Ormond Crossings sells for big bucks. Here's how it compares to other recent deals.
December's $62 million sale of the nearly 3,000-acre Ormond Crossings development site in Ormond Beach wound up being the biggest real estate deal in Volusia County in 2023.
The sale closed Dec. 5, according to a list of the county's top real estate sales of the year compiled by the Volusia County Property Appraiser's Office on Dec. 28 per a request from The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The blockbuster sale comes amid continued growth fueled by the steady influx of newcomers from other parts of the country.
Here's what we know about the purchase of Ormond Crossings:
It topped the year's previous biggest deal
Coral Gables-based Crasqui Investments paid $53 million on Nov. 7 to acquire the 1988-built 296-unit Ocean Oaks Apartments at 1645 Dunlawton Ave. in Port Orange.
That transaction was eclipsed by the Ormond Crossings deal, but remained the second-highest amount paid for real estate in Volusia County in 2023.
No. 3 was the $27.4 million sale of the 1981-built, 224-unit Encore At Capri Apartments at 129 E. Villa Capri Circle in DeLand on March 16.
No. 4 was the $26.5 million sale of the 493-acre Shell Pointe Colony development site at 1190 Pioneer Trail in New Smyrna Beach on Aug. 4. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taylor Morrison (the nation's seventh largest home builder) has already begun clearing the former sod farm property to make way for 319 new homes. The community will be located directly east of the already established Venetian Bay community.
No. 5 was the $23.6 million sale of the 1986-built 208-unit Lakeside Gardens Apartments (formerly known as The Park at Via Teano) at 1400 Hancock Blvd. in Daytona Beach on Aug. 31.
What holds the record?
The biggest real estate sale to date in Volusia County remains the $123 million paid for The Falls, a 141-acre, 599-home 55-and-older manufactured home community at 1 Falls Way Drive (off Clyde Morris Boulevard) in Ormond Beach in December 2020. That sale came just five months after the $96 million sale of the Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, less than a mile down the street. The Aberdeen is also a 55-and-older manufactured home community that covers 300 acres and has 533 home sites.
The new owner lives in South Florida
The new owner of the mostly undeveloped Ormond Crossings property is Bradford Kline, a real estate developer from Maryland who now lives in Highland Beach in Florida's Palm Beach County. Kline made his purchase under the name "Ormond Crossing West LLC."
State incorporation records only list Kline as Ormond Crossing West's registered officer and authorized member.
The News-Journal was unable to reach Kline for comment.
The sellers were the Ford family of DeLand whose Ford Properties paid $21 million in 2016 to acquire Ormond Crossings.
What is Ormond Crossings?
Ormond Crossings is a mostly unbuilt mixed-use development that's been in the works since 2002 when the land was owned by a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Railroad.
The property is south of U.S. Highway 1, on both sides of Interstate 95. It is just south of I-95 Exit 273 where Destination Daytona is located.
Ormond Crossings has approvals from the City for nearly 3,000 homes and almost 3 million square feet of commercial space (roughly the equivalent of three Volusia Malls).
The new owner has already met with city officials
Kline has already met with Ormond Beach officials to discuss his preliminary plans for Ormond Crossings. They include having Scottsdale, Arizona-based Meritage Homes, the nation's fifth-largest home builder, develop the residential portion of the project along the west side of I-95.
The west side would also include a town center where restaurants, retail shops and neighborhood service businesses could be located.
Kline would oversee development of a business park called Ormond Crossings Commerce Park on the east side of I-95.
Kline's purchase did not include the 48 acres where Security First Insurance has its four-story headquarters building. The Ormond Beach-based insurer bought the land for its corporate campus in 2017 for $2.25 million. It remains the only portion developed so far at Ormond Crossings.
Why hasn't it already been developed?
The big challenge that would-be developers of Ormond Crossings have faced is the location of the Florida East Coast Railroad line, which runs parallel to U.S. 1, north of the vast majority of the property's buildable land. The FEC still owns the strip of land where its railroad tracks are located and requires any new vehicle crossing over those tracks to be what is referred to as a "fly-over" or overpass, as opposed to an at-grade crossing, according to Brian Rademacher, Ormond Beach's director of economic development.
Security First has an at-grade crossing for its headquarters campus, but only because it was an existing crossing.
The cost to build new vehicle overpasses is extremely expensive. Plans for Ormond Crossings that the City approved in 2010 call for whoever develops it to build new overpasses both west and east of I-95 as well as one over the interstate to connect the residential and commercial portions of the project.
The good news, however, according to Rademacher, is that Kline finally decided to buy the Ormond Crossings property after doing extensive due diligence, which means he is well aware of its challenges including the requirements to build noverpasses.
What others are saying
Carl Lentz, managing partner of SVN Alliance Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Ormond Beach, said he was not surprised by the high price Ormond Crossings fetched.
"It is the most significant piece of developable property remaining (in Ormond Beach)," said Lentz, who was not involved in the Ormond Crossings deal. "The developer will have numerous options and it will likely benefit all of Ormond Beach and Volusia County.
"They have a lot of infrastructure work to take care of. That has been a challenge over the years, but it does indicate that (Kline and his partners if he has any) have put the necessary time and effort into determining what it will take to make it happen."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ormond Crossings sells for big bucks. Here's how much it fetched.
