DAYTONA BEACH — Another big piece is being added to the white hot development puzzle already taking shape just west of Interstate 95.
On Saturday, ICI Homes will hold a grand opening event to celebrate the completion of five model homes at its planned 1,200-home Mosaic "full life" community off LPGA Boulevard, just west of the Florida Tennis Center.
It's the latest in a surge of development projects in the area that includes:
• The planned 6,600-home Latitude Margaritaville 55-ond-older community going up on the north side of LPGA Boulevard, west of the Halifax Humane Society;
• A 2,500-home community ICI plans to build on the south side of State Road 40 on Latitude Margaritaville's northwest border;
• More new homes planned at the LPGA International development, where 400 lots are still available;
• A 200-acre parcel just south of Father Lopez Catholic High School recently put under contract to be sold by Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. to a Florida developer that could include about 250 homes.
Also in the works is a 200,000-square-foot grocery store-anchored shopping center at the entrance to Latitude Margaritaville at LPGA Boulevard and the new partially completed Tymber Creek Road extension. While developer Sutton Properties has yet to name the grocery store operator for its retail complex, The Landing, residents in the area have been buzzing for months that it will be a Publix.
Those new developments are expected to add nearly 11,000 homes in an area that already has 1,200 homes at LPGA International and 338 at the fully built-out Bayberry Lakes community.
"It's going to have a big impact on the area," said Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley. "The rooftops are going to help support more businesses in the area."
A 'social togetherness'
ICI Homes plans to have its first homes at Mosaic ready for occupancy by October.
The 800-acre community will stretch from Tournament Drive on the north, next to Champion Elementary School, south to Father Lopez Catholic High School, on the west side of the existing Bayberry Lakes community.
Like its immediate neighbor to the north, Latitude Margaritaville, Mosaic will offer its residents a wide range of on-site amenities.
But while you have to be 55-or-older to live in the age-restricted Jimmy Buffett community, ICI's Mosaic community will be open to all ages.
"This is multi-generational full life," said Mori Hosseini, ICI's chairman and CEO, in explaining the concept behind his company's new community. "Everybody's part of this great community called Mosaic."
"My total belief since Day 1 has been to create a social togetherness without (divisions because of) ethnicity, religion or economic class," he said.
Amenities at Mosaic will include a residents clubhouse that includes a fitness center and an activity center, community pools, an amphitheater for live music and special events, a tot-friendly kids playground, a community garden patch, a lake where fishing will be allowed, walking/running trails and pocket parks, and WiFi hotspots in gathering areas throughout the community.
Other amenities are conveniently located at LPGA International, which has two golf courses across the street on the east side of LPGA Boulevard, and the Florida Tennis Center, which has multiple tennis courts.
To date, deposits already have been put down on 20 new homes at Mosaic.
'This suits my family'
Gil Matthews, 73, was one of the first to buy a home at Mosaic.
The retired Air Force officer and disabled Vietnam War veteran currently lives next door at Bayberry Lakes, but said he needed a bigger house.
"I wanted to see what Margaritaville would do ... I like his (Buffett's) music, but the HOA (fees of roughly $250 a month) was a little steep," Matthews said, adding that he also is anticipating having a daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter who currently live in Ormond Beach, move in with him. That's something that would not be allowed at an age-restricted active adult community.
At Mosaic, where the monthly homeowner association fees will be $100 and many of the homes will be bigger in size, "there will be space for my other daughter to come down from Virginia for a visit," Matthews added.
"I looked at a lot of homes," said Matthews, whose search for a new place to live included ICI's Chelsea Place community in Ormond Beach. "This suits my family."
Matthews said he is paying "around $400,000 for a customized house that will offer 2,600 square feet of living space and a two-car garage.
Chad Clark, 44, and his wife Jeni, 35, also put down a deposit to buy a home at Mosaic, with plans to relocate from Palm Coast this fall.
Clark said his church, Parkview Baptist in Palm Coast, recently added a Daytona Beach location that he is overseeing as campus pastor. Sunday worship services are held at nearby Champion Elementary School.
"To see the amount of growth coming here, we felt there was a need for another congregation," Clark said, referring to the building boom and population growth in the Daytona Beach area, much if it along the LPGA Boulevard corridor.
"The main reason we came down was Mosaic, Latitude Margaritaville and the other neighborhoods coming in," he said, adding that the new campus' first service on Easter drew 144 people.
Clark said he and his wife, who have four children, chose to buy a home at Mosaic because "we enjoy being part of a community. ... We enjoy getting to know our neighbors."
The couple, which decided to customize their new house by adding a bonus room as well as a bedroom and expanding the lanai, are paying $315,000 for a house with 2,626 square feet of living space and a two-car garage.
"I was really pleased with the prices and what you get for the money and we like the fact that it's a smart house," Clark said, adding that he and his wife will be able to control things such as the lights and air-conditioning and heating via mobile devices.
Prices at Mosaic will range from the $200,000s to more than $500,000.
Hosseini said his goal is to sell and build all 1,200 homes over the next five to six years.
Margaritaville effect
ICI also plans to begin developing a second "full life" community a few miles to the north in 2020. The yet-to-be-named 2,500-home community is along the south side of State Road 40, bordered by Latitude Margaritaville on the east, Hunter's Ridge on the north and Tiger Bay State Forest on the west. Both communities will be in the Daytona Beach city limits.
Hosseini acknowledged that interest in Mosaic has gotten a boost from Latitude Margaritaville, which has gained national exposure because of its connection to Buffett, the famed songwriter whose Margaritaville Holdings is a partner with developer Minto Communities.
"It's great that Margaritaville is here, but that's age-restricted," Hosseini said. "They'll have people who have kids and grandkids who want to live nearby. We'll be here for them."
An invitation-only VIP preview event for Mosaic was held Wednesday evening that drew 250 area Realtors, business people and elected officials.
"This is cool. It's well laid out," said Ormond Beach developer Ronnie Bledsoe while checking out one of the model homes at Mosaic.
Saturday's public grand opening event for Mosaic will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will include an opportunity to tour the model homes, as well as enjoy food, musical entertainment, a "Treasure Hunt" for a chance to win four 2018 unlimited passes to Sea World, and kids activities including a bounce house, balloon animals, face painting and yard games.
More roads needed
While happy to see growth coming to the area, it is also creating challenges, Kelley acknowledged.
The explosion in new residents is going to greatly increase the need for infrastructure improvements, including the widening of both LPGA Boulevard, which remains a two-lane road west of I-95, as well as Williamson Boulevard east of I-95.
In addition, "We need another east-west arterial," Kelley said, noting that Granada Boulevard in Ormond Beach where he and his wife live is already chronically congested with traffic. "Hand Avenue needs to be extended over I-95 to Tymber Creek Road."