'Property in limbo': What will developers do to original Daytona Hard Rock site?

Clayton Park, Daytona Beach News-Journal
·4 min read

DAYTONA BEACH ― Seven-and-a-half years after scrapping plans to build a twin 20-story Hard Rock Hotel/luxury condo project here, Bayshore Capital is finally looking to do something with its vacant oceanfront property.

But in order to do anything with it, the Canadian developers must first get the city to approve new zoning for the 10.2-acre property at 801-905 S. Atlantic Ave.

Bayshore's previous zoning district for the site expired several years ago.

On Monday at 6 p.m., Bayshore will hold a developer-initiated neighborhood meeting at the Daytona Grande Oceanfront Resort at 422 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach, to discuss its rezone application. The developer is seeking to restore the property's original designation of "tourist accommodation," or T-1.

Why can't the original Hard Rock zoning be reinstated?

Glenn Storch, a land-use attorney with Storch Law Firm in Daytona Beach, represents Toronto-based Bayshore. The expired zoning agreement was specific to the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe and Residences at the Hard Rock condos that never got built, he said.

Reinstating that zoning would be pointless since another developer wound up building the seven-story Hard Rock Daytona Beach Hotel two miles up the street that opened in 2018, Storch noted.

"The only thing we can do is to go back to the property's original T-1 zoning," he said. "If you're going to build something, it needs to be consistent with the rest of the area, which is T-1.

"Right now, the property is in limbo."

This image from the City of Daytona Beach's website shows outlined in yellow the 10.2-acre vacant oceanfront lot at 800-900 S. Atlantic Ave. plus some smaller lots across the street owned by Toronto, Canada-based Bayshore Capital. A developer-initiated neighborhood meeting will be held 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, at the Daytona Grande Oceanfront Hotel at 422 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach, to discuss Bayshore's application to rezone the vacant lot as "Tourist Accommodations" (T-1). The developer has not yet announced what it may be seeking to build.

Why didn't Bayshore develop the Hard Rock?

Bayshore shelved its original plans for the property after running into fierce opposition from pro-beach driving advocates who balked at the developers' proposal to designate the section of beach behind the proposed hotel/condo towers as a no-drive zone.

A citizens group called Sons of the Beach sued Volusia County in an effort to block them from taking cars off the beach, recalled beachside resident Paul Zimmerman, who serves as the group's first vice president.

Judge Sandra Upchurch of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, eventually ruled against Sons of the Beach because "she said we did not have standing," recalled Zimmerman.

Bayshore, nevertheless, abandoned its project.

The Hard Rock Hotel that Summit Hospitality Management wound up developing at 918 N. Atlantic Ave. has a no-drive zone on its section of the beach.

This is a sign that stood on the vacant oceanfront property at 800 S. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach 10 years ago when Toronto, Canada-based Bayshore Capital was seeking to develop a 20-story Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe and an adjoining 20-story Residences at the Hard Rock condominium complex. The project was never built and was scrapped in 2016. Another developer wound up building a seven-story Hard Rock Hotel a couple miles to the north that opened in 2018 at 918 N. Atlantic Ave.

Why did Bayshore let its property sit so long?

When the decision was made to pull the plug on its Hard Rock project, Bayshore turned its attention locally to developing the Max Beach Resort one mile to the south in Daytona Beach Shores. The 12-story, 72-room oceanfront luxury hotel at 1901 S. Atlantic Ave. opened in 2022.

"They had other projects (outside of the Volusia-Flagler area) as well," said Storch.

"Now they're look at either developing the (former Hard Rock site) property or selling it, but you can't do either without any entitlements," he said.

Henry Wolfond, chairman and CEO of Toronto, Canada-based Bayshore Capital, stands next to a scale model of his company's then-planned Max Daytona luxury condominium project in May 15, 2018. The 12-story project was later changed to become a 72-room luxury hotel, which opened in June 2022 as the Max Beach Resort. It is located at 1901 S. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach Shores.

The developers have owned the land since 2011

Bayshore paid $6 million to acquire the property at 801-905 S. Atlantic Ave. in 2011, according to Volusia County property records. The company also owns several small land parcels across the street.

The developer is seeking to get the properties it owns on the west side of A1A zoned "T-4" which would allow tourism, office and retail uses.

Some want the oceanfront lot left vacant

Zimmerman is one of a number of beachside residents who would prefer no development whatsoever on oceanfront properties in Volusia County in light of the massive beach erosion caused by last year's back-to-back hurricanes.

"The erosion problem is not going away," said Zimmerman. He has also been an outspoken critic of the project by developers from South Florida to develop a 25-story condo-hotel at the east end of Silver Beach Avenue as well as other oceanfront projects.

"I don't think we should be building anything on the east side of A1A," he said. Ideally, he said, Bayshore's former Hard Rock development site would become a park.

Acquiring the land to turn it into a park or permanent open space wouldn't come cheap for Daytona Beach.

When Bayshore pulled the plug on its Hard Rock project in 2016, the developer had already sunk $13 million into it, including the cost of coming up with architectural and engineering designs as well as legal fees.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Canadian developers seek rezone for original Daytona Hard Rock site