buildings and move-in ready space are essential to our business recruitment efforts," he said. "We have a shortage of available product, so the spec/flex space is a welcome addition."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daughters of late developer plan new industrial park in Daytona Beach