What was once a nice house at 404 Revilo rots.
The rotting gray house at 404 Revilo Blvd. — located a short walk from The World's Most Famous Beach — should be demolished.
But it stands, an ugly monument to the frustrations of everyone who would like to see Daytona Beach's core beachside area improve.
Patricia Houser lived in a tidy home decorated with flowers next door to the west of 404 Revilo, which stood vacant for years. Then, sometime around early 2016, squatters moved in. In an email last week, Houser recounted how she spent months trying to get the city to do something about the squatters.
"I estimate I called the police 30 times and the code department 15 times," she wrote. Time passed, nothing changed. In February 2017, Houser's daughter and grandchild moved out of an apartment attached to the back of her home due to odors from 404 Revilo.
"Her asthma was being exacerbated by the burning garbage, or meth cooking, or whatever was the source of fumes from 404 Revilo," Houser wrote.
One Saturday in early May 2017, Houser and some friends stood on nearby State Road A1A with signs telling passersby about 404 Revilo. The News-Journal wrote a short story about the protest.
A few days later, police ordered the squatters to vacate 404 Revilo. "The structure is dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, unsanitary and utterly fails to provide the amenities essential to decent living," Michael Garrett, the city's chief building official, wrote in a letter posted on 404 Revilo.
The property is owned by Libby Investment Group LLC, a company that became inactive in 2010 according to Florida Secretary of State records. Last week, I called Oren Saar, one of two listed owners of Libby Investment Group, and asked him about 404 Revilo.
"It was demolished," he told me.
I told him that I'd just driven by the decaying property and it's still standing.
"It's not demolished?" he said. He politely explained that he was watching some children and hung up.
John Hohl lives in a nicely kept home to the immediate east of 404 Revilo. Like Houser, he recounted how the home was vacant for years, and then squatters moved in. "It took us a year to get 'em out," he said.
Hohl didn't think anyone had been back in the house. But the back door was open, and piles of clothes were on the floor when I looked inside. Some clothes in the back of the house were hanging in a closet.
Hohl said the city had posted condemnation orders on the house. "The wind blew 'em away," he said. He said 404 Revilo needs to be demolished. "Get it down. Get it out." In the meantime, he tries not to dwell on its condition. "I have all my shades shut on that side, so I don't see it much."
Houser made a different choice. She moved.
In her email, Houser wrote that she couldn't find anyone reputable who was willing to rent her apartment for the long term because of 404 Revilo. So she began to rent the apartment in the back of her home via Airbnb to short-term visitors with pets. But in a recent "crackdown," she wrote that the city cited her for violating the short-term rental ordinance.
"I took the only prudent and rational action," she wrote. "I sold my property as of 4/10/2018 and have left Daytona Beach." She now lives in West Volusia County.
Court records show 404 Revilo also has been tied up in a foreclosure proceeding that began in 2014. Depositions related to the foreclosure are supposed to occur by June 14. The city is waiting for the foreclosure proceeding to end so there's a clear owner, which would make it easier to demolish the dump. (But) "it seems clear now that there will be no resolution of this matter in the immediate future," Deputy City Manager Jim Morris wrote in a memo on Friday that the city gave to me.
Meanwhile, what was once a nice house at 404 Revilo rots.
I have to ask: Is there not some way the city can cut through the B.S. and demolish 404 Revilo?
Rice is The News-Journal’s editor. His email is Pat.Rice@news-jrnl.com.