SOUTH DAYTONA — With all the development going on around Volusia County, South Daytona has been largely left out of the loop, but that might soon change.
City leaders recently gave an enthusiastic, initial thumbs-up to a condominium, townhome and marina project off U.S. 1 on the Halifax River, just north of the Port Orange Riverwalk Park. And they heard about interest in reviving an apartment complex across the street.
Texas-based Silvestri Investments is steering the more definitive project: 17 townhomes and two 90-foot-high condominium towers on 6.2 acres of land near the city’s southern border, according to city documents. The plans for the group of parcels located at 3131 S. Ridgewood Ave. and properties on South Palmetto and Murray Way call for a 37-slip marina and community center for resident use.
Those plans are a far cry from what was originally set to be there before the bottom dropped out in the economic downturn, Community Development Director John Dillard told city leaders at the meeting.
“We're down to less than half the height and down to less than a third of the units,” Dillard said of the new project. “It's much less dense than it was originally approved to be.”
That's because back in 2006, when an earlier plan for the site was approved, Terramark wanted to build a 14-story, 185-foot tall condo with 372 units. So the 101 units proposed by developer Rob Camporese, seemed to be music to the ears of city leaders this week.
"It is encouraging to hear that there's a high likelihood that it's actually going to happen,” said Councilman Ralph Schoenherr. Other council members echoed the sentiment.
"Actually, building anything is something we really honestly need," said City Attorney Scott Simpson.
Room for growth
The reborn proposal is one of five riverside projects that were originally approved during the housing boom and promptly died during the bust, longtime City Manager Joe Yarbrough said last week from his office off U.S. 1, a road the city has been slowly beautifying with median greenery. The manager, who has logged 31 years in South Daytona, has seen those developments come and go — only to return again.
“We have 36 acres of vacant riverfront,” he said.
He's cautiously optimistic about the renewed interest.
“A whole lot of hope,” Yarbrough said. “A lot of hope. ... It also speaks for how the paradigm has changed."
During boom-times, there was a rush to get as much density as possible into the plots of land, but the Silvestri project has morphed into something more likely to attract buyers. The plans hadn't expired, he said, so the original high-rise could have gone up as was planned.
"The market's not there for high-rises, but the market's there for development," he said.
“The important thing about this project is, A, it's a major new investment in South Daytona,” Attorney Glenn Storch, who represents Silvestri Investments and Camporese, said in a phone call Thursday. “And B, we're actually reducing the density on it and reducing the height on it.”
The law firm is expected to give a presentation about the project for the developer, doing business as Blossom Development Inc., at the second reading of the redesigned master development agreement in June.
Camporese has a number of projects in the works throughout the area, including Oceanwalk Condominiums just south of New Smyrna Beach off South Atlantic Avenue that is nearing completion, as well as Riverwalk Condominiums, which is under construction on the North Causeway, within the city limits.
Dillard, the city's economic-development director, said he likes that Camporese does not pre-sell units prior to construction, preferring to just build the project and then sell the space.
Dillard told leaders if the project is approved, the company could be breaking ground as early as the beginning of next year.
Interest across U.S. 1
Meanwhile, Dillard said at the meeting that there is interest from a West Palm Beach group in another vacant parcel across the street.
Another project that seemed all but abandoned after the recession, the Venetian Apartments, left in limbo a dusty, barren acreage along U.S. 1.
Plans there in 2012 called for a five-building apartment complex on roughly 12 acres, but so far, only a single trailer home has been set on the land.
While Dillard cautioned negotiations for the parcel are merely tentative, the two possibilities hinted at some serious revitalization of Ridgewood Avenue's southeast stretch.
“If that goes up, and this goes up,” Dillard said. “The whole south end of the city's going to change dramatically.”