At their meeting Wednesday night, city commissioners unanimously OK'd a measure that will help create a new cluster of retail and restaurants on the Volusia Mall land currently used for the Sears Automotive Center.
DAYTONA BEACH — The owners of Volusia Mall have secured a key approval needed to keep lengthening the row of new restaurants fronting the shopping center near Daytona Beach International Airport.
At their meeting Wednesday night, city commissioners unanimously OK'd a measure that will help create a new cluster of retail and restaurants on the mall land currently used for the Sears Automotive Center.
Bonefish Grill and Metro Diner are two of the tenants expected to open on the property facing International Speedway Boulevard and two other restaurants across the street.
"I think we're all just excited about the project and the continued evolution of our mall," said Mayor Derrick Henry. "To see it continue to thrive and grow is a thing of beauty."
The vote allowed the 3.7-acre site to be rezoned from business retail to a general planned development that will provide more flexibility with the design of the complex. A limited liability corporation set up by the mall's owner, Tennessee-based CBL & Associates Properties, already purchased the auto center and will tear it down to make way for the new businesses. There are not plans to tear down the nearby Sears department store at Volusia Mall.
Daytona Beach attorney Rob Merrell, who's guiding the project through the government approval process for CBL, said it was another example of re-purposing land in Daytona Beach, like the Brown & Brown office building planned for a Beach Street site occupied by car dealerships for decades and the new One Daytona retail and entertainment development across from Daytona International Speedway that was once home to General Electric.
CBL also owns The Pavilion in Port Orange that includes dozens of shops, restaurants and a movie theater in a modern outdoor access design. Merrell said Volusia Mall property will be "morphing into" something more like The Pavilion "as we develop the re-purposed frontage which is over-parked and has some things that have grown tired over the years."
Earlier this month Merrell said "the leases with Bonefish and Metro Diner are solid."
"We do have leases for two new restaurants," confirmed Volusia Mall spokeswoman Stacey Keating, who's based in Tennessee. "We would aim to start construction at the end of the first quarter this year. We'd complete our work by fall of this year and turn over the spaces to tenants after that."
The plan, according to city documents, is to tear down the auto center located near the mall food court and replace it with three new buildings with space for six tenants. The renderings show a 23,700-square-foot development with six new storefronts, five of which would be occupied by restaurants and one by retail.
Merrell said the project could be flexible with the number of buildings, how the structures would be arranged and the number of spaces that go to restaurant or retail uses.
Plans also show 263 parking spaces and new landscaping around the new one-story structures as well as slightly altered traffic flow on the mall's south side.
With the rezoning hurdle cleared now, the project will go to the Planning Board next week for a vote on the site plan.
In the past couple of years, CBL has welcomed four new restaurants to the southern rim of its property facing International Speedway Boulevard: Bahama Breeze Island Grille, Olive Garden, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen and Applebee's Grill and Bar.
Directly across the street on the other side of International Speedway Boulevard are a Houligan's restaurant and Outback Steakhouse that have also opened in the past few years. Tampa-based Bloomin' Brands is the parent company of Outback Steakhouses, Bone Fish Grills and Carrabba's Italian Grills.
Bloomin' Brands has close to 1,500 restaurants in 48 states and 19 countries. A Carrabba's has been located on International Speedway Boulevard for more than 15 years and a Bonefish Grill has been located on Atlantic Avenue in Ormond Beach for more than a decade. It's not clear if the Ormond Beach Bonefish would close if a new one opens in Daytona Beach.
Metro Diner has restaurants in 10 states, including 19 in Florida with one location in Palm Coast. Metro Diner's website says its "portions are big" and patrons can "come as you are" to feast on "comfort food with flair."
Mission BBQ, a 7-year-old company which currently has nine of its restaurants in Florida, considered the mall site but decided against locating there.
Regardless of which restaurants wind up in the new space, it will further strengthen International Speedway Boulevard as a draw for many of the 10 million-plus visitors expected in the city this year, City Commissioner Rob Gilliland said recently.
"You're seeing International Speedway Boulevard develop as not just a retail but a dining corridor," said Gilliland, whose zone includes the rapidly developing area. "We've seen CBL eager to get into that with Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze. It complements what's already there."