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HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Coastal Edition

Sunday, April 2, 2017 News-Journalonline.com $2 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal

TODAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

$120 million over 35 years has Main Street once thrived. It’s The city bought crime-ridden East International Speedway Since 2006, Daytona Beach
improved some of the beach- largely deserted except for Grandview Apartments and Boulevard may be the ugliest has provided $713,000 for
side. But the area remains Bike Week and Biketoberfest. razed them for planned new beach approach on the East property owners to use for
plagued with poor housing, And millions in improve- housing. Now, 10 years later, Coast. Improving it will cost improvements. Some of those
crime and few businesses. ments have not paid off. it’s an empty lot. tens of millions of dollars. properties are now vacant.

A NEWS-JOU R NAL SPEC IAL R EPO RT

TARNISHED JEWEL
D A Y T O N A ’S T R O U B L E D B E A C H S I D E

A man walks near the corner of Grandview Avenue and East International Speedway Boulevard recently. East ISB is Daytona Beach’s main gateway to the beach, and is largely lined with
vacant buildings and empty lots. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]

Main Street Community By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean // eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com A TOWN HALL

Redevelopment Area
MEETING ABOUT

D
AYTONA BEACH — One summer day back in 1963, Larry Kelly and his
DAYTONA Atlantic
young wife cruised down State Road A1Ahunting for the Sea Dip Hotel,
THE BEACHSIDE
BEACH d. Ocean
Blv e where they planned to stay until they found a home. On Thursday, News-
kr idg
Oa d. The New Yorkers were moving to Daytona Beach for a job transfer. They Journal Editor Pat Rice
N. A

r Blv will moderate a public

But
le thought the final leg of their journey would be a wondrous discovery of a quaint
tlan

. ¼ mile town hall meeting to

l St beach town. But they saw no charm in theweathered beach cottages, paint-starved
Ear
tic

shops packed with cheap souvenirs and aging budget motels. hear citizens’ ideas on
Ave

t. how to improve the

in S “By the time we got to our hotel, Joan cried and wanted to go home,” said Kelly,
S. H

Ma
.

core beachside area

who went on to become a city commissioner in 1971 and mayor from 1974 to 1993.
alif

of Daytona Beach. It
. “We had a 1-year-old, she was six months pregnant and she said, ‘I don’t want to
Ave
a

will include a panel of

5th
xA

Halifax al raise kids here.’” activists and officials

ve.

tion
River
t erna Blvd. The couple stayed, and in 1982 Kelly becameone of the architects of a bold plan who will respond to
n
E. I edwa y
92 Spe to use property tax dollars to systematically bulldoze the blight off Daytona’s questions and ideas
Source: maps4news.com/©HERE
beachside and replace it with better housing, hotels, shops, restaurants and tour- from those attend-
GATEHOUSE MEDIA ist attractions. ing. The town hall will
But 35 years and $120 million later, many people don’t see the expected renais- begin at 6 p.m. at the
ONLINE sance in the targeted area between Oakridge Boulevard and International Speedway Community United
Boulevard. They blame the decision to run up bond debts of nearly $68 million, Methodist Church, 616
See photo galleries Harvey Ave. There is
of Daytona’s troubled and other spending choices made over the years in the Main Street Community
parking behind the
beachside and take a Redevelopment Area — one of five CRAs in the city. church. We hope you’ll
video tour of the beach- attend.
side neighborhoods. SEE TARNISHED JEWEL, A10

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TODAY MON TUE

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Gonzaga weathered a furi-
man killed in crash ous second-half rally by
Home delivery .....877-777-6673 Local surfers remembered South Carolina and held
one of their own Saturday on to beat the Gamecocks
Volume XCIV, Issue 92 morning with a “paddle 77-73. Then North Carolina
out” south of the Flagler survived a late rally in
Beach Pier in honor of Dave the final seconds against
Dalecki, who was killed in a Oregon to win 77-76. The
March 22 wreck on Inter- teams meet Monday in the
state 95. B1 title game. C1

Abby ........................................ F27 Classified .......................D4-8, E7-8 Opinion & Perspective ........A18-19
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TARNISHED JEWEL
Some wonder how it is that
of the more than $5.8 mil-
lion available to spend in the
Main Street CRA this fiscal
year, just $50,000 — less
than 1 percent — is set aside
for grants to improve homes
and businesses.
“Redevelopment money
would be far better spent by
addressing the current needs
of this area,” said Marcia
Tuggle, whose South Wild
Olive Avenue home is two
blocks from Main Street.
Others argue that big proj-
ects that resulted from CRA
bond funding are the best
thing that ever happened
to the beachside. Without
those bonds, they say the area
would be even more stagnant
and the Ocean Walk Shop-
pes, Wyndham Resort and
expansion of the oceanfront
Hilton Hotel would not have
been built.
Without the millions of
dollars in property taxes
those three developments
pour into the beachside’s core
tourist area every year, there
might also have never been a
$1 million Boardwalk rebuild,
a $4 million pier overhaul that
enticed Joe’s Crab Shack to
locate there, Breakers Ocean-
front Park, and refurbished
Bandshell.
“I don’t know what Day-
tona Beach would be today
without some mechanism
to improve the city,” said
Howard Tipton, who brought
the idea of CRAs to Daytona
Beach when he became city
manager in 1978. “Without
the community redevelop-
ment area, it would still be a
slum.”
While the area between
State Road A1A and the
Atlantic Ocean has clearly
benefited from CRA dollars,
the much larger neighbor-
hood stretching to the Halifax
River has not. The area west
of A1A is pockmarked with
aging rental housing and
saddled with high crime and
wandering homeless people.
The value of most properties
is significantly lower than it
was a decade ago. Some city
officials have called the area
“Beirut.”
BUILDING BIG DEBT
The 294-acre area bordered
by Oakridge Boulevard, Inter-
national Speedway Boulevard,
the Halifax River and Atlan-
tic Ocean officially became
the Main Street CRA in 1982.
That legal designation allows
Daytona Beach to keep any
property tax dollars above the
base value of the area set 35
years ago and use the money
for projects within that CRA.
The city’s four other CRAs—
South Atlantic, Downtown,
BalloughRoad,and Midtown—
follow the same model.
Agoodportionofthe$81mil-
lion in property tax increment
funds that have been collected
inthe Main Street CRA over the
past 35 years would have gone
to the Volusia County gov-
ernment and Halifax Health
Medical Center if the CRA had
never been created. The city
will continue collecting those
additional property tax dol-
lars until 2036, when the Main
Street CRA sunsets.
The CRA designation has
meant at least $2 million for
the Main Street area every year
since 2003. The 2016 collec-
tion was $4.1 million, better
than the nearly $3.7 million in
2015, but way down from the
peak of a decade ago. In 2006,
theMain Street CRA generated
$8.2 million.
But little of this year’s dollars
will directly improve homes or
small businesses.
Of the Main Street CRA’s
$5.8 million budget this
fiscal year, $2.5 million will
be used to pay off bonds for
nearly 20-year-old improve-
ments. Another $2 million is
being set aside for a possible
overhaul of East International
Speedway Boulevard. About
$1.2 million more will cover
the cost of administration
and personnel, maintenance
and repairs, public works ser-
vices such as trash pickup, and
financial and legal services.
That leaves just $50,000 in
the budget for grants home-
owners or businesses can use
to improve properties.
“It’s infuriating,” said
Anne Ruby, who lives on Park
A10
BREAKING DOWN
$5,800,000
Daytona Beach’s Main Street “Community Redevelopment Area” has a $5.8 million budget
this year for improving the city’s struggling core beachside neighborhood. But less than 1
percent of those monies are earmarked grants to improve homes and businesses.
the Hilton Hotel, Wyndham Resorts, and Ocean Walk Villages.
$2,270,402, or 39 percent
Set aside for future capital projects, especially hoped-for
improvements to East International Speedway Boulevard,
the main gateway to the beachside.
personnel, maintenance and repairs, public works such as
trash pickup or street cleaning, and financial and legal services.
$50,000, or less than 1 percent of the budget
For grants home and business owners
can apply for to improve the look of their properties.
Avenue in a stretch of the
beachside south of Silver Beach
Avenue. “They only want to
do big projects. They’re very
shortsighted if they think big
development is all they need.”
The biggest drain on CRA
funds are two bond issues
taken on in 1999 and 2001
to help pay for construction
of the Ocean Walk Shoppes,
the Wyndham timeshare and
condo-hotel complex, and a
306-roomexpansion of what
was then a 437-room Adam’s
Mark Hotel. The Adam’s
Mark was built as a Mar-
riott and is now the Hilton
Daytona Beach Oceanfront
Sunday, April 2, 2017 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal
$2,513,357, or 43 percent
Covers debt for past projects involving
[NEWS-JOURNAL PHOTOS/JIM TILLER]
$1,003,417 or 17.2 percent
Covers the cost of CRA administration and
Resort.
The CRA will have poured
$67.7 million into those
bonds by the time they’re
paid off in 2031. A roughly
$10 million bond was taken
out in 1999, and close to
$28 million was borrowed in
2001. The pair of loans came
with $37.9 million in prin-
cipal debt and $29.8 million
in interest payments. A little
under $26 million is still owed
in principal, and $9.6 million
in interest still needs to be
paid. That tallies $35.4 mil-
lion still owed over the next
14 years.
Combine that $37.9
million from the bonds with
the $81 million in tax rev-
enues the CRA has captured,
and it amounts to nearly
$120 million earmarked for
improvements to the core
beachside area since 1982.
WHERE DID
THE MONEY GO?
Figuring out where all those
dollars went isn’t easy, or per-
haps even possible.
City Chief Financial Offi-
cer Patricia Bliss, who started
working for the city in 2012,
told The News-Journal she
had a difficult time find-
ing expenditure information
for all $37.9 million in bond
principal with the records she
could unearth.
The records show $7.5 mil-
lion in CRA funds going toward
the $64 million expansion
of the Wyndham in 2002 to
add a second tower with 282
timeshare units. The docu-
ments also note that $2.9
million from the CRA bond
went toward a $19 million
portion of the three-story,
104,000-square-foot Ocean
Walk Shoppes restaurant and
retail complex in 2002.A third
expenditure noted $8.8 million
for the $42.5 million expan-
sion of the then-Adam’s Mark
Hotel, which is now the Hilton.
Those bond expenditures
add up to just $19.2 million.
The hundreds of pages of
records don’t appear to include
details for the remaining $16.7
million the city borrowed.
The documents do mention
$10 million of streetscape
improvements on State Road
A1A, but there is no expla-
nation of the origin of those
dollars.
Bond record excerpts
explain loan proceeds would
be used to, “among other
things,” finance a portion
of the construction of some
public areas, meeting and
banquet rooms, lobbies, pas-
sageways and parking garages
for both the Adam’s Mark
and Wyndham. There is also
mention of bond dollars going
toward walkways, escalators
and elevators in the Ocean
Walk Shoppes. The only spe-
cific amount noted for any of
those items is $4.1 million for
the Adam’s Mark 306-vehicle
parking garage.
Attorney and former County
Councilman Doug Daniels, a
friend of some Ocean Walk
and Wyndham developers,
said the loan money “went
for about every damn thing it
could go for.”
“It took about that amount
of money to make it fly,” said
Daniels, who represented
developers on other pivotal
beachside ventures including
those involving the Boardwalk
and pier. “Every dime they
could scrape together.”
Daniels said the projects are
nowpayingforthemselveswith
property tax revenue.
In 2016, the Wyndham gen-
erated$1.25 million in property
taxpaymentstotheMainStreet
CRA,whiletheHiltonprovided
more than $1 million and the
Ocean Walk Shoppes added
another $104,000. In 2015, the
Wyndham generated $1.3 mil-
lion, the Hilton $629,000, and
the Ocean Walk Shoppes close
to $110,000.
Both years, property tax
contributions from the three
developments alone made up
more than half of the Main
Street CRA’s revenues.
The Wyndham, which has a
taxable value of $93.9 million,
is the fourth-largest property
taxproducerinVolusiaCounty.
TheHiltonistheeighth-largest
property tax producer in the
county, and has a taxable value
of $78.6 million.
Despite the help from the
CRA, the Ocean Walk Shop-
pes and what is now the Hilton
Daytona Beach Oceanfront
Resort have had financial dif-
ficulties.Likeotherbusinesses,
they were challenged by the
Great Recession that began in
2007 and lasted several years.
In 2013, a group of lend-
ers took over the Hilton from
General Electric, which owed
$113.7 million on the property.
Anauctionheldthatyearfailed
to generate sufficient bids, and
when the hotel was put up for
bid again in 2015 it sold for
$92.25 million to Starwood
Capital Group.
The Ocean Walk Shoppes
was sold in an online auction
in2016for$8milliontoDundas
Real Estate Investments. The
seller was a group of lenders
thattookcontrolofthecomplex
in 2013 after winning a $27.2
million foreclosure judgement
against the property’s original
developer and owners.
When the 1999 and 2001
bonds are paid off in 14 years,
the Main Street CRA could
live out its last five years debt
free. But the city is strongly
considering making another
big investment via the CRA
that could tie up more of the
special tax collections over
the 19 years left before the

redevelopment area sunsets.
In an effort to transform
International Speedway Bou-
levard on the beachside, city
officials are trying to work out
a deal with the Florida Depart-
ment of Transportation to
widen and beautify the half-
mile corridor leading to the
beach.The proposed deal calls
for the cityto advance FDOT
$750,000 in CRA money for
design and engineering, and
for the city to provide up to
$25 million for land acquisition
and construction. The idea is
for either the city or the CRA
to take out a $25 million bond
for the project, and for FDOT
to eventually reimburse the $25
million.
“The reason for fronting
the money is to significantly
accelerate the project from
an unfunded project on the
(River to Sea Transportation
Planning Organization) list to
a funded project on the TPO
list,” said city spokeswoman
Susan Cerbone.
The River to Sea Transpor-
tation Planning Organizationis
an independent agency
responsible for the program-
ming of all federal and state
transportation funds in Volu-
sia County. Its board is made
up of elected officials from
local governments.
OCEANFRONT VS.
EVERYWHERE ELSE
Those who’ve watched
where the dollars are falling
in the Main Street CRA have
seen a lot more money raining
down east of A1A. The list of
recipients on that side of the
road is lengthy. It includes the
Ocean Walk Shoppes, Hilton,
Wyndham, 92-year-old pier,
Boardwalk, land purchases,
Ora Park, Bandshell, Board-
walk clock tower and fireworks
shot over the ocean. Even the
Protogroup hotel that recently
began construction on the
oceanfront will receive a few
hundred thousand dollars of
CRA help.
The larger swath of land
west of A1A has received CRA
money for the Streamline
Hotel makeover in the 1990s,
an overhaul of Main Street
that included new sidewalks
and decorative lights, Peabody
Auditorium improvements, a
traffic circle on Auditorium
Boulevard, land purchases and
a variety of grants to homes
and businesses.
But many more millions
have landed along the ocean-
front, and some of the projects
to the west haven’t turned out
as well as expected.
In addition to city parks and
buildings,thecityownsseveral
other properties in the Main
Street CRA, most of which are
vacant. Two properties were
purchased in hopes of expand-
ing Breakers Oceanfront Park.
One is used as a parking lot for
Joe’s Crab Shack employees.
Several more, including a
riverfront property south of
Main Street, were assembled
to attract new development
that hasn’t occurred.
Some residents scratched
their heads over the city’s
purchase of a large 1930s
home on South Grandview
Avenue that’s subdivided into
four units. The city bought
the two-story home 10 years
ago for $289,000, and has
poured another $262,600 in
renovations into the boxy,
2,600-square-foot struc-
ture. Charging tenants $500
per month each to live in the
home has brought in less than
$100,000. Now city offi-
cials say they’ll sell the home
when the market improves.
City officials have said the
goal was never to make money,
but to turn around a crime-
generating property that was
pulling down the neighbor-
hood. The city did the same
thing in2007 when it bought
a dilapidated apartment com-
plex also on South Grandview
Avenue that had become a
magnet for drugs and other
crime.
The city paid $1.87 mil-
lion for the 34-unit complex.
In 2013, after the apartment
buildings were demolished,
the city sold the vacant 1-acre
property to White Chal-
lis Redevelopment Co. for
$27,500. One of the owners of
White-Challis is Jack White,
who is married to City Com-
missioner Kelly White.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
A woman and children hold hands while crossing Harvey Avenue in the core beachside neighborhood of Daytona Beach. The area just blocks from the
World’s Most Famous Beach continues to struggle with poor housing and crime. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
WE WANT
TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you have ideas to improve
the core beachside area of
Daytona Beach, or would like
to comment on this series,
email News-Journal Editor Pat
Rice at pat.rice@news-jrnl.com.
To get that deal, White-
Challis had to pour about
$600,000 into engineering
and infrastructure improve-
ments on the property.
White-Challis has also agreed
to pay the South Atlantic CRA,
also on the beachside, $7,000
for any of the 15 lots on the site
that don’t begin construc-
tion of a town home within
three years of closing on the
land sale. That could add up
to a $105,000 hit for White-
Challis. To date, none of the
lots have been sold.
At the end of last year, the
city was also poised to buy
a pair of beachside lots for
$862,000, which was nearly
seven times higher than the
assessedvalueof$125,000.But
City Manager Jim Chisholm
pulled the item off a City
Commission meeting agenda
at the last minute amid public
outcry after The News-Journal
reported about the deal.
Linda Smiley, who has lived
on the beachside all of her 59
years, said she’s watched the
CRA the past 35 years and con-
cluded “it’s a joke that never
worked out.”
“It sounds good in theory,
but to me it’s a legal way for
them to steal money and give it
to their friends,” she charged.
“The $67.7 million in bond
debt was a joke for what we
got. How about cleaning up
the roads?”
No fraud or serious misman-
agement has ever turned up in
any of Daytona Beach’s CRA
funds. When Glenn Ritchey
became mayor a decade ago,
one of his first acts was to call
for an outside audit of CRA
money.When the probe con-
cluded about a year or two
later, no scandal emerged. The
auditors did point out concerns
with some police costs billed
to the CRA and the purchase
of oceanfront land for more
than fair market value. The city
was given a tip sheet on how to
spend CRA money along with a
list of things to correct.
Pam Woods, who was a
Daytona Beach city commis-
sioner from 2007 until the end
of last year, thinks the ocean-
front side of A1A has clearly
dominated CRA dollars and
attention. She doesn’t see a
trickle down benefit for the
west side.
“CRA money is supposed to
act as a catalyst,” said Woods,
who also sat on the city’s Plan-
ning Board and Main Street
CRA Board from 2002-2006.
“All you have to do is look
“
The residents and business owners in the beachside
communities are tired of hearing about fantasy dream
projects in the distant future. We need results now.”
— Marcia Tuggle, beachside resident
| Sunday, April 2, 2017
across the street to the west.
Did we have a spillover effect?
No.”
Woods said people don’t
travel the beachside “in a
vacuum.” When they venture
west of A1A, many decide to
never repeat the experience.
“The CRA money certainly
hasn’t been poured into this
area,” said Cheryl House, who
lives six blocks west of A1A on
Halifax Avenue.
“If we had focused on those
neighborhoods west of A1A,
investment east of A1A might
have come on its own,” Woods
said. “We could have done
more residential grants and
consistent code enforcement.
It goes back to your priorities.
Neighborhoods are just not as
important.”
WERE THE OLD
DAYS EVEN WORSE?
Some who’ve been around
long enough to remember the
20th century beachside say the
core area has most definitely
improved.
In the late 1970s and early
1980s, the area now covered
by the Ocean Center, a park-
ing garage and water park was
derisively referred to as “eight
blocks of slums.” Another
pocket of the city’s ocean-
front near the Bandshell was
dubbed Pedophile Park for its
flagrant underage male pros-
titution. The Boardwalk was
hostage to drugs and home-
lesspeople. Acity vagrancy law
tried to push the homeless off
the beachside, but the courts
shot it down.
Tipton,the former city man-
ager who brought the idea of
CRAs when he moved from
California, remembers “it was
very common to arrest people
by the hundreds” during Bike
Week around Main Street a few
decades ago.
Chisholm, who’s been Day-
tona Beach’s city manager
since 2004, grew up in the
Orlando area and used to take
day trips to Daytona Beach as a
teenager in the 1960s.
“When I came, motor-
cycles and gangs were pretty
prevalent all along the beach
and there wasn’t much law
enforcement,” Chisholm said.
“There wasn’t a lot to draw you
into the beach area.”
Using eminent domain,the
Volusia County government
wiped out the eight blocks of
slums and filled the empty
expanse with the Ocean Center
complex in 1985, a water park
in 1998, and a 1,500-space
parking garage in 2000. Those
three projects were not built
with CRA dollars.
Homes and small motels on
the east side of A1A were also
boughtout and removedto free
up land for a hotel.
“We were looking for a first-
classhotelandwewereluckyto
get the Marriott,”said Tipton,
who ended his time as Daytona
city manager in 1994. “It was a
A11 TARNISHED JEWEL
struggle.”
Tipton recalled “Mr. Mar-
riott” coming for a visit.
“I think the CRA was very
important to him,” Tipton
said. “Hewanted to knowwhat
the plans were to clean up the
area.”
Tipton, who’s in his 80s
now and living in Port Orange,
believes three things have sti-
fled more progress: Bike Week,
Spring Break and new eminent
domain law restrictions.
Much beachside devel-
opment never would have
happened without eminent
domain, Tipton said. But
alittle more than 10 years ago,
eminent domain went from
something that could be done
to improve an area to some-
thing that can be done only to
meet a public need.
If the law hadn’t changed,
the remaining Boardwalk
businesses near the pier likely
would have been leveled years
ago. The city might have also
had more success with its
“e-zone” plan for the Main
StreetCRA that was completed
six years ago.
The plan for the e-zone,
or entertainment zone, calls
for developing new shops,
restaurants, hotels, condos,
bungalows, a riverfront park
and trail, marina, pier expan-
sion, visitors’ center and sites
for outdoor entertainment and
sports within the Main Street
CRA. So far, almost none of
that has occurred.
“CRAs have had little suc-
cess since the courts decided
you can’t use eminent domain
to remove blighted areas,”
Tipton said.
NO DAYTONA DISNEY
Former City Commissioner
Tracey Remark, who served
from 1995 to 1999, recalls a
plan in the late 1980s and early
1990s for mass demolition to
turn the Main Street CRA into
a sprawling Disney-like devel-
opment complete with new
hotels and rides.
“They were trying to get
rid of the neighborhood,”said
Remark, also a former city
Planning Board member and
longtime beachside resident.
“It was going to be all amuse-
ments. There were plans for
that whole neighborhood to
disappear. There was an actual
plan. It’s still on a shelf.”
In addition to more restric-
tive eminent domain laws, the
plan was also blocked by lack
of money and the rise in sin-
gle-family zoning and historic
district designations, Remark
said.
Over the past decade, a new
group of pioneers who see
potential in the area have since
moved in. Their efforts can be
seen in the occasional homes in
the Main Street CRA that have
been improved and are clearly
maintained.
But the area still struggles.
Remark blames local leaders.
“They’re looking for the one
bigproject, butonebigbuilding
doesn’t make all the differ-
ence,” Remark said. “We have
a hotel and Ocean Walk, and
Main Street is probably worse
than when all this started. It’s
not thriving.”
Remark said there’s been no
unifying vision, and seemingly
small things —everything from
strict law enforcement to seiz-
ing derelict properties —would
have helped more than the big
efforts.Her opinion is shared
by Marcia Tuggle, who bought
and moved into a home two
blocks south of Main Street 18
months ago.
“The residents and business
owners in the beachside com-
munities are tired of hearing
about fantasy dream projects
in the distant future,” said
Tuggle, who was a city council
member in Colorado for eight
years. “We need results now.
Demolish existing eyesores
and derelict property, make
property owners obey codes,
embrace safety, improve
lighting, enhance streets and
landscaping and perhaps hire
an additional code enforce-
ment officer strictly for the
beachside.”
Tipton agrees the west side
of A1A hasn’t fared as hoped.
“We didn’t get the rede-
velopment on Main Street we
had hoped for,” Tipton said.
“I don’t think there’s been the
demand for the kind of con-
vention business the county
hoped for, so we haven’t had
the walk-around traffic you
need to attract restaurants
and shops. People with enough
money to move into single-
family homes and fix them up
or improve apartment proper-
ties wouldn’t doitwiththeBike
Week image, and then Spring
Break exploded in Daytona.”
He thinks the damage is
done.
“It has left a permanent
image on Daytona that’s been
difficult to remove,” Tipton
said. “I don’t want to be the
voice that condemns Bike
Week, but as long as we have
it, people can make enough
money,notdeveloptheirprop-
erty and make it the rest of the
year. And a lot of developers
don’t want to try to overcome
the image.”
Woods lived on the beach-
side for about 20 years before
moving recently.
“We’ve lost the middle class
onthebeachside,”Woodssaid.
“It happened over many years.
Doing special events draws
awaythe residents.Itwasdev-
astating to the neighborhoods
because it was in such a con-
centrated area.”
Kelly, the former Daytona
mayor, has no regrets about
starting the Main Street CRA.
“I think we’ve come a long,
long way,” Kelly said.
He has high hopes for the
Protogroup hotel being built at
theeasternmosttipofOakridge
Boulevard, and he’s patiently
waiting for more success to
arrive.
“It takes years and years for
something tohappen,” he said.
“Investors can be slow to part
with their money. Whatever
we did in Daytona was always
a fight. It’s never been easy.”
 SPORTS ◆ B1 PEOPLE & PLACES ◆ A2

SC wins women’s title; Florida Georgia Line take

men’s final tonight home 2 ACM awards

HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Final Edition

Monday, April 3, 2017 News-Journalonline.com $1 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal

SUNDAY TODAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY VOLUSIA COUNTY

COUNCIL
$120 million over 35 Main Street once The city bought crime- East International Since 2006, Daytona
years has improved
some of the beachside.
thrived. It’s largely
deserted except for
ridden Grandview
Apartments and razed
Speedway Boulevard
may be the ugliest
Beach has provided
$713,000 for property Homeless
shelter:
But the area remains Bike Week and Biketo- them for planned new beach approach on the owners to use for
plagued with poor hous- berfest. And millions in housing. Now, 10 years East Coast. Improving improvements. Some of
ing, crime and few busi- improvements have not later, it’s an empty lot. it will cost tens of mil- those properties are now
nesses. paid off. lions of dollars. vacant.
Who will be
swing vote?
TA RN IS H ED J E W E L : DAYT ONA’S T R OU BLED BEAC H SID E
With 3 promises to
support Daytona plan, faith

MAIN STREET
leaders rally for 1 more
By Dustin Wyatt
dustin.wyatt@news-jrnl.com

STRUGGLES
Asked repeatedly to support
development of a Daytona Beach
homeless shelter, the Volusia
County Council had taken the
positionthatitwouldn'tfundday-
to-day operations. And then last
week, unprecedented promises
by three members rang through a
packed Peabody Auditorium.
Heather Post and Joyce
Cusack told a crowd of 1,500
they'd vote in favor of the county
paying $4 million for a Daytona
Beach shelter, split between
construction and, in a surprise
to others on council, operating
costs. Billie Wheeler had her
emailed responses read aloud.
The shift in thinking gives a
glimmer of hope to faith lead-
ers, excited that a long-awaited
solution for Daytona Beach
might finally be inching toward
reality after years of failed
ideas and county-city funding
disagreements.
SEE VOTE, A5

DEADLY MIDAIR
COLLISION

Investigator
A man in a wheelchair sits tucked into the entrance of an empty store along Main Street. Many of the street’s stores are empty except
during Bike Week and Biketoberfest. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER ]
sheds more
light on
DAYTONA
BEACH d.
Blv
ge
Atlantic
Ocean
Daytona Beach’s historic
beachside main drag languishes
A TOWN HALL
MEETING ABOUT plane wreck
krid THE BEACHSIDE
N. A

Oa d. Main
ler
Blv Edgewater crash killed 2
tlan

Street
But . CRA
By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean // eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com On Thursday, News-
l St
tic A

r
Main Ea Journal Editor Pat Rice By Patricio G. Balona
ve.

Street DAYTONA BEACH — The city hired Doug Daniels will moderate a public patriciobalona@news-jrnl.com
for a time in 2013 to court developers thinking about town hall meeting to
Halifax
River investing in the beachside. So he would take those hear citizens’ ideas on EDGEWATER — Two air-
Ave
. visitors on an oceanfront tour. how to improve the planes that collided in the
5th “They loved walking out on the pier and looking core beachside area air over Interstate 95 on Sat-
nal .
atio back at the city,” said Daniels,a former Volusia County of Daytona Beach. It urday left a quarter-mile-long
I n t ern y Blvd
¼ mile E. edwa Council member and business transaction attorney will include a panel of line of debris before hitting the
92 Spe who for 25 years has also represented developers and activists and officials ground in a wooded field and
Source: maps4news.com/©HERE property owners in pivotal beachside projects involv- who will respond to killing two pilots, an air safety
GATEHOUSE MEDIA
ing the pier, Boardwalk and Breakers Oceanfront Park. questions and ideas investigator with the National
The prospectors would also be impressed by the from those attending. Transportation Safety Board
ONLINE sprawling county-owned Ocean Center. But when The town hall will begin said.
See photo galleries they got to Main Street, they stopped smiling. at 6 p.m. at the Commu-
of Daytona’s troubled “They couldn’t rebuild the retail with all the crack- nity United Methodist SEE WRECK, A7

beachside and heads in houses nearby,” said Daniels, who received Church, 616 Harvey Ave.
take a video tour more than $25,000 from the city for his efforts to help There is parking behind
of the beachside jump-start development. “There are no rooftops to the church. We hope Photos and video
neighborhoods. you’ll attend. Watch our video and see
SEE MAIN STREET STRUGGLES, A4 more photos at news-
journalonline.com.

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MAIN STREET STRUGGLES
BIKE WEEK AND BIKETOBERFEST MEAN BIG CROWDS
There’s barely any room to move as bikers jam Main Street at this year’s Bike
Week event held in mid-March. Daytona Beach’s main drag bustles with activity
during Bike Week and Biketoberfest, helping fill businesses’ cash registers.
support retail, and you won’t
get rooftops with Bike Week.
I heard that every time.”
When they found out they’d
have to wrestle away most any
piece of Main Street land they
wanted from private owners,
and that the road generally
hibernates between biannual
biker parties, they would head
to the airport.
Main Street and the blocks of
strugglinghousingsurrounding
it have become so entangled in
Bike Week in March and Bik-
etoberfest in October that it’s
hard to imagine for the first 75
years of its existence it was an
old-fashioned business artery
of the beachside.
The sturdy brick buildings
with early 1900s architecture
are still there. But old drug
stores, ice cream shops and
clothing stores are now T-shirt
shops and biker parapherna-
lia stores that for 49 weeks of
the year never seem to open.
Empty lots sit vacant waiting
for the motorcycle migrations
thatturnthemintopackedout-
doormarketswithmountainsof
turkey legs, beer cans and biker
trinkets for sale.
Twostatelylookingbuildings
with tall cement columns that
for decades were banks have
becomebars.A1934gasstation
and garage owned by NASCAR
founder Bill France Sr. is also a
bar.Restaurantsdoubleasbars.
Even the property across from
the 130-year-old Pinewood
Cemetery, the resting place of
some of the city’s prominent
early settlers, has become a
place to down beer and listen
to loud music.
At one point there were 11
bars on the road. Now there are
nine.
City leaders have tried for
decades to reinvent the cor-
ridor that runs between the
Halifax River and Atlantic
Ocean. They’d like to make it
a bustling, year-round epicen-
ter of the beachside with a mix
of shops, restaurants, profes-
sional offices, second-story
loft apartments, pocket parks
and boutique hotels.
Plans have come and gone
to get a water taxi, marina and
riverfronthotel onthe west end
of Main Street. On the east end,
there have been failed efforts to
create everything from a vastly
expanded pier to an Olympic
training village.
The “Take Part” studies of
the 1980s, the second of which
cost $380,000, were aimed
at reviving the beachside core
tourist area, and once again
makingMain Streeta charming
place to stroll from business to
business.
Thecityspent$318,000more
for a 2011 plan to create a Main
Streetareaentertainmentzone,
or “e-zone,” that has attracted
more dust than developers.
The city has given out more
than $713,000 in facade grants
to dozens of business and
homeowners inthe Main Street
area since 2006. Many of those
grants went to absentee land-
lords or businesses that now
stand empty.
ThecitypaidforaMainStreet
overhaul complete with new
sidewalksandplantersabout 25
years ago. Those sidewalks are
now stained with the excesses
of Bike Weeks past.
More recently, businesses
along the road have chipped in
to begin new events like a New
Year’s Eve party and summer
street festivals.
Since 1982, when a com-
munity redevelopment area
centered around Main Street
was established, the city has
poured $81 million in property
tax dollars into the beach-
side neighborhood along with
another $37.9 million from
loans.For all that, Main Street
stubbornly remains a mostly
after-dark party spot that only
comes alive a half-dozen or so
times a year and looks desolate
the rest of the time.
“Iwanttoseethisplaceonthe
other side,” said neighborhood
activist Amy Pyle, who was
recently appointed to the city’s
BeachsideRedevelopmentArea
Board. “I want to see through
this birthing process. We have
so much good stuff here.”
“It’s like turning around a
battleship,”saidCityCommis-
sionerRobGilliland.“Youdon’t
just spin it around.”
PENNY CANDY
AND COMIC BOOKS
For years, the 12-block strip
ofasphaltthatisMainStreeton
the beachside has been caught
in a tug-of-war. Some want
to keep it as Daytona Beach’s
version of Bourbon Street in
New Orleans. Others want to
transform it into something
more universally appealing to
all residents and tourists.
Linda Smiley remembers
the Main Street that nobody
argued about. The 59-year-
old was born and raised on the
beachside, and her dad had a
bookstore on Main Street.
“That was a hot, happen-
ing area,” Smiley said. “People
cruised the street. There was
a movie theater, two news
stands, McCrory’s Five and
Dime, a lunch counter with
a soda fountain. There was
an A&P grocery store behind
Main Street. There were places
on Main Street kids could go in
andbuypennycandyandcomic
books.”
She said things slid downhill
“when drugs came in.” Many
businesses were also crippled
by the 1990 road project that
tore up Main Street for a year.
As housing and businesses in
the area deteriorated, Smiley
believes local leaders inten-
tionally let the blight spread
like cancer.
“The city wants to buy our
homes and build condos and
high rises,” she charged.
Empty stores in the 600 block of Main Street in Daytona Beach. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER ]
A4
BUT THE REST OF THE YEAR: A DESERTED HIGHWAY
One day after Bike Week ended on March 19, Main Street is a quiet — and
empty — stretch of roadway. Many of the businesses along the street that
cater to the Bike Week crowd leave with them as well.
She’s seen homes taken
throughbothpeacefulsalesand
ugly eminent domain fights for
several beachside projects,
including turning the two-
lane State Road A1A (Atlantic
Avenue) into a four-lane
road.When homes, businesses
andtheoriginalSeabreeze High
School were all razed for the
Ocean Center, parking garage
and water park, she said it
started a bad domino effect.
“We lost the A&P and people
moved to neighborhoods with
schools,” she said. “It’s very
depressing to see how this
wholetowncouldbeandisn’t.”
Newcomers like Pyle are
nowhere near surrender.
Pyle moved into her historic
99-year-old home on Grand-
viewAvenuefouryearsago.She
and a group of neighbors have
startednewcommunitygroups,
revived old ones and formed
connections among grassroots
organizations. They go to city
meetings,circulatenewsletters
and communicate on websites
and social media.
“The positive change I’ve
seen in the beachside is not so
much visual; it’s community
involvement,” Pyle said.
Properties around her yellow
two-story home near Main
Street are starved for improve-
ments, but she’s hopeful. Pyle
said she finds herself driv-
ing around the neighborhood
thinking about where new
things could go.
CherylHouse, aretired nurse
who has lived on the eastern
bank of the river for four years,
has seen some improvements
over the past 12 months: a few
beat-up houses have been torn
down,MainStreetwasrepaved,
and new sidewalks are planned
for Earl Street. House, who sits
on the city’s code board, said
she’s tripped and fallen twice
on uneven sidewalks in her
neighborhood and she’s happy
upgrades are coming.
“Those things are happening
because residents are raising a
lot of Cain,” said House, who
is 70.“We have a vision of how
we’dliketoseethisarea,andI’d
like to see it before I die. It’s just
embarrassingwhenpeoplevisit
and say it’s awful.”
Linda Miller lives in a tall
condo building at Earl Street
overlooking the Halifax River.
When she looks to the west,
it takes her breath away.
When she looks east over the
Monday, April 3, 2017 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal
[NEWS-JOURNAL PHOTOS/NIGEL COOK AND JIM TILLER]
neighborhood, she said, “it’s
terrible.”
Miller, who was a member
of the Beachside Redevelop-
ment Area Board until a few
weeks ago, said 70 percent of
the properties in her part of the
beachsideare rentals or vacant.
“Landlords are as far away as
Canada, and code enforcement
is not effective here,” she said.
“It could be so incredible.”
She doesn’t understand why
more money isn’t invested in
sidewalks, streets, lights and
codeenforcement— acommon
question among beachside
property owners.
‘WE NEED HELP’
Main Street business owners
alsoseealotofuntappedpoten-
tial. Mark Robertson, 58, and
his sister co-own Beach Photo
& Video — a 95-year-old busi-
ness their father bought into in
1963.Robertsonsaidherecently
counted 65 businesses on Main
Street; he believes only 36 are
open all year.
“At night it’s dark down
here,” Robertson said. “It
almost looks scary if you didn’t
know the place.”
Duringaphoneinterviewone
afternoon in February, Robert-
son stepped outside his shop.
“I’m looking down the street
and there’s no one here,” he
said. “We need help.”
Some of the street’s troubles
go back to the late 1960s and
early 1970s, when the hippie
cultureand“riffraff”movedin,
he said. Volusia Mall hurt, too.
“When the mall was built,
the city turned its back on Main
Street,” he said.
Robertson said the city could
helpone propertyata time,and
over the course of years make a
real difference. That seems like
a wiser investment to him than
hiring consultants.
“Wespenthundredsofthou-
sands of dollars on consulting,
and I don’t think anything has
come of it,” he said.“Next time
you have $100,000 for a con-
sultant, knock on my door.”
HesaidsomeofMainStreet’s
ills go back to the business
owners themselves, and their
inability to work together.
“It’s tribal down here,” Rob-
ertson said.
Theresa Doan — who owns
three Main Street bars, the Hog
Heaven restaurant on A1A and
a few other properties nearby
— believes three things could
help the area.
Doan thinks a new park-
ing garage for 1,200-1,500
vehicles should be built. She
suggests offering large-scale
incentives to developers. And
she’d like to see the city and
county governments strategi-
callybuysignificantamountsof
land in the Main Street area and
make the property available to
developers.
“It would take a major infu-
sionofcapitalandcommitment
to do those three things,” said
Doan, who’s also an investor
in Boardwalk property. “But if
you want change, that’s what
you need to do.”
It’s been a long-held belief
among many locals that Main
Street businesses only want to
swing their doors open during
Bike Week and Biketoberfest.
But Doan said everyone on
Main Street would welcome
year-round traffic. She sees no
reason bars can’t co-exist with
other types of businesses that
could move in.
Phaedra Lee, operations
director of Main StreetStation,
said bars like hers are trying to
diversify beyond biker events
and would love to see other
types of businesses on the
street.
“The big money for Bike
Week was in the 1990s,” said
Lee, who grew up in Daytona
Beach. “Attendance is down.”
She said the city makes it
harder for businesses to diver-
sify when it does things like
raise fees for street closures for
outdoor events from $50 per
block to $500 per block, which
recentlyoccurred.Cityofficials
are looking at bringing the cost
back down now.
“We’re already struggling
down here,” Lee said.
Former City Commissioner
Pam Woods doesn’t think
Main Street will evolve as long
asopenlotscanbeusedforven-
dors during special events.
“They can get away with not
being year-round businesses,”
said Woods, a longtime beach-
side resident who recently
moved.“Theytoredownbuild-
ingsbecauseit’smoreprofitable
to just have vendors there.”
‘AN EMBARRASSMENT’
George Mirabal, presi-
dent and CEO of the Daytona
Regional Chamber of Com-
merce from 1987 to 2007, said
theMainStreetareadoesn’tget
Theresa Doan — who
owns three Main Street
bars — believes three
things could help:
■ a new parking garage
for 1,200-1,500 vehicles
■ offering large-scale
incentives to developers
■ to see the city and
county governments
strategically buy sig-
nificant amounts of land
and make the property
available to developers.
“It would take a
major infusion
of capital and
commitment to do
those three things.
But if you want
change, that’s what
you need to do.”
— Theresa Doan, who’s
also an investor in
Boardwalk property
 The Daytona Beach News-Journal | Monday, April 3, 2017 A5 MAIN STREET STRUGGLES
enough credit for how much it
has improved since the 1970s.
“A1A in the core area was an
embarrassment, and I think
our tourists saw it that way,”
Mirabal said. “It was pretty
rundown. Main Street was an
embarrassment, too, and it
wasn’t safe to go there.”
Mirabal remembers three
strip clubs within a few blocks
of one another. There was the
Bunny Club at State Road A1A
andMainStreet,LovelyLinda’s
at A1A and Auditorium Boule-
vard, and the Shark Lounge
just off A1A on International
Speedway Boulevard. Only the
Shark Lounge survived over
time, still a gentleman’s club
now called Candy.
Woods remembers crime
getting out of hand every year
duringBikeWeek,SpringBreak
and Black College Reunion.
“We were emotionally fried
by April,” she said.
“In the old days, detectives
did traffic during Bike Week,” Mark Robertson, co-owner of Beach Photo on Main Street, outside his store during Bike Week in March. He laments that more than half the businesses
she said. “No crime solv- on what is historically the beachside’s main drag now stand empty except during special events. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER ]
ing went on from February
to March because they were thinks the area needs serious who have either refused to let “If a city doesn’t want to
tied up with events. We were WE WANT
rehab. The residential areas inspectors on their proper- be punitive, it punishes the
appalled how residents were TO HEAR FROM YOU around Main Street are filled ties or ignored code violation 95 percent who do the right
treated.” If you have ideas to improve with an odd mix of meticu- notices. thing,” Tuggle said.
When city leaders tried to the core beachside area of lously cared for homes and “We are aggressively pur- Local leaders, business
improve things, they some- Daytona Beach, or would like houses with rotting wood, suing them and taking cases owners and residents of the
times smacked into the to comment on this series, half dead grass, boarded up to the code board and special Main Street seem to agree on
resistance of business owners email News-Journal Editor Pat windows, chipping paint and magistrate,” Garcia said. one thing: They’re puzzled as
who banded together, Mira- Rice at pat.rice@news-jrnl.com. missing roof shingles. State By law, the property owners to why this core of the beach-
bal said. An example was the Road A1A is also a puzzling have to be given time to come side can’t rise above its myriad
merchants who battled the combination of contrasts, into compliance on a violation, problems.
Olympic training village in with kitschy souvenir shops but if they don’t they can have a “If you go along the coast
the late 1990s because they multitude of private hands, and empty stores surrounding $15,000 lien put on their prop- from Miami north, the best
said the people staying in it will be difficult to change well-cared for businesses. erty, he said. neighborhoods are along the
the condos for long periods much, said George Anderson, Some argue that what’s Meanwhile, Main Street- ocean until you get here,”
wouldn’t keep buying their who owns properties in the needed most to revive Main area homeowners such as Mirabal said. “It’s baffling to
wares, but a constant flow of Main Street and Boardwalk Street is an overhaul of the Marcia Tuggle are forced to me we can take what should
tourists in new hotels would, areas. housing stock surround- look at the blight while the be our most affluent area, and
Mirabal said. “Most cities go and buy ing it. And they say that’s city goes through the lengthy it is what it is.”
Mirabal once tried to unite property, and then they put out going to take tougher code process to remove it.For the 18 Anderson shares the confu-
the opposing forces in a plan a request for proposals,” said enforcement. months that she’s lived in her sion and frustration. He said
he pitched to Disney officials. Anderson, who over the past 35 Hector Garcia, the city’s Wild Olive Avenue home two he paid more 25 years ago for
His idea was to buy every prop- years has owned, redeveloped, head of code enforcement, blocks south of Main Street, property on the ocean than
erty on Main Street from the managed and sold several large said he can only operate under Tuggle has had to look at a what it would sell for today.
river to the ocean and create a hotels in the Daytona Beach the rules set up by the city and boarded up home. “Our beachside is the most
12-month-a-year destination area. state. He also only has nine “We’re furious,” she said. undervalued in the world,”
for everyone, bikers included. If there’s isn’t an available inspectors now, down from 12 “I’m right across the street.” he said. “That’s crazy. The
But faced with the head- area of land, he said, “Most a decade ago. She said she’s seen homeless market has recovered every-
aches of buying 60 properties, developers don’t mess with The rental inspection pro- people relieving themselves on where else. I’ve been asking
Disney said no thank you. that. They just move on to gram is continuing, but he the property, and evidence of for 42 years why Daytona’s
As long as Main Street land another city.” said “we still have some land- them bedding down for the beachside isn’t better. I can’t
and buildings remain in a Like Doan, Anderson lords who dug their heels in” night. pinpoint it.”

VOTE because we need it.”

The city’s new plan, chosen
From Page A1 in February by a nonprofit
board that has only met a few
Yet three votes isn’t enough times, calls for building two
and shelter advocates will large, tent-like structures on
try Thursday to swing at least Volusia County land off U.S.
one other member to their side. 92 near the jail.
They will rally along Woodland The 100-bed proposal will
Boulevard and flood council need County Council mem-
chambers at a meeting that bers to agree to donate the land
doesn’t even include shelter along with at least $1.5 mil-
talk on its agenda. lion to build the tensile fabric
Daytona Beach Mayor Der- structures and buy modular
rick Henry says he will give a buildings. Local governments
presentation, though likely not and businesses will be asked
until April 20. In the meantime, to cover the $1 million in esti-
Volusia council members and mated annual operating costs.
County Manager Jim Dinneen The city of Daytona Beach
don’t know all the details and would own the land and build-
appear reluctant to give nods ings, but lease the property to
of approval just yet. But some an agency that would run the
remain opposed to footing the shelter. Catholic Charities has
bill for operations. expressed interest in that day-
to-day operations role, but the
‘A joyous day’ First Step Shelter board could
Of the four Volusia County decide to solicit proposals from
council members who have other agencies as well.
yet to make a The city recently inked its
public com- commitment by agreeing to
mitment contribute $400,000 annu- Homeless men and women camped in downtown Daytona Beach outside the Volusia County Administration Center in
similar to ally toward it for four years. January 2016. Activists seeking an emergency shelter for homeless people are planning a march to the Volusia County
Cusack, Post In a move that’s surprised Council meeting in DeLand on Thursday. [NEWS-JOURNAL FILE/LOLA GOMEZ]
and Wheeler, some, Post, Wheeler and
County Chair Cusack told a crowd of 1,500 promises and were surprised there are even more funding commands the government to
Ed Kelley March 27 that they’d be in favor that others already did. uncertainties now that Presi- do something they won’t do for
Post When DeLand came before dent Trump’s budget proposal our community, that’s a huge
was the most of funneling $4 million worth
supportive. of general funds into it — for the council in January and asked threatens to cut some federal problem,” she said.
However, infrastructure and operating for $1.13 million to help con- funds used to house and feed The FAITH group has com-
he said in a costs. struct ashelter there, the move lower-income residents. If mitted $20,000 to the First
News-Journal After four years of struggles was lauded by many, including those Community Develop- Step Shelter plan and affiliated
interview he by city and county officials, Wheeler, as “a model” for other ment Block Grants are pared churches have donated hours
still has some faith groups and nonprofits to cities to follow. back, the county might have and money to help the coun-
of the same make headway on a plan, the Pat Patterson said the council to dig into its general fund ty’s homelessness. Anything
Wheeler concerns revelation has city officials as recently as February seemed to keep afloat programs that beyond that “is not what we
and ques- hopeful that a shelter may to reaffirm its long-held posi- keep many others from being do,” said the Rev. Phil Egitto,
tions others actually be on the horizon. tion: infrastructure funding, homeless. pastor of Our Lady of Lordes
have about “We hope we have finally not operations; nothing would “At some point, something Catholic Church and co-chair
a plan that turned the corner on what be discussed until a contract is will have to be cut,” Denys said of the movement.
hasn’t even has been a long time coming presented in writing. of the potential funding loss. “We see this as the county’s
been vetted for our community,” said the “I don’t know why there’s a Of the shelter itself, she responsibility to care for mem-
to them: Rev. Ronald Durham, the city’s suddenly a change of heart,” said funding commitments bers of the community,” he
long-term community relations manager. said Patterson, reiterating his are needed from a myriad of said, adding that Thursday’s
Cusack funding and position. “We don’t want to sources — not just from gov- walk-in is not a protest but a
“It will be a joyous day when
collaboration elected officials stand on the own it, and we don’t want to ernment entities — and it must “positive” attempt to garner
uncertainties, and who would property and stick those shov- run it. We don’t want 30 years span up to five years, not one. support. “We have contributed
run it and own it. els into the ground for the first down the road for the city to get When FAITH leaders demands tax dollars for this. We have all
“I still think it’s a countywide time and turn over soil. That tired of it and say, ‘County it’s support for Daytona’s plan, contributed tax dollars toward
problem and I think the county will mean a new lease on life yours. ...We want to see a con- Denys said she would like them this shelter and we have a say
should have been the one to for our brothers and sisters who tract; just bring us a contract to bring something that might on how that money is spent.”
take ownership of it from the have been waiting a long time and tell us what you expect.” ease some of those concerns: a But Kelley, the county chair,
start,” he said. “It would be for this shelter.” Fred Lowry declined com- check. says churches and nonprofits
wise to take a very open-eyed ment, saying simply that he If it’s so important to should be long-term funding
look at it to try and find a way ‘A change of heart’ wanted to wait and hear the them, she said, some of the partners. A vote for approval —
to make it work. It would be The other members who presentation. Deb Denys said 33 churches involved in the whenever it comes before the
unwise to turn our back on it if didn’t attend the annual FAITH there are too many unan- program should help fund it. council—would be contingent
it’s something that’s workable assembly didn’t make any swered questions and that “When a nonprofit (or) church on that component, he added.
 SPORTS ◆ B1 LOCAL ◆ C1

Tar Heels triumph Developer proposes plan

in fantastic finish for blighted DeLand hotel

HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Final Edition

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 News-Journalonline.com $1 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal

SUNDAY MONDAY TODAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY SUPREME COURT

NOMINEE
$120 million over 35 Main Street once The city bought crime- East International Since 2006, Daytona
years has improved
some of the beachside.
But the area remains
thrived. It’s largely
deserted except for Bike
Week and Biketoberfest.
ridden Grandview
Apartments and razed
them for planned new
Speedway Boulevard
may be the ugliest
beach approach on the
Beach has provided
$713,000 for property
owners to use for
Senate
plagued with poor
housing, crime and few
And millions in
improvements have not
housing. Now, 10 years
later, it’s an empty lot.
East Coast. Improving
it will cost tens of
improvements. Some
of those properties are showdown
could
businesses. paid off. millions of dollars. now vacant.

TA R N IS H E D JEW E L : DAYT ONA’S T R OU BLED BEAC H SID E change

Capitol

EMPTY PROMISES Democrats can filibuster

Gorsuch, but GOP can
change rules. deepening
partisanship in chamber

By Steven T. Dennis
and Laura Litvan
Bloomberg

Senate Democrats set the

stage for a confrontation this
week that likely will change
how Washington works as they
assembled more than enough
votes to block President Donald
Trump’s first Supreme Court
nominee under the current rules.
Chris Coons of Delaware
and Maryland’s Ben Cardin on
Monday became the 41st and
42nd Democrats to say they
would vote against advancing
the nomination of Judge Neil
Gorsuch. Shortly afterward,
John McCain, R-Arizona, said
he was giving up his effort to
forge a compromise.

SEE SENATE, A9

More inside
Explainer: What is the Senate’s
‘nuclear option’? A9

ORANGE CITY POLICE

The city purchased the Grandview Apartments for $1.87 million in 2007, then demolished them in the hope of turning the remaining lot into new
homes. A decade later, the lot is vacant. [NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK]
Suspect
DAYTONA Atlantic 10 years and $1.87 million later, A TOWN HALL escapes
through hole
BEACH d. Ocean
Blv
ge beachside lots wait for buyers MEETING ABOUT
krid THE BEACHSIDE
N. A

Oa . Main
lvd

in ceiling
rB
tlan

t l e Street
Bu . CRA By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean // eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com On Thursday, News-
l St
tic A

Ear Journal Editor Pat Rice

ve.

DAYTONA BEACH — Thenumbers demand a double will moderate a public

in S
t.
take. town hall meeting to Investigators report
Halifax Ma
River Site of former In 2007, the city paid $1.87 million for an aging, hear citizens’ ideas on man removed exhaust
Grandview
Apartments
crime-ridden apartment complex just south of East how to improve the fan, climbed into attic
International Speedway Boulevard, then demolished core beachside area
Goodall Ave. the buildings. of Daytona Beach. It By Patricio G. Balona
¼ mile Six years later, the city sold the vacant lot in the 500 will include a panel of patricio.balona@news-jrnl.com
92 Braddock Ave.
block of South Grandview Avenue to White Challis activists and officials
Source: maps4news.com/©HERE
GATEHOUSE MEDIA
Redevelopment for $27,500. White Challis is owned who will respond to ORANGE CITY — An ex-con-
by Jack White, who is married to Daytona Beach City questions and ideas vict arrested on a shoplifting
Commissioner Kelly White. from those attending. charge escaped from a police
But the $1.84 million gap between the city’s purchase The town hall will begin station by making a hole in
ONLINE price and its sale price to White Challis hasn’t added up at 6 p.m. at the Commu- the ceiling of a bathroom as an
See photo galleries of to a financial bonanza for the developer. nity United Methodist officer stood guard outside,
the Daytona troubled Even if White Challis makes top dollar on every lot it Church, 616 Harvey Ave. investigators said.
beachside and take a sells on the beachside land, half of those proceeds will There is parking behind After his Sunday arrest,
tour with video of the go to cover money the company has already invested to the church. We hope Michael Caruso, 31, removed an
beachside neighbor- you’ll attend. exhaust fan from the bathroom
hoods. SEE EMPTY PROMISES, A6
SEE ESCAPE, A5

WEATHER BUSINESS LET’S TALK PETS

TODAY WED THU

87°/68° 90°/66° 80°/52°

Complete forecast, C6

CONTACT US Developer building Consider plans for

2 communities
Home delivery .....877-777-6673 The subsidiaries of one of
United Kingdom’s “leading
Volume XCIV, Issue 94 housebuilders” are building
their first two communities
in the Volusia-Flagler area
side by side near The Pavil-
ion at Port Orange shopping
center. A8
pets in your will
Many pet owners pass away
with no plans for their pets.
They often end up in already
overflowing local shelters or
have to be re-homed through
rescue groups struggling to
keep up with the influx of
unwanted pets. D1

Abby ..........................................D6 Deaths .......................................C5 Opinion ......................................A4

Classified ...................................D7 Horoscope .................................D5 Puzzles ....................................D4-5
Comics ....................................D4-5 Kidz Buzz ...................................D3 Television ...................................D2
EMPTY PROMISES
improve the property. When
the lots sell — and none of
them have sold yet —the Day-
tona Beach-based developer
will probably walk away with
about $300,000 to $500,000
in profit for 10 years of work.
More than anything, the
land deal seems to be an
example of the city of Day-
tona Beach paying top dollar
for bad housing, then selling
the property for a very low
price in the hope that it will
lead to better housing in the
city’s struggling core beach-
side area.
‘MAKE
SOMETHING HAPPEN’
The story behind the land
sale begins in 2007, about
80 years after the Grandview
Apartments were built just a
block from the Atlantic Ocean.
By then, the boxy three-story
apartment buildings with
south Florida owners were
long past their prime.
Some windows on the dilap-
idatedbuildings were boarded
up. Rusting window air con-
ditioners protruded from the
exterior walls. The 34-unit
complex distinguished itself
as a crime-riddled nuisance.
Former Daytona Beach
Police Chief Mike Chitwood
and his officers “were frequent
visitors there,” said Tim Davis,
who serves as senior vice pres-
ident of Ormond Beach-based
SVN Alliance Commercial
Real Estate Advisors.
“If the city didn’t buy it,
another investor would have,
and it would have perpetuated
the problem,” Davis said.
Carl Lentz, a former Day-
tona Beach city commissioner
and managing partner with
SVN Alliance, called the
Grandview Apartments “a
disgusting complex.”
City Redevelopment Direc-
tor Reed Berger was new to
Daytona Beach in 2007. Not
long after Berger was hired,
one of his priorities became
doing something about the
problem apartments, located
in the city’s South Atlantic
Redevelopment Area, one of
five community redevelop-
ment areas in the city.
The South Atlantic CRA
was established in 2001 and
includes 83 acres that mostly
run just south of East ISB and
straddle State Road A1A down
to Silver Beach Avenue. The
South Atlantic CRA abuts the
Main Street CRA to the north,
and is part of the core beach-
side area.
When a CRA is established,
the value of property within
its boundaries is calculated.
For the rest of the life of the
CRA, whenever the value
of that property rises above
the original base calculation,
the property tax dollars the
increase generates can be used
to make improvements within
the CRA’s borders.
The South Atlantic CRA,
which will sunset in 19 years,
has been the lowest revenue
generator among Daytona
Beach’s CRAs. A 2015 budget
shows revenues for the South
Atlantic CRA at $18, none of
which came from the incre-
mental property tax dollars.
City records show no incre-
mental tax dollars were
generated in the South Atlan-
tic CRA from 2011 to 2015.
But early in the South Atlan-
tic CRA’s life, property values
were rising and so were extra
tax dollars — more than $1 mil-
lion in 2007.Still, using $1.87
million to buy the Grandview
Apartments was a big gamble.
“The city wanted to remove
the problem sooner than
later,” Berger recalled. “The
city decided to let some money
be used to make something
happen.”
The price the city paid was
driven up because the apart-
ment property owner, GB
Properties of Volusia, had to
pay to relocate people. So the
city added some money to its
purchase to help cover that,
Berger said.
“We didn’t want to pay that
after the fact,” Berger said.
The value of the place was
also a result of tenants paying
cash rent by the week, said
Lentz, who was a city com-
missioner in 2013 when the
city finalized the apartments
land sale and he voted yes.
“There was so much cash
flow,” he explained. “It’s the
A6
Jack White, owner of White Challis Redevelopment, hopes to build town homes on the site of the old Grandview Apartments on S. Grandview Avenue.
His company has invested an estimated $600,000 on infrastructure for the new WC Place. [NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK]
“
It should be
noted that the
property was
purchased at the
height of the real
estate boom when
values tripled in
price, and sold when
property values
declined by the same
amount.”
Reed Berger, City
Redevelopment Director
same with those multi-fam-
ily homes (on the beachside).
They’re worth $300,000-
$400,000 because of the cash
flow value.”
Lentz estimated that in 2007
the Grandview Apartments
land was worth $30,000, but
the buildings were worth $1.5
million because of the income
stream.
NEW OWNER SEARCH
Once the city took owner-
ship, the apartments were
demolished. Then the city
began looking for a devel-
oper to put new housing on
the freshly cleared one-acre
parcel. In March 2008 the city
put out a request for proposals.
There were three bidders
originally, but one dropped
out, Berger said. That left
The Grandview Apartments, during their better days in the early 1980s. By 2007, when the city bought and demol-
ished it, the complex had become a magnet for crime. [FILE PHOTO: 516 S. GRANDVIEW DAYTONA BEACH 4/07/1982.]
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Reed Berger had just become Daytona Beach’s redevelopment director in
2007 when the city purchased the dilapidated Grandview Apartments for
$1.87 million and demolished it. In 2014, the city sold the property for just
$27,500 to White Challis Redevelopment. [NEWS-JOURNAL / LOLA GOMEZ]
White Challis and Community
Builders Group of Leesburg.
White Challis redevelops
properties in historic urban
areas, often partnering with
cities and counties interested
in rejuvenating struggling
areas. The company — led by
White and his business partner
of eight years, former Cobb
Cole attorney Chris Challis
—was chosen despite offering
less for the land than Commu-
nity Builders Group.
Community Builders Group
offered $280,000 to buy the
land and wanted to build 14
town homes.In a 2008 letter to
the city, the president ofCom-
munity Builders Groupsaid his
employees had hundreds of
years of construction experi-
ence among them.
But their style of homes
was different than the design
White Challis pitched, and
their proposal was struc-
tured differently. The price
Community Builders Group
offered, and a deal for profit
sharing with the city, came
with terms and conditions that
had to be met.
“You have to weigh what’s
the best project, and what
would be compatible with the
area,” Berger said. “It wasn’t
just the highest bid for the
ground. It was to get the best
result for the land.”
One of the biggest critics
of the apartment land deal is
Anne Ruby, who moved to
Daytona’s beachside in 2013.
She doesn’t understand why
the city didn’t go with the
higher bidder, and she thinks
it was a mistake for the city to
take five years to close the deal
with White Challis.
“The city is not well served
when it agrees to development
deals that are too long-term,”
said Ruby, who also believes
Community Builders Group
was more experienced. “The
whole way that decision was
made and documented is com-
pletely unacceptable.”
Although White Challis
was selected and was under
contract by 2008, the deal
wasn’t finalized for five more
years. It was a performance-
based purchase agreement.
Before the land sale could
close, the company had to be
ready to move on infrastruc-
ture improvements and home
construction.
“We weren’t going to sell
the land until they were ready
to develop,” Berger said.
“The city wanted proof we
could fulfill our goals,” White
explained. “We had to prove
we had the money for the
infrastructure and building
on lots. The city didn’t want
us owning it if we were just
sitting on it.”
Originally, White planned to
build 17 attached single-fam-
ily Brownstone town homes.
White marketed that idea from
2008 until 2012, but buyers
weren’t to be found. The
economy had tanked. Plans
to pre-sell at least 50 percent
of the units also didn’t pan out,
and building on speculation
was too risky and difficult to
finance.
“It’s tough to get loans for
infill projects,” Berger said.
So about five years ago,
White Challis switched to
selling individual lots for 15
unattached town homes
that will be financed by the
buyers. White said he has
moved all of his housing
developments to that model,
including William Square in
downtown Daytona Beach,
which has four lots left to
sell, and Tabby House in New
Smyrna Beach, which is sold
out.
“The years 2008-2014 were
not the years you wanted to be
developing anything, and we
couldn’t find a market for the
product as a whole,” White
said. “Sometime around 2012
we switched to the single-
family lot detached concept
because that allowed us to get
all the infrastructure put in,
and then have the homes built
one at a time.”
A rendering of the project,
called the WC Grand, shows
two- and three-story urban-
style town homes. If built,
they will stick out as the nicest
and newest homes for blocks.
The neighborhood around
the project is a mix of Victo-
rian homes, Spanish-style
dwellings, and 1960s and
1970s houses converted to
multi-family structures. As
is the case across much of the
core beachside, some homes
are meticulously cared for, and
others are victims of neglect.
White is confident the town
homes will help the neigh-
borhood. Just tearing down
the old apartment buildings

spurred surrounding property
owners to clean up, renovate
and landscape, he said.
“You could tell that was the
bad apple in the neighbor-
hood,” White said. “If there’s
crack dealers and hookers
right there, it’s hard for you
to invest in your home.”
Buyers will have to choose
from a group of three or four
pre-selected building designs.
“It’s got to be compat-
ible with the neighborhood,”
Berger said.
BUYING HIGH, SELLING LOW
It wasn’t until December
2013 that the city finalized
the sale to White Challis.
Originally, the city was
going to charge $132,500
for the property. Instead,
city officials agreed to sell to
White Challis for $27,500,
and use the difference
between that amount and
the original asking price as
an incentive to accelerate
development. For each lot
that doesn’t build a town
home within three years of
closing on a land sale, White
Challis will be required to pay
the city $7,000. If all 15 town
homes miss that deadline,
White Challis will give the
city $105,000.
Although the property
came at a very nice price,
development of it has been
more costly.
To date, White said his
company has sunk about
$600,000 into the proj-
ect, and he expects the final
tally to climb higher. Among
the expenses: engineering,
infrastructure construction,
and unexpected founda-
tions and old infrastructure
underground that had to be
removed. Pipes for water,
sewer and storm water had
to be laid for every lot.
“The contractor who
demolished the property left
debris in the ground, and that
delayed us three months,”
White said. “Also, clay piping
complicated it for four to five
months. We had to redesign
the infrastructure plan.”
As for the city, its timing on
the Grandview Apartments
deal turned out to be impec-
cably bad.
“It should be noted that
the property was purchased
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
WE WANT
TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you have ideas to improve
the core beachside area of
Daytona Beach, or would like
to comment on this series,
email News-Journal Editor Pat
Rice at pat.rice@news-jrnl.com.
at the height of the real estate
boom when values tripled in
price, and sold when property
values declined by the same
amount,” Berger said.
For White Challis, the
property came not only with
issues underground, but with
strings attached as well.
“The way I look at it was
how much was it going to cost
me to fulfill our obligations,”
White explained. “A normal
deal has no expectations once
the purchase of the property
is made.”
Usually, a new owner is
free to flip a property for
profit if an interested buyer
comes along. But under terms
of their agreement with the
city, White Challis can’t do
that.
“What we paid to close
was only the beginning of
what it was going to cost
us,” said White. “My ques-
tion to people is, what’s the
property worth? It was worth
less than $0 when we found
infrastructure problems.”
White said it’s the type of
risky venture almost no one
wants. He said the property
wasn’t worth the $1.87 mil-
lion the city paid even with
the apartments. But profit
wasn’t the city’s goal.
“Their goal was to get rid
of a drug-infested, derelict
property,” said White.
Part of the lingering sus-
picion surrounding the deal
has to do with White being
married to Kelly White. But
Kelly White didn’t get elected
to the City Commission until
November 2010, two years
after White Challis was con-
ditionally chosen for the
property deal.
Kelly White, who declined
to comment about the proj-
ect, recused herself from the
City Commission’s 2013 vote
to finalize the sale to White
| Tuesday, April 4, 2017
For now, the site of what the city of Daytona Beach hopes will become the “WC Grand” town homes is vacant.
[NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER ]
Challis.
CREATIVE
URBAN DWELLERS
The lots have been ready to
be sold for about six months
now. The land, empty for a
decade, now sits patiently
waiting for its first lot buyer.
It looks about as good as a
vacant property can. Fresh
green grass on the site is
growing, new cement side-
walks have been laid, and a
freshly paved asphalt thor-
oughfare cuts through the
complex.
On the corner with Good-
all Avenue, a colorful sign
trumpets: “WC Grand
Coastal City Homes.” The
sign explains that the home
lots are “especially designed
for the growing number of
creative urban dwellers” and
people who want “a coastal
home close to it all.”
Below the sign is a patch
of native Florida vegetation
that’s a preview for landscap-
ing plans. On the opposite
end of the site at Braddock
Avenue, another sign
announces that financing is
being provided by Gateway
Bank of Florida. A name and
number are provided.
The only way for White
Challis to recoup its invest-
ment will be through the lot
sales. The home builder will
keep all the money the buyers
A7 EMPTY PROMISES
pay for what is built. But first
White Challis has to find a
home builder.
“With little progress being
made selling the lots to indi-
viduals, I’m still searching to
find a home builder that can
build a model that we can sell
at a market rate price,” White
said. “I’ve been hitting a wall
because the bids I’ve been
getting back have been above
what I believe I could sell the
home for.”
The WC Grand lots are
25-30 feet wide, and 60-80
feet deep. They’re being
offered for between $40,000
and a little more than
$80,000. That puts White’s
expected land sale proceeds
somewhere between about
$600,000 and $1.2 million.
The cost of each town
home will vary with the pre-
cise size and the finishes the
buyer chooses, White said.
He said the homes will run
about $110-$140 per square
foot, which will translate to
a price of about $220,000
to $350,000. If someone
wanted a larger home across
two lots, the cost would
exceed $350,000, he said.
The WC Grand prices
are going to be lower than
White’s William Square in
downtown Daytona Beach.
Those homes cost $350,000
to $1 million, said White, who
lives next to William Square
in another one of his projects,
the Wall Street Lofts.
Lentz believes the WC
Grand will be viable as long
as homes around it that are
zoned to be single family are
used that way.
“People who own their
homes take much better care
of them,” Lentz said. “That
improves market value for
everyone.”
Beachside resident Mike
Denis lives two blocks from
the WC Grand site. He wishes
the project well, but he’s
skeptical.
“I think it was a little
pie in the sky,” Denis said.
“Who’s going to buy a
$200,000-$300,000 house
there? I just don’t think it
really stands a chance in this
neighborhood.”
He said most homes near
his house sell for $150,000 to
$200,000, unless they’re on
the Halifax River or the ocean.
White “is risking a lot,”
Denis said.
Davis agrees White has a
challenge on his hands trying
to sell new homes west of
State Road A1A. But he’s
grateful White has tackled
the project.
“I’m so glad to have Jack
and Kelly,” Davis said of the
Whites. “They could make
more money in Port Orange
or New Smyrna Beach or
Ormond Beach.”
 LOCAL ◆ C1 BUSINESS ◆ A8

Governor celebrates job Hospital benefit offers sneak peek

growth at Edgewater company at Stonewood’s newest location

HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Volusia Edition

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 News-Journalonline.com $1 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal

FATAL STABBING
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY TODAY THURSDAY
$120 million over 35
years has improved
Main Street once
thrived. It’s largely
The city bought crime-
ridden Grandview
East International
Speedway Boulevard
Since 2006, Daytona
Beach has provided
Police seek
some of the beachside.
But the area remains
deserted except for Bike
Week and Biketoberfest.
Apartments and razed
them for planned new
may be the ugliest
beach approach on the
$713,000 for property
owners to use for killer of
Outlaws’
plagued with poor And millions in housing. Now, 10 years East Coast. Improving improvements. Some
housing, crime and few improvements have not later, it’s an empty lot. it will cost tens of of those properties are
businesses. paid off. millions of dollars. now vacant.

‘Louie
TA RN IS H ED J E W E L : DAY T O NA’S T R OU BLED BEAC H SID E the Lip’
Biker gang member

BLIGHTED GATEWAY
attacked at Crooks
Den bar in Daytona
By Tony Holt
tony.holt@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH— “Louie

the Lip” lay clinging to life on
the concrete in the alley near
the rear door of a bar with knife
wounds to his body Monday
night.
His vital signs stopped after
he got to the hospital and
now police are trying to piece
together how he died and what
led to the violent encounter
among rival biker gang mem-
bers at the Crooks Den, 126
Orange Ave.
Louie the Lip’s actual name
is Christopher Keating, a
59-year-old member of the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a
SEE STABBING, A7

More online
Watch a press confer-
ence with Daytona Beach
Deputy Police Chief
Jakari Young and hear excerpts
from 9-1-1 calls reporting the
incident at Crooks Den at news-
journalonline.com.

A woman walks past a vacant business along East International Speedway Boulevard between the Halifax River and State Road A1A. That section POISON GAS
of ISB has long been known for its run-down buildings and empty storefronts. A plan to revitalize the corridor could cost as much as $25 million or POSSIBLY USED
more. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
Trump blames
Assad, Obama
DAYTONA
BEACH d.
Atlantic
Ocean
East International Speedway A TOWN HALL
for Syrian
Blv
ge Boulevard is broken. Can a MEETING ABOUT
krid THE BEACHSIDE chemical attack
N. A

Oa d. Main
ler
Blv
plan costing $27.75M fix it?
tlan

Street
But . CRA On Thursday, News-
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Ear Journal Editor Pat Rice Scores of people

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By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean // eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com will moderate a public

E. International town hall meeting to
killed including many
Halifax
River
Speedway Blvd. DAYTONA BEACH —Several decades ago, East Interna- hear citizens’ ideas on women, young children
. tional Speedway Boulevard was flanked by friendly mom how to improve the
Ave and pop restaurants serving down-home cooking, shops By Vivian Salama
5th core beachside area
Goodall Ave. selling beach towels and sand shovels, and an old fashioned of Daytona Beach. It and Josh Lederman
¼ mile ice cream parlor. will include a panel of The Associated Press
92
About 45 years later, the road looks like an apocalyptic activists and officials
Source: maps4news.com/©HERE version of its former self. WASHINGTON — Con-
GATEHOUSE MEDIA
who will respond to
Empty buildings held up by cracked bricks sit like ghosts questions and ideas fronted by one of his first
along the busy thoroughfare between the Halifax River from those attending. foreign crises, President
and Atlantic Ocean. Buildings with broken windows and The town hall will begin Donald Trump on Tuesday
ONLINE missing roof shingles seamlessly blend in with the other at 6 p.m. at the Commu- split the blame for Syria’s
See photo galleries beaten-down structures. Underground, fuel from old gas nity United Methodist worst chemical weapons attack
of Daytona’s troubled stations is seeping between properties. Church, 616 Harvey Ave. in years between its Russian-
beachside and take a Some of the only signs of life come from two strips clubs There is parking behind backed leader and former
tour with video of the and a couple convenience stores. the church. We hope President Barack Obama, as the
beachside neighbor- you’ll attend. new American administration
hoods. SEE BLIGHTED GATEWAY, A6
SEE SYRIA, A3

CONTACT US WEATHER LET’S EAT SPORTS INDEX

Home delivery .......... 877-777-6673
TODAY THU FRI Greek-style potatoes The Masters: 31 trips, 31 Abby ...................................................... E3
Business ................................................. A8
Volume XCIV, Issue 95 great for spring random memories Classified ............................................... D1
Comics ................................................ E4-5
With two big feast days looming News-Journal sports writer Deaths ..........................................C2, C4-5
— Easter and Passover — we’re Ken Willis’ first Masters was in Horoscope ............................................. E5
90°/65° 77°/50° 73°/50° 1986 and he’s been to every one
offering up a simple but delicious Opinion ...............................................A4-5
Complete forecast, C6 side dish: lemony roasted pota- since then. And with this year’s Puzzles ..............................................E3, E5
toes often found on the menu at a tournament starting Thursday, he Television ............................................... E2
Greek restaurant. E1 shares some of his memories. B1
BLIGHTED GATEWAY
“It’s gotten worse and
worse,” said Randall Phillips,
who grew up near the beach-
side road and now co-owns the
Tir Na Nog Irish Pub on East
ISB. “If the city shows up for
code enforcement, that’s the
nail in the coffin.”
Now city leaders are trying
to make their most dramatic
move in years to overhaul the
corridor thousands of tourists
and locals traverse daily.
They’re pushing to line
up the approval and money
neededtogivethestate-owned
road a long-overdue facelift.
Their goal is to move utilities
underground and widen the
road to allow space for a land-
scaped median, bike lanes,
expanded sidewalks, wider
traffic lanes and at least one
roundabout.
But the project would come
at a steep price: An estimated
$25.75 million, maybe more.
The road widening would
chew into properties on both
sides of East ISB, and could
force the demolition of several
of the street’s ailing structures.
Decrepit as those buildings
are, buying out them and the
land underneath won’t come
cheap. Several that have been
listed for sale in recent weeks
are asking for amounts that are
millions of dollars higher than
the properties’ assessed values.
And setting aside property
tax dollars for an East ISB
project that might be years
down the road will take away
funds for other improvements
in the city’s core beachside
neighborhoods.
“I think a lot more money
should go for beautification,
new sidewalks, new palm
trees and better lighting,”
said Gilbert Myara, who owns
a half-dozen properties on
Daytona’s beachside and sits
on the city’s Beachside Rede-
velopment Area Board.
Still, many believe revamp-
ing the city’s main entryway to
the beach is a crucial improve-
mentthatcanserveasacatalyst
for the entire beachside, which
has struggled with rundown
properties, too much crime
and too few decent businesses
and amenities for residents and
tourists.
As tough as mass demoli-
tion could be for the business
owners, the newly opened land
could offer the chance to rein-
vent the eight-block stretch
and give the city a beach
entrance it could be proud of
forthefirsttimeingenerations.
“It’s beautiful when you
come over the International
Speedway Boulevard bridge,”
said beachside resident and
City Commissioner Aaron
Delgado. “There’s this spec-
tacular view. Then when you
comedownintotheheartofthe
corridor that’s when you get
the reality. The first impres-
sion you get on the bridge fades
pretty quickly.”
A $25.75 MILLION IDEA?
Most of the current estimate
of $25.75 million to improve
East ISB won’t go to cover new
asphalt, cement or even engi-
neering on the stretch. It’ll go
to buying out those blighted
East ISB buildings that have
seen little investment in many
years, carry low assessed
values and give back low tax
payments.
One property alone, which
includes the Candy Gentle-
man’s Club and a vacant
convenience store on the
southwest corner of East ISB
and State Road A1A, was listed
in March for $2.2 million. But
in a recent interview, owner
Dominique DeLannoy said he’s
now asking $5 million.
That’s more than $4.5 mil-
lion above the combined just
value of $398,456 for the strip
club and empty convenience
store. DeLannoy, who noted
he’s been talking to attor-
neys specializing in eminent
domain in case the government
attempts to take his property,
said the $5 million seems about
right to him since a Walgreen’s
at A1A and Seabreeze Bou-
levard sold for nearly that
amount a few years ago.
The Walgreen’s property
at 600 Seabreeze Blvd., along
with a clothing store at 537 N.
Atlantic Ave. and restaurant
and bar at 610 Seabreeze Blvd.,
were sold as a package deal in
May 2015 for $4.55 million to a
Los Angeles company.
A man rides his bike along East International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach. City and community leaders are pushing to line up the approval
and money needed to give the state-owned road a long-overdue facelift. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
Back on East ISB, other
asking prices are also climb-
ing.A now-vacant swimwear
shop on the northwest corner
at A1A was recently look-
ing to get $1.5 million for a
3,000-square-foot building
on a 7,000-square-foot lot.
That property has a just value
of $172,754.
Beyond the land and build-
ing purchase costs, if the road
project goes forward, the city
will also be digging into its
walletforpropertyownerswho
fight buyouts and exercise their
right to have their legal fees
covered.
The city is hoping to get
$25 million from the Florida
Department of Transporta-
tion, but that could take years.
So rather than waiting in line
without knowing if the money
willevercomethrough,thecity
has proposed a deal.
The deal calls for the city
to cover the $750,000 bill for
engineering and design costs.
The city would also have to pay
another $25 million up front for
land acquisition, construction
and legal fees — but with a
promise from FDOT to reim-
burse the full $25 million for
those expenses.
The city already has $2 mil-
lion for the project set aside in
its Main Street Community
Redevelopment Area fund. To
come up with the nearly $24
million more the city would
need to cover all costs up front,
a loan could be taken out either
by the city or the Main Street
CRA.
To strike that deal with the
FDOT for its money, the city
first needs to go through the
River to Sea Transportation
Planning Organization. The
TPO isan independent agency
responsible for the program-
ming of all federal and state
transportation funds in Volu-
sia County and much of Flagler
County. The agency has a
board made up of elected offi-
cials from local governments.
A few years ago, the city sent
the TPO a funding applica-
tion to try to get the East ISB
project moving but not much
happened. Last week, the
Most of the current estimate of $25.75 million to improve East ISB would go to buying property along the roadway.
One property alone, which includes the Candy Gentleman’s Club and a vacant convenience store on the southwest
corner of East ISB and State Road A1A, was listed in March for $2.2 million. But in a recent interview, owner Domi-
nique DeLannoy, pictured, said he’s now asking $5 million. The combined just value of the property is $398,456.
[NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
A6 Wednesday, April 5, 2017 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal
city sent the TPO an updated
application with new ideas
for roundabouts and the pro-
posed reimbursement deal
that they hope will accelerate
the project.
“We’re still sitting on a list
that says ‘unfunded,’ “ said
City Commissioner Rob Gil-
liland, a member of the TPO.
“We’re really just at the begin-
ning of this. It might take five
years to get funding.”
A TPO committee evaluates
applications and looks at DOT
funding, Gilliland said.
ROUNDABOUT PLANS
The other thing the city is
awaiting is a decision from
FDOT on which of two road
design plans it will recommend
to the TPO. FDOT studied
a dozen different ideas for
improving the road, and also
considered leaving it as it is,
and in February narrowed that
list to two alternatives.
One option, which comes
with a price tag of about $33
million, calls for adding round-
abouts at Halifax Avenue,
Peninsula Drive, Grandview
Avenue and State Road A1A.
The other design, the $25.75
million plan the city prefers,
installs a roundabout only at
the intersection with A1A.
Plenty of locals would prefer
to never see another round-
about in town again after
one years back at the eastern
base of the Seabreeze Bridge
caused problems for some. At
an FDOT meeting about East
ISB in February, somepeople
staged a mini protest, holding
anti-roundabout signs.
City Commissioner Kelly
White, whose zone encom-
passes a large portion of the
beachside including East ISB,
likes the idea of a single round-
about at A1A.
“I think roundabouts are
kind of iconic and neat, and to
me it’s important to get some-
thing done,” White said.
Local traffic engineer Sans
Lassiter believesthe road that’s
traveled by around 16,000
vehicles daily could be pulled
out of its protracted slump
by the single roundabout at
A1A, along with a raised curb
median and 6-foot-wide
sidewalks.
“This is our gateway and
everybody avoids it,” said Las-
sister, president of Ormond
Beach-based Lassiter Trans-
portation Group. “I think this
is phenomenal. It cleans up the
corridor. It makes it safer for
drivers and pedestrians, and
it will beautify it. I’m totally
behind it.”
One man not behind the plan
foraroundaboutatA1AandISB
is DeLannoy, the decades-long
owner of the southwest corner
of the intersection. DeLannoy
said he spent $160,000 last
year renovating and trans-
forming the Shark Lounge
— once referred to by Sheriff
Mike Chitwood as “a den of
iniquity” —into Candy Gentle-
man’s Club.
Now DeLannoy is afraid the
road project will swallow his
land and nightclub.
“I was very proud of my
improvements,” he said. “It
was going to be beautiful on
that corner. They killed me.”
‘ATOMIC WASTELAND’
While most everyone agrees
the half-mile stretch of East
ISB is in dire need of a make-
over, business owners such
as Phillips, who runs the Irish
pub, have mixed feelings.
Phillips dreams of fixing up
his property a few blocks from
the ocean that he co-owns
with his father. In a few weeks
they’ll have the mortgage paid
off, and they’ll have more
money for improvements.But
he fears the worst for busi-
nesses in the months or even
years of a torn up street and
building demolition.
“It’s going to be an atomic
wasteland,” Phillips said.
He already has his hands full
trying to renovate his tavern
and a vacant structure next to
it. His bar is in a 1922 building
with a rough-looking facade
made up of bare gray cement,
mismatched red bricks and
green paint.
The smaller ramshackle
building he owns next door
was once a gas station, and
then became Howard’s Ice
Cream Shop. Now it’s pep-
pered with monitoring wells
driven into the ground around
the chipped cement parking lot
so state officials can keep tabs
on gasoline flowing beneath
the surface. Phillips suspects
the fuel is seeping over to his
land from a property across
East ISB that also once was a
filling station.
He hopes to eventually turn
the little building into a restau-
rant and brewery with a beer
garden out front. But his bar
building is so close to the road
that the street widening could
scuttle all of his plans.
Phillips sat on the Main
Street Redevelopment Area
Board from the beginning of
2014 until the end of last year,
and he understands why the
city want to improve the area.
He’s had a front-row seat
watching the downward spiral.
“The 2004 hurricanes were
thefinalblow,”hesaid.“Rental
tenants just left because their
properties were demolished.
Some were torn down after
that.”
Last fall’s Hurricane Mat-
thew pummeled the road
again. The storm ripped off
two-thirds of the tar paper
on top of Tir Na Nog, allow-
ing water to stream inside
and forcing Phillips to replace
roofing, insulation and
drywall.
Most East ISB prop-
erty owners aren’t sitting
on money they can use for
upgrades, Phillips said.
“People look at code
enforcement as public enemy
No. 1,” he said. “Some people
have to realize you can’t
improve your property over-
night. I’m not a land baron.
We’re paying off our bills a
month at a time. We don’t
have tens of thousands of dol-
lars to spend.”
Code enforcement rou-
tinely gives people time to
make repairs before moving
to any punitive measures,
but Phillips said “businesses
feel like they’re being hunted
down and prosecuted.”
Hector Garcia, the city’s
head of code enforcement,
said no one’s being hunted.
“We don’t target anyone,”
Garcia said. “The fact is that
we are a reactive unit. We
respond to citizens’ com-
plaints, and if along the way
we observe any property with
violations we will address that
property as well. We work
with property and business
owners to get them to come
into compliance voluntarily.
We are not out to fine people.
That is a misconception.”
DUBAI INVESTOR?
Phillips also blames some of
East ISB’s stagnation on Wil-
liam Bittorf, who along with
his father is one of the big-
gest property holders on the
boulevard and has been slow
to sell or redevelop his land.
“He’s the bully in the sand-
box,” Phillips said.
Bittorf and his father own
about five acres on East ISB
between Peninsula Drive and
Grandview Avenue. Most of
their land is on the south side

of the street around their Big
Daddy’s strip club, which
until recently was called Club
Topic. They also own a vacant
half-acre parcel across the
street on the north side of ISB
that once had a Denny’s res-
taurant on it.
Bittorf said he spent $1
million in 2009 converting
his strip club into an Internet
cafe where customers could
play sweepstakes through
simulated casino-style games.
But the city put a stop to that
use in 2011.
“For sale” signs have gone
up and down on the Bittorf
properties for years.
Several years ago, Publix
was interested in some of the
Bittorf land, said city Redevel-
opment Director Reed Berger.
Publix offered $2.5 million, but
Bittorf insisted on $6 million
and the large grocer walked
away, Berger said.
Bittorf and his business
partners have talked for years
about grandiose projects
that could go on his family’s
property. One idea a couple
years ago called for putting a
hulking300-foot-tall condo,
office and retail tower on his
Big Daddy’s land and another
300-foot-high building on his
property on the north side of
the road. They wanted to con-
nect the pair of buildings with
a bridge that would arch over
the street.
They also talked about
building a 3,000-foot-long
pier with an underwater hotel
at the end near the East ISB
beach approach. And there
was more: creatinga new reef
system, and powering their
developments with wave and
solar energy.
Those plans came with a $1
billion price tag.Even if Bittorf
or an outside developer had
come up with the money, his
conceptual drawings showed
densities and building heights
that far exceed city govern-
ment limits.
In a recent interview, Bit-
torf said he and his father
now have an interested buyer
from Dubai who wants to put a
mosque with a school on their
property. That deal would
include neighboring lots occu-
pied by a Subway sandwich
shop and the Las Olas Argen-
tinian restaurant, he said.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
WE WANT
TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you have ideas to improve
the core beachside area of
Daytona Beach, or would like
to comment on this series,
email News-Journal Editor Pat
Rice at pat.rice@news-jrnl.com.
All three of those proper-
ties, which total 6.2 acres,
are listed for $32.5 million,
Bittorf said. The interested
buyer is offering $29.5 mil-
lion, said Tommy Kelley, a
real estate investor who said
he splits his time living in
Daytona Beach, New Smyrna
Beach, Miami and Boston.
The just value of Big Dad-
dy’s and a large lot next door
is $265,779. The value for
the Las Olas restaurant is
$161,229, and the Subway
is $218,600. The three
assessed values together tally
$645,608.
The Oyster Bay restaurant,
located in a tiny structure
almost touching the Big
Daddy’s building, presum-
ably would be part of the
land sale plan for the pro-
posed mosque. But in recent
days it’s been listed for sale
individually at a price of $1.2
million.
The 2,969-square-foot
Las Olas restaurant building,
built in 1956, has also been
listed in recent days with an
asking price of $1.29 million.
Las Olas owner Enrique Zahn
did not return several calls
seeking comment.
Curtis Dipasqua, a com-
pany agent for a Maitland
entity that owns the Subway
at 600 E. International
Speedway Blvd., also could
not be reached for comment.
Asked about the gap
between the just values and
asking price for his proper-
ties, Bittorf said, “I can put
a number on anything.” He
said he had an offer sev-
eral years ago to sell all five
acres of his property for $18.2
million.
Kelley, who noted he’s
worked with the Bittorfs for
years, said he’d prefer to put
a vacation resort with hotels,
shops and restaurants on the
entire length of East ISB, but
| Wednesday, April 5, 2017
A woman talks on her cellphone as she walks past a vacant business along East International Speedway Boulevard.
[NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
accused the city of repeatedly
blocking plans.
“We’re willing to push
$350 million to $400 million
in there,” Kelley said. “I’d
like to put in something that
doesn’t look like the eyesore
that it is.”
Berger said he’s never heard
of Kelley nor the proposal for
a mosque and school.
“I’m also not aware of any
city staff blocking any plans,”
Berger said.
He said the Bittorf landthat
includes Big Daddy’s and
connected parking lots is
zoned business retail, and
places of worship and private
schools are permitted uses in
that zoning district.
Bittorf thinks his prop-
erty would be unaffected
by the road widening and
roundabout project being
considered, so he’s not con-
cerned about his mosque deal
being interrupted.
“We’re going to help clean
the area up if they’re willing
to come in and the city will
work with them,” he said.
“It’s going to be exciting for
everybody.”
Bittorf added that East ISB
struggles with drug prob-
lems and people begging for
money, and he’d “like to do
something good.”
DASHED HOPES
Ideas less elaborate than
Bittorf’s have also struggled
to become reality.Walgreen’s
A7 BLIGHTED GATEWAY
considered one of the cor-
ners at East ISB and A1A, but
the property owner’s asking
price was too steep, saidTim
Davis, partner and senior
vice president of SVN Alli-
ance Commercial Real Estate
Advisors in Ormond Beach.
For nearly 15 years, there
have been efforts to turn
a 5.4-acre property north
of East ISB on the Hali-
fax River into a complex of
condos with a 300-room
hotel, 57,800-square-foot
shopping area and 172-slip
marina. The city approved
the Gateway Daytona project
at the northeastern base of the
International Speedway Bou-
levard bridge 10 years ago, but
the economy’s near collapse
and personal problems of
developers put plans on hold.
City commissioners have
approved extensions of
development deadlines for
Gateway Daytona three
times, including an extension
that runs out in two years.
The vesting of the marina
slips runs out this year.Davis
said he has “not heard much
out of the Gateway project”
recently.
Davis said East ISB
improvements can only help.
“I’ve had the challenge of
driving an investor from the
airport to the ocean,” Davis
said. “It’s rough.”
City officials haven’t been
blind to the deterioration.
Over the past decade, the
city has purchased about 2.5
acres along East ISB hoping
to acquire enough land for
a commercial site or two.
The city has also demolished
some of the worst the street
had to offer, including a mas-
sage parlorand liquor store.
Berger said he’s wanted to
overhaul the street since he
started working for the city
10 years ago.
“I’m just as frustrated as
anybody,” he said.
Mike Denis has lived just
south of East ISB for most of
his 69 years, and he’s eager
to see the road transform into
something closer to what he
remembers from his younger
days. For now, he sees the
street stuck in limbo.
“The uncertainty with the
road project is killing invest-
ment,” Denis said. “Property
owners don’t know how much
land they’ll lose, if any.”
Delgado, the city com-
missioner, has hope that
East ISB improvements and
building demolitions could
help break the area out of
its “circular chicken-and-
egg trap” of needing better
businesses to create better
residential areas, and vice
versa. Delgado said he sees
“explosive potential being
bottlenecked.”
“We need some sparks
ignited to get things to take
off,” he said. “It’s a bed of dry
tinder. The right match could
ignite it.”

STABBING ‘Bleeding to death’

Continued from A1
a notorious biker gang
that has a local presence,
police said.
No arrests have been
made, but video cameras
inside the establish-
ment captured footage
of a fight that broke out
around 8:30 p.m. near
the service bar, which
carried over toward the
end of the rear hallway
near the exit and spilled
outside, said Daytona
Beach Deputy Chief of
Police Jakari Young, who
held a media conference
Tuesday morning.
“We can tell you that
it was an altercation
between our victim and a
couple of other gentlemen
inside the bar,” Young
said. “Ultimately, from
that argument, it led to
the rear patio where they
engaged in (another)
altercation.”
Lyda Longa, a Daytona
Beach police spokes-
woman, later confirmed
that Monday’s fight was
between members of the
Outlaws and Pagans.
She wouldn’t comment
on whether those two
routinely cause more
problems compared to
other biker gangs. The
department considers all
of them dangerous, she
said.
The second dispute
involved at least one knife
and Keating suffered stab
wounds to his upper back,
Young said.
He was rushed to
Halifax Health Medical
Center and pronounced
dead, according to police.
Two 9-1-1 calls were
made. One of those calls
came from a distraught
woman who identified
the stabber as “bald” and
a Pagan member.
“Oh my God, no!” the
unidentified woman could
he heard yelling on the
phone. The operator urged
her to calm down, but she
wouldn’t. The operator
asked whether there was
someoneelse she couldtalk
to,atwhichtimeamantook
thephone.Hewasalmostas
frantic. He confirmed that
Keating was seriously hurt.
The operator asked
whether the suspect was
still on the premises, but
the male caller was only
interested in talking about
Keating.
“The guy is bleeding to
death, that’s what mat-
ters!” he said.
He told the operator
that the rival gang mem-
bers were no longer there
and told her they were
“white guys on bikes.” He
then yelled at someone to
put pressure on Keating’s
wound.
Amongthewitnesseswas
Steve Kline, 67, who about
14 months ago bought the
Crooks Den.
Kline was seated at the
bar when he heard a com-
motion. Two women in
hysterics ran from the
restroom area to the bar
pleading for him to call
9-1-1. Before Kline could
register what was happen-
ing, another patron inside
the bar called police, Kline
said.
“I’m kind of shocked
right now,” he said at the
bar 12 hours after the stab-
bing. “I never thought
something like that would
happen. I didn’t think it
would get to that extent.”
There were about 30
people in the bar Monday
night and Kline said he
noticed nothing out of the
ordinary before the deadly
fight. He recognized the
men as people he had seen
before at the Crooks Den,
butwouldn’tconsiderthem
regulars.
Kline said he saw a few
men walk down the hall
onebyonetowardtherest-
rooms, but they didn’t look
hostile or angry. Seconds
later came the stabbing.
The second 9-1-1 call
came from an unidentified
man who admitted he was
reluctant to call in the first
place.
“I was told by the owner
to stay out of it, but I kind
of know what went on, but
Idon’twantto bea snitch,”
the caller said. After he
was told someone else had
already called 9-1-1, he
replied, “OK, then. I’m out
ofthis.Iwasjustaskedtodo
what I’m doing now.”
Video captures fight
The fight caused some
structural damage to the
bar. A water pipe running
along the ceiling was nearly
ripped down.
Longa said the depart-
ment has received 56 calls
for service at the Crooks
Den since Jan. 1, 2016. The
calls range from Monday
night’s homicide to vari-
ous medical calls. Other
responses have been for
thefts, outstanding war-
rants, drugs, fraud, alarm
activation and vandalism,
she said.
Young said those who
were involved in the skir-
mish fled through the back
alley, got on their motor-
cycles that were parked out
front on Orange and pulled
away before police arrived.
The deputy chief said he
has seen the video footage
and it was difficult to make
out specifics, but it was
clearthatafighthad started
to break out inside the bar.
“You can see an alterca-
tion,”Youngsaid.“Youcan
see a few men engaged in a
physicalfight.That’spretty
much what it shows.”
Images from the video
can’t be released to the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club members gather outside Dirty Harry’s during last month’s Bike Week in
Daytona Beach. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER ]
media because it is part of
the evidence, he said.
Criminal past
Keating, who lived
in the Lake Ashby area
southwest of New Smyrna
Beach, didn’t appear to
have been armed when he
was stabbed, according to
police.
“Any time you’re deal-
ing with gangs, there’s a
possibility of retaliation,”
Young said.
“This is not something
to be proud of,” he added, An Outlaws Motorcycle Club member was stabbed to death out-
aiming his comment to side the Crooks Den in Daytona Beach on Monday. A member of a
the rival gang suspected rival gang is suspected, police said. [NEWS-JOURNAL/TONY HOLT]
of causing Keating’s
death. “Someone lost at the time. Even though while playing with a gun,
their life last night and he was sentenced to 20 according to the Miami
we’re just going to do our years, a federal inmate Herald story.
best to bring those per- database showed that One of the most infa-
sons to justice.” Keating was released mous local Outlaws was
Keating was one of 14 from prison in February Harry “Taco” Bowman,
defendants in a Jackson- 1987. He already had the who spent time on the
ville federal courtroom in “Louie the Lip” moniker FBI’s Most Wanted list
early 1983 during a highly before the trial, accord- in 1998. News reports
publicized racketeering ing to a couple of stories show Bowman was
trial that lasted close to a written back then. linked to the murder of a
month, according to vari- A Miami Herald reporter fellow Outlaws member
ous archival news stories. who covered the trial in 1982 in Ormond Beach
All of defendants on trial described some harrow- and the murder of a rival
were members of the ing testimony. A woman club member in 1991 in
Outlaws. All but one of was falsely accused by the Edgewater.
them were convicted and gang of stealing Quaalu- After a year of being
were sentenced to various des and her punishment wanted by the FBI, he was
terms in April of that year. included being locked apprehended in Michi-
Keating was convicted in a room with Keating, gan, tried and convicted
of conspiracy and rack- who repeatedly beat her of racketeering and other
eteering charges, the in her chest and side. He charges. He is serving two
Associated Press reported also threatened her life life sentences.

Thursday, April 6, 2017
SUNDAY
$120 million over 35
years has improved
some of the beachside.
But the area remains
plagued with poor
housing, crime and few
businesses.
TA RN IS H E D J E W E L : DAY T O NA’S T R OU BLED BEAC H SID E
HITS AND MISSES
Homes and businesses
received $713,000
in city improvement
grants. Results were
jarringly mixed.
By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean
eileen.zaffiro-kean@news-jrnl.com
DAYTONA BEACH — It seems
like a great way to improve a
neighborhood one home or busi-
ness at a time. Hand out grants to
property owners who have fixes
to make, and just watch things
get better.
But in the Main Street Commu-
nity Redevelopment Area, where
over the past decade the city has
provided 182 of the taxpayer-
financed grants totaling about
$713,000, results have been jar-
ringly uneven.
The News-Journal visually
inspected every property that
received a grant. Some of those
properties are well-kept, and the
improvements made to them are
impressive.
But some businesses and homes
that used grants for improve-
ments in the core beachside
area are now vacant. A number
of empty businesses along East
International Speedway Bou-
levard received improvement
grants.
And although rental property
owners are no longer eligible for
the program, the largest recipi-
ent of the facade grants within
the Main Street CRA is actually
a rental property owner who has
clashed legally with the city over
code enforcement.
“It’s like putting on a clean pair
of pants, but you’re still wear-
ing dirty underwear. It’s pretty
superficial,” George Mirabal
said of the grant effort. Mirabal
was deeply involved in beach-
side redevelopment efforts when
he was president and CEO of the
Daytona Regional Chamber of
Commerce from 1987 to 2007.
Others think a more robust
SEE HITS AND MISSES, A6
CONTACT US
Home delivery .......... 877-777-6673
Volume XCIV, Issue 96
SPORTS ◆ SECTION B LOCAL ◆ C1
N-J sports writer Ken Willis Runoff carves path through
breaks down the Masters dune in Flagler Beach
HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Volusia Edition
News-Journalonline.com $1 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal
VOLUSIA COUNTY
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY TODAY COUNCIL
Council
Main Street once The city bought crime- East International Since 2006, Daytona
thrived. It’s largely ridden Grandview Speedway Boulevard Beach has provided
deserted except for Bike Apartments and razed may be the ugliest $713,000 for property
Week and Biketoberfest.
And millions in
them for planned new
housing. Now, 10 years
beach approach on the
East Coast. Improving
owners to use for
improvements. Some member’s
trip triggers
improvements have not later, it’s an empty lot. it will cost tens of of those properties are
paid off. millions of dollars. now vacant.
travel talk
County considers
policy change to
increase transparency
By Dustin Wyatt
dustin.wyatt@news-jrnl.com
Volusia County Council
members must seek approval
before they embark on out-
of-county,
taxpayer-funded
business trips,
under a pro-
posed policy
change to be
considered
Post
today.
Council members asking for
the revision call it an effort to
increase transparency to the
public, but there’s little doubt
who it’s aimed at ahead of
Thursday’s vote.
Heather Post, recently lec-
tured in a public meeting for
SEE COUNCIL, A8
More inside
FAITH group to march for home-
less to Volusia council meeting, C1
NATIONAL SECURITY
COUNCIL
Trump drops
Bannon
from NSC
in shake-up
Controversial adviser’s
removal said to reflect
growing influence of
In the past decade, the city of Daytona Beach has handed out 182 taxpayer-financed “facade” grants national security adviser
totaling $713,000 to homes and businesses in the Main Street Community Redevelopment Area. The
grants’ purpose was to pay for improvements and fixes to buildings in the area, but the results have Robert Costa and Abby Phillip
The Washington Post
been mixed. The Streamline Hotel, top photo, received a $25,000 historic commercial grant in 2011
and $5,000 in additional grants last year to help refurbish the iconic art deco hotel. It will reopen
later this month. Meanwhile, a property on Hollywood Avenue, above, owned by Jack Aberman, also WASHINGTON— President
received a $5,000 facade grant. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER] Donald Trump on Wednes-
day removed controversial
White House
A TOWN HALL MEETING ABOUT THE BEACHSIDE chief strate-
gist Stephen
This evening, News-Journal Editor Pat Rice will moderate a public town hall meeting to
Bannon from
hear citizens’ ideas on how to improve the core beachside area of Daytona Beach. It will
the National
include a panel of activists and officials who will respond to questions and ideas from
Security Coun-
those attending. The town hall will begin at 6 p.m. at the Community United Methodist
cil, part of a Bannon
Church, 616 Harvey Ave. There is parking behind the church. We hope you’ll attend.
sweeping staff
reshuffling that elevated mili-
ONLINE SEARCH OUR DATABASE tary, intelligence and Cabinet
officials to greater roles on the
See galleries of Daytona’s troubled Go to news-journalonline.com for a searchable
council and left Bannon less
beachside and take a tour with video database of all properties in the Main Street
directly involved in shaping
of the beachside neighborhoods. CRA that received improvement grants.
SEE BANNON, A8
WEATHER NATION AT HOME INDEX
TODAY FRI SAT Trump says Syria attack Acrylics a versatile Abby ...................................................... D3
Business ................................................. A9
crossed many lines furniture option Classified ............................................... D6
Comics ................................................D4-5
President declared the deadly Clear the way for acrylics. Deaths ................................................... C5
76°/48° 72°/46° 69°/51° chemical attack in Syria abruptly Furniture makers are using the Horoscope ............................................. D5
transformed his thinking about see-through material for every- Opinion .................................................. A4
Complete forecast, C6 thing from couch legs and bed Puzzles .............................................D3, D5
Syrian President Assad. A5 Television ............................................... D2
posts to tables and footstools. D1
HITS AND MISSES A6 Thursday, April 6, 2017 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal

ONE LANDLORD.
grant program could help
turn the beachside around.
“Isn’t the whole object of a
CRA to be for grants?” asked
longtime beachside resident
Mike Denis. “Maybe that’s
why Main Street and A1A
18 RENTAL PROPERTIES.
are blighted, because there
haven’t been enough grants.”
Don’t look for an increase
$90,000 IN GRANTS.
in facade grants on the
beachside anytime soon. The Landlord Jack Aberman received more grants than anyone inside the Main Street Community Redevelopment Area
well is dry for now. This fiscal — $5,000 each for 18 different rental properties in 2011. This is how the properties look today.
year, the Main Street CRA [NEWS-JOURNAL PHOTOS/PAT RICE]
has earmarked just $50,000
of its $5.8 million budget for 330 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 317 N. HOLLYWOOD AVE. 316 BUTLER BLVD.
facade grants.
THE PROGRAM
Over the past 10 years, the
city has handed out roughly
500 grants totaling more
than $1.9 million to property
owners in its five community
redevelopment areas. The
greatest number of grants
have gone to the Downtown
CRA, where numerous busi-
nesses have used the money
to improve Beach Street
properties. The Main Street 324 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 433 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 434 N. HALIFAX AVE.
CRA has received the second
largest number of grants.
The grants, paid for with
property tax dollars cap-
tured within each CRA,
are intended to be a shot of
financial help for property
owners who want to make
improvements.
The amount spent on
grants in the Main Street
CRA has fluctuated over the
years. After climbing to a
high of $153,485 in 2010, the
amounts given out each year 21 S. PENINSULA DRIVE 22-25 S. PENINSULA DRIVE 432 N. PENINSULA DRIVE
since have dropped. In 2011
there was a relatively small
decline to $147,599, but only
$8,050 in grants was awarded
in 2012. Since then it’s settled
around $25,000 to $50,000
annually.
City Redevelopment Direc-
tor Reed Berger said different
forces push the annual grant
numbers up and down. Some
years, less is given out because
fewer people apply. Other
years, more CRA dollars are
earmarked for other costs. 311 N. HOLLYWOOD AVE. 428 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 318 BUTLER BLVD.
This fiscal year, the city
has budgeted more than $2.5
millionforanannualbondpay-
ment for projects completed
decades ago. Another $2 mil-
lion is being set aside for future
work on East ISB, and another
$1 million will go to a variety of
administrative and other costs.
That leaves just $50,000 for
the grant program.
Those interested in a CRA
grant first have to determine if
their property is eligible. Rental
properties became ineligible 436 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 319 N. HOLLYWOOD AVE. 320 N. PENINSULA DRIVE
for the program in 2012; now,
only owner-occupied homes
qualify.
Only certain types of busi-
nesses are eligible. Gift shops
and most bars, for example,
can’t get grants.
“We have enough (of those
types of businesses),” Berger
said. “We’re trying to lift the
other types of businesses, and
it’s really to help small busi-
nesses. Larger businesses
typically don’t ask.”
A main goal of the program 308 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 442 N. PENINSULA DRIVE 242 N. PENINSULA DRIVE
is to curb vacancy, Berger
said.
Property owners interested
in receiving a grant must fill
out an application. In some
cases, a business plan will
be required. If an applicant
qualifies, he or she has several
different types of grants from
which to choose: commercial
facade, residential facade,
business facade, leasehold
improvement, lease subsidy,
historic residential, historic
commercial and landscape.
For those who are chosen provide some sort of match, Property Management. of the homes are more worn repairs.
for a grant, “CRA funds can be Berger said. There also is a In 2011, Aberman received now. “It’s going back, and that’s
used to rehabilitate the exte- way to get a grant with no 18 residential facade grants Eight of Aberman’s proper- why I’ve got boards on the
rior of existing residential and match required, but most of $5,000 each, for a total of ties are grouped in a horseshoe windows,” he said. “That
commercial buildings, with an people don’t like the strings $90,000. That makes him the of sorts at the corner of North corner has definitely been a
emphasis on improving the attached to that offer, Berger largest recipient of the grant Peninsula Avenue, Coates work in progress.”
appearance from the public said. It means getting a lien program in the Main Street Street and North Hollywood But Aberman said the inte-
street or public spaces,” on the property and not being CRA. Avenue. The lawns of those riors of the homes “are all
Berger said. Businesses also able to sell it for five years, he City records show Aberman properties are worn and some- definitely in pretty good shape.
can use grants forthings such said. used most of the money he what littered. Some windows They’re not that bad as you
as plumbing and ovens, he The city requires grant received to paint those prop- are covered with boards. In a would think.” Until recently,
said. applicants to get bids for the erties. He also spent money few spots, paint is peeling. some of the homes were
Grants can’t be used to fix work they want done. Those fixing windows and making “Paint jobs, because we’re in vacant. But now all but one of
hurricane damage, or for roof approved then have to tackle other exterior repairs. such a hot climate, you really them are occupied— some by
work.For homes in the Main the work with contractors fol- Aberman said he followed a get only 5-8 years,” Aberman the people who are working on
Street CRA, allowable home lowing city code. They receive city-dictated color scheme on said. the properties.
expenditures include paint- the money after the work is the properties that received Hurricane Matthew also Aberman has had legal issues
ing, refurbishing windows done. grants, and he replaced win- didn’t help. It damaged the with the city.
and improving doors. dows, fixed porches, and made roofs and some windows. In 2014, three code vio-
The bulk of Main Street THE LARGEST RECIPIENT a variety of other improve- Aberman is in the process of lation cases on Aberman’s
CRA grants over the past If anyone’s familiar with the ments. He said the houses having the roofs repaired and properties went before a
decade have been for $1,000 grant program, it’s Jack Aber- looked sharp when they were the windows replaced. Part special magistrate. The
to $5,000. Many property man,ownerofnumerousrental completed. of the challenge, he said, is main charge in each case of
owners don’t seek more propertiesinthecorebeachside “They were immaculate,” he that window contractors have the properties on Peninsula
because they usually have to area. His company is Daytona recalled. He also agreed some been so busy doing hurricane and Hollywood was failure

John and Stacy Nichols purchased a home on North Peninsula Avenue just blocks from the beach. They received a $10,000 facade grant from the city in 2014, and used it to add an open
porch to their home. They then spent thousands of dollars of their own money improving the rest of the house. But behind their home are rental properties that appear to have squatters
living in them. “They just camp out in the house,” Stacy Nichols said. The neighborhood, she added, is “just not safe. It’s not nice.” [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER]
to license residential rental
property.
Aberman didn’t make it to
the November 2014 hearing,
and Assistant City Attorney
Anthony Jackson told Special
Magistrate David Vukelja that
the only response he got from
Aberman was a fax warning
the city to stay off his prop-
erty. Jackson also told the
magistrate that Aberman’s
company at that time, GEA
Seaside Investments, was in
bankruptcy.
Vukelja found each of the
three properties in question
thatdaynotincompliancewith
city code and ordered daily
fines of $1,000 if compliance
didn’t come about by the next
month. Liens of up to $15,000
can be placed on each property
that doesn’t resolve violations.
Aberman sued the city in the
fall of 2014, filing a federal civil
rightslawsuitallegingthecity’s
residential rental inspection
program was unconstitutional.
The suit argued that before
city inspectors enter homes,
they should have search war-
rants and probable cause to
believe there’s been a legal
violation. The city wound up
changing its practices to seek
permission or a warrant to
search properties.
Now the city has brought a
new code violation case against
Aberman. In November, Aber-
man’s property at 358 Nautilus
Ave. was cited forroof damage,
broken windows and failure to
obtain a rental license. With
the problems still lingering
more than four months later,
the case is slated to go before
the magistrate next week.
Aberman has 32 additional
properties that have recently
been cited for code violations,
and those cases will go to the
magistrate in May if he doesn’t
come into compliance by then,
according to HectorGarcia,the
city’s head of code enforce-
ment. Garcia and other city
officials said they were unable
to provide information detail-
ing which propertieswerecited
for the potential May hearing.
Nor could they specify the
violations.
Asked about the city’s com-
plaints, Aberman said, “I’m
coming into compliance.”
Louise Patterson lives
at 315 N. Hollywood Ave.,
literally surrounded by Aber-
man’s rental homes. It’s the
neighborhood she lived in
as a child 50 years ago. After
moving decades ago to north-
ern California, she returned
to Daytona’s beachside in
2015.Her 1920s-era home is a
solid wood-frame, two-story
home that has a beautiful dark
brown wooden floor in the
large living room.
Patterson said Aberman
wanted to buy her home in
2006, and offered her a great
price. She agreed, but the deal
fell through.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
WE WANT
TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you have ideas to improve
the core beachside area of
Daytona Beach, or would like
to comment on this series,
email News-Journal Editor Pat
Rice at pat.rice@news-jrnl.com.
She said some of Aberman’s
properties were vacant until
recently. She added that last
fall’s Hurricane Matthew dam-
aged the roof of Aberman’s
house at 311 N. Hollywood
Ave., forcing the family that
lived there to move. The
roof of that house has been
repaired, but the house is still
unoccupied.
She said hotel employees
and construction workers have
recently moved into some of
Aberman’s houses.
“I don’t mind telling you I
appreciate them being occu-
pied,” Patterson said.
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Thegrantprogram’ssuccess
rate withbusinesses inthe core
beachside has been decidedly
uneven.
An example of success is the
soon-to-open, refurbished
Streamline Hotel at 140 S.
Atlantic Ave. The Streamline
isa motor sports landmark for
hosting rooftop meetings in
1947 that led to the creation of
NASCAR. The 1940s art deco
hotel became a rundown eye-
sore,butwaspurchasedin2011
by Eddie Hennessy.
His company received a
$25,000 historic commercial
grant for the hotel project in
2011 and $5,000 in additional
grants last year. Those dollars
playedasmallroleinthehotel’s
$6 million renovation.
After more than two years,
work on the hotel is nearly
done, and the hotel’s interior
is stunning. The hotel is in the
process of hiring, and will open
soon.
“It’sgreat.Iloveit,”saidJack
Beach, a subcontractor who
worked on the Stream-
line’srenovation and showed
The News-Journal the first
floor,whichcontainsthelobby
and a curved stone bar, marble
columns, blue lighting, and a
large jelly fish tank.
The project’s general
Beach Photo & Video took five small commercial facade grants
from 2006 to 2010 totaling $3,430. Co-owner Mark Robertson
believes the city should spend more money on business grants
and less on things like fixing the Main Street Pier.
“
I’ve called City Hall over the years and they
told me there’s no money available for grants. I
call one or two times per year and ask. If we could
get these buildings on Main Street looking good it
would start us in the right direction.”
— Mark Robertson
| Thursday, April 6, 2017
Who got the grants?
Dozens of homes and businesses within the Main Street Community
Redevelopment Area received facade grants from the city of Daytona
Beach. Here’s where they’re located.
d.
Blv
eze
bre
Sea lvd
d g eB
kri
Oa
But d.
B l v
Ora
N.
Ha
Aud Blvd.
lifa
800 feet
xA
ve.
Halifax
River
Residential
Commercial
Business
Historic
commercial
Leasehold
92
improvement
Source: maps4news.com/©HERE
contractors, brothers Anthony
and Paul Viscomi of Vis-
comi Construction, said
they wound up gutting the
inside of the building, leaving
only the structural walls and
floors. Practically everything,
including the electrical wiring
and plumbing, needed to be
replaced.
Beach, who has lived in Day-
tonaBeachfor52years,saidthe
Streamline effort is worth it.
“Hopefully, this is the start to
(revitalizingthebeachside),”he
said. “This (the area) is the pits
right now. I liked it the wayit
was when I was a kid.”
A couple hundred yards to
the south, examples of CRA
grants that didn’t pan out are
easy to find.
At729E.ISB,theformerBlue
Skye clothing shop received a
$5,000 facade grant in 2009.
It’s empty now, and for sale.
At 509 E. ISB, the former
Santilli’s Restaurant received
$8,252forthreefacadegrantsin
2010.Theplacehasbeenempty
long enough for the restau-
rant’snametohavefaded from
the sign on the west end of the
property. A small handmade
A7 HITS AND MISSES
businessescan’taffordtomake
improvements.”
BITTERSWEET SUCCESS
Even homeowners who’ve
received the city grants aren’t
thrilled with the program. The
Main St. Community
.
Redevelopment Area over-arching problem is the
N. A
crime-plagued, worn nature
tlan
of the Main Street redevelop-
ler
tic
ment area.
Ave
John and Stacy Nichols pur-
N. C
St.
.
chased a worn multi-family
oat
Atlantic
Ocean property at 120 N. Peninsula
es
.
l St Ave. Then they went to work,
Ear um
S t
Boa
turning it into their home just
.
itor
i
S. G
blocks from the World’s Most
rdw N. Oc
ran
Famous Beach.
alk
dvi
in They received a $10,000
Ma t.
ew
S facade grant from the city in
ean
Ave
2014, and used it to put a beau-
tiful open porch on thefront of
Ave
Kemp
.
ve.
ey A St. the home. The couple spent
Harv
.
. thousands of dollars more
Ave improvingtherestofthehome.
5th d.
Blv
e ed way Like the two homes immedi-
l Sp Vermont Ave.
iona ately to the north, the Nichols’
ernat
I nt Goodall Ave. home is now an example of
E.
S. P
Braddock Ave. what the core beachside could
eni
be.
Revilo Blvd.
n
But behind their home are
sul
some multi-family rentals that
aD
Lenox Ave.
appear to have squatters living
r.
GATEHOUSE MEDIA in them.
“They just camp out in the
house,” Stacy Nichols said.
sign in the window advertises The neighborhood, she added,
thatashopcalled“DannyDay- is “justnot safe. It’s not nice.”
tona” will open soon. Among other things, they’ve
Some businesses that had a motorcycle stolen.
receivedfacadegrantsonMain Another day, a girl who was
Street have fared little better. attacked ended up in their
The building at 601 E. Main driveway and bled all over
St., owned by Archie Dodani, it. They love their home, but
receiveda $5,000 façade grant are frustrated that the core
in 2009. It’s now closed for beachside area isn’t what it
much of the year.During this could be.
year’s Bike Week,it temporar- “It’ssadtomethatit’spretty
ily turned into a Donald Trump bad,” Stacy Nichols said.
store selling T-shirts, hats and Beachside activist Amy Pyle
other keepsakes supportive of wasrecentlyappointedtoserve
the president. Itinerant vendor on the city’s Beachside Rede-
Jason Johnson said business velopmentAreaBoard.Shewas
was good during Bike Week, surprised to learn the city has
but fell off a cliff the minute given out more than $713,000
the bikers left town. A big in grants to Main Street CRA
sign on the building says it’s property owners in the past
“AVAILABLE.” decade.Otherthanafewhomes
BeachPhoto&Video,located that capitalized on the grants,
in a 1922 building that’s been Pyle doesn’t see the impact.
around almost as long as Main “The idea is to bring the area
Street itself, took five small up,” said Pyle, who’s also part
commercialfacadegrantsfrom of a nonprofit group called
2006 to 2010 totaling $3,430. Citizens 4 Responsible Devel-
Co-owner Mark Robertson opment that’s working to lure
believes the city should spend smalldevelopmentintothecore
moremoneyonbusinessgrants beachside.“Verylittlehasbeen
andlessonthingslikefixingthe done.”
Main Street Pier. Lookingatasprawlingvacant
“I’vecalledCityHalloverthe lot across the street from her,
years and they told me there’s she asked, “How could that be
nomoneyavailableforgrants,” empty?”
Robertson said. “I call one or Beyond city grants, Pyle
believes the beachside needs
two times per year and ask. If
more homeowners, more
we could get these buildings
small businesses and smarter
on Main Street looking good
code enforcement. But she
it would start us in the right
direction.” refuses to become bitter about
Robertson said he’s been the lack of progress, or stop
on a waiting list to get CRA believing in the beachside.
money to paint and work on “Thisplaceisincredible,”she
his front door.“Instead of me looking at her historic Grand-
calling them, they should send viewAvenuehome,locatedjust
a rep and look at my build- acoupleblocksfromtheocean.
“Smell that air.I think it’s only
ing,” he said. “They should
go door to door. Most of these up from here.”
 go386.com |
News-Journal |
The Daytona Beach

2017
FRIDAY, APRIL 7,

LOCAL ◆ C1 A TRIBUTE TO GO386 ◆ SECTION E

THE BEATLES RAIN brings ‘Sgt.
Pepper’ to

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HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Volusia Edition

Friday, April 7, 2017 News-Journalonline.com $1 daytonabeachnewsjournal @dbnewsjournal

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S RESPONSE

US blasts Syrian base

Missiles target location where More inside It was the
first direct
months ago. Announc-
ing the assault from his
women and children,”
Trumped declared.
chemical-attack planes took off The probe into the chemi-
cal attacks continues. A10
American
assault on
Florida resort, Trump said
there was no doubt Syrian
The U.S. strikes hit the
government-controlled
barrage of cruise mis-
By Julie Pace, Vivian Salama the Syrian President Bashar Assad Shayrat air base in central
and Lolita C. Baldor siles Thursday night the U.S. assault as vital to govern- was responsible for the Syria, where U.S. officials
The Associated Press in fiery retaliation for deter future use of poison Trump ment and chemical attack, which say the Syrian military
this week’s gruesome gas and called on other Trump’s he said employed banned planes that dropped the
PALM BEACH — The chemical weapons attack nations to join in seeking most dramatic military gases and killed dozens. chemicals had taken off.
United States blasted against civilians. Presi- “to end the slaughter and order since becoming “Assad choked out the
a Syrian air base with a dent Donald Trump cast bloodshed in Syria.” president just over two lives of innocent men, SEE SYRIA, A9

TOURISM TARNISHED JEWEL:

‘Namechanger’
DAYTONA’S TROUBLED BEACHSIDE

Local developer
PASSIONATE
offers up new Hard
Rock Hotel plan
By Clayton Park
DEBATE
clayton.park@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH— A Hard

Rock Hotel may be coming to
the World’s Most Famous Beach
after all.
Eight months after Canadian
developer Bayshore Capital
suspended plans to develop an
oceanfront hotel/condomin-
ium complex that would have
included a Hard Rock Hotel,
another developer has stepped
up with plans to bring the iconic
hotel brand to Daytona Beach. Beachside residents and others pack a room at the Community
The local developers who United Methodist Church in Daytona Beach for a town hall
have been renovating the meeting Thursday evening sponsored by The News-Journal. The
former Desert Inn with plans to agenda: What do do about Daytona’s troubled beachside area?
reopen it as a four-star Westin [NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK]
Hotel this summer went to the
VolusiaCountyCouncilonThurs-
dayseekingapprovaltoconvertthe
N-J town hall on Daytona’s core
oceanfront property instead to a area draws large, lively crowd
Hard Rock Hotel. Summit Hos-
pitalityManagementGroupisalso By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean ONLINE
seeking approval to extend their eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com
May7deadlinewiththecountyfor See more photos from Thurs-
opening the new 200-room hotel DAYTONA BEACH day’s town hall. Also, go to
at 900 N. Atlantic Ave. to Dec. 31. — A standing-room- news-journalonline.com to read
Council members, who only crowd of about 230 the entire series, see galler-
applauded the news of the people packed into an ies and watch video tours
Daytona Beach-based hotel aging beachside church beachside neighborhoods.
development company’s plans Thursday night to share
at their meeting Thursday, are their thoughts on why the
expected to decide the matter at area between the Halifax Church on Harvey Avenue
their April 20 meeting. River and Atlantic Ocean hadn’t wrapped up.
struggles so much, and Complaint-driven code
SEE HARD ROCK, A9 what can be done. enforcement. A never-
Opinions on what went ending stream of homeless
Rock on wrong on the beachside people. Slumlords focused
came fast and furious for on little more than what’s
Check out more photos The developers of the former Desert Inn in Daytona Beach, which was slated more than two hours, and inside their wallets. The
and watch video of to become a Westin Hotel, are now planning to open it as a 4-star Hard Rock probably would have gone chaos of Bike Week and
county and hotel officials Hotel, pending approval of the name change from the Volusia County Council. on another two hours if Biketoberfest. Reducing
talking about the project: news- The developers would also like to move the opening date of the renamed hotel the meeting inside Com-
journalonline.com from May 7 to Dec. 31. [NEWS-JOURNAL/JIM TILLER] munity United Methodist SEE DEBATE, A9

WEATHER BUSY TIME FOR CONGRESS

TODAY SAT SUN

71°/46° 72°/50° 76°/60°

Complete forecast, C6

CONTACT US
Senate changes ‘nuclear option’
Home delivery .....877-777-6673 rules; intelligence chairman steps aside
Volume XCIV, Issue 97 Republicans invoked the “nuclear option” in the Senate,
changing the rules to allow President Trump’s Supreme
Court nominee to get on the court. Also, the Republican
chairman is stepping aside from leading a congressional
investigation of Russian interference in last year’s U.S.
presidential election, citing ethics complaints. A8

Abby ........................................ E14 Comics ................................ E16-18 Opinion ......................................A4

Business ...................................A11 Deaths ....................................C4-5 Puzzles ........................ E14-15, E19
Classified ...................................D2 Horoscope ................................. E7 Television ................................. E10

HARD ROCK
From Page A1
Volusia County Chair Ed
Kelleyis already on board, noting
that the proposed switch still
brings a high-end luxury hotel
to Daytona Beach’s beachside,
an area that has been in great
need of revitalization.
“You’d be getting a quality
brand that would be a destina-
tion,” Kelley said, adding that it
could give the beachside area a
much-needed lift. “This will be
so exciting that it will drive tour-
ism to a level we’ve never seen
before.”
Fellow council members
quickly added their support.
“This is good for all parties
in Volusia County,” Council-
woman Deb Denys said. “It is
good for development. It is good
for investment.”
“This is something that can
get things (on the beachside)
really going,” Councilman Pat
Patterson added.
Summit managing member
Abbas Abdulhussein said his
company had a “letter of intent”
with Hard Rock and hoped to
complete the deal soon, after the
county signs off on the change.
The goal, he said, remained
securing a high-quality hotel
for the Daytona area. The Hard
Rock, like the Westin, would be
just the second four-star hotel
in the area.
“We invested and believed
in Daytona when pretty much
nobody else did,”Abdulhussein
said. “We saw a flight toward
quality. ... People were willing
to pay more for quality.”
Summit has been doing busi-
ness in Daytona Beach since
2007 when it purchased what
was then the Inn on the Beach at
1615 S. Atlantic Ave. Since then
it has acquired several other area
hotels and recently proposed
a plan to renovate the historic
Putnam Inn in DeLand.
Kelley and Abdulhussein met
Wednesday with The News-
Journal’s editorial board to
discuss the proposed changes
along with a few others close to
the project.
Abdulhussein said his fam-
ily-run company decided to
terminate its agreement with
Westin after Starwood Hotels &
Resorts, which owns that hotel
brand, was sold in September
to Marriott International.Mar-
riott already owns several hotels
in the Daytona Beach area, with
plans to add more.
Abdulhussein said it was
important to his company to
align with a luxury hotel brand
that would be exclusive to the
area, something that Starwood,
which had no hotels here, could
have provided, but not Marriott.
Hard Rock, on the other
hand, fits that bill as it has only
24 hotels worldwide, includ-
ing three in Florida: in Orlando,
where the hotel chain is based,
Tampa and Hollywood, he said.
“We found the one brand
we’re comfortable with and
that’s already approved by the
County Council,” Abdulhussein
said. “We’re going to be a Hard
Rock moving forward.”
Daytona Beach was in line to
get a Hard Rock Hotel until last
August when Bayshore Capital
SYRIA
From Page A1
The U.S. missiles hit at 8:45
p.m. in Washington, 3:45 a.m.
Friday morning in Syria. The
missiles targeted the base’s air-
strips, hangars, control tower
and ammunition areas, officials
said.
Syrian state TV reported a
U.S. missile attack on a number
of military targets and called the
attack an “aggression.”
The surprise U.S. assault
marked a striking reversal for
Trump, who warned as a can-
didate against the U.S. getting
pulled into the Syrian civil war,
now in its seventh year. But the
president earlier in the week
appeared moved by the photos
of children killed in the chemi-
cal attack, calling it a “disgrace
to humanity” that crossed “a lot
of lines.”
About 60 U.S. Tomahawk
missiles, fired from warships
in the Mediterranean Sea, tar-
geted an air base in retaliation
for a chemical weapons attack
that American officials believe
Syrian government aircraft
launched with a nerve agent,
possibly sarin.
The president did not
announce the attacks in advance,
County Council members listen to Abbas Abdulhussein, managing member of
Summit Hospitality Management Group, talk about the proposed name change
of the former Desert Inn to a Hard Rock Hotel. Council members will vote on
the proposal on April 20. [NEWS-JOURNAL//DAVID TUCKER]
halted efforts to develop its pro-
posed oceanfront hotel/condo
complex just south of SunSplash
Park.
The reasons: slower-than-
hoped for pre-sales of the condo
units as well as lengthy delays
caused by lawsuits from citizens
groups opposed to the county’s
agreements to make the sections
of beach traffic-free behind both
Bayshore and Summit’s planned
hotels.
Unlike Bayshore’s now-
scrapped development,
Summit’s project will remain
strictly a hotel, Abdulhussein
said.
Abdulhussein added that Bay-
shore Capital Chairman and
CEO Henry Wolfond in recent
months encouraged his com-
pany to pursue the Hard Rock
Hotel brand.
Summitneedscountyapproval
to change thebrand of its planned
hotel and to extend the deadline
for opening to satisfy the coun-
cil’s conditions for designating
the beach behind the hotel traf-
fic free, said Jamie Seaman, the
deputy attorney for the county
who also met with The News-
Journal’s editorial board.
Abdulhussein said his com-
pany’s hotel would be operated
by Hard Rock Cafe International
Inc., with his company remain-
ing the owners of the property.
The hotel under the new flag
would also remain for the most
part the same as originally
planned: with 200 rooms and
two restaurants; nearly 20,000
square feet of meeting space that
will include a 6,300-square-
foot banquet hall capable of
hosting special events and con-
certs; a 5,000-square-foot spa;
and a kids’ activity area.
The rear of the hotel facing
the beach will include a large
deck stretching most of the
length of the building, as well
as outdoor gazebos and cabana
suites with direct pool access
and private hot tubs. The hotel
will include underground park-
ing that can accommodate up to
250 vehicles.
Abdulhussein said some of
the hotel’s indoor public areas
would need to be reconfigured to
meet Hard Rock’s requirements.
According to its website, Hark
Rock Hotels typically include
amenities such as a Rock Spa
that offers a full-service spa
“with a musical twist;” kids and
teen activities; a Rock Shop that
includes clothing, accessories
and music-inspired souvenirs;
the ability for guests to create
personalized music playlists
in their rooms; and dining and
nightlife activities. Some of the
chain’s locations include a Hard
Rock Hotel club featuring live
though he and other national
security officials ratcheted up
their warnings to the Syrian
government throughout the day
Thursday.
“I think what happened in
Syria is one of the truly egre-
gious crimes and shouldn’t have
happened and it shouldn’t be
allowed to happen,” Trump told
reporters traveling on Air Force
One to Florida, where he was
holding a two-day summit with
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The strike came as Trump was
hosting Xi in meetings focused
in part on another pressing U.S.
security dilemma: North Korea’s
nuclear program. Trump’s
actions in Syria could signal to
China that the new president
isn’t afraid of unilateral military
steps. even if key nations like
China are standing in the way.
Trump has advocated greater
counterterrorism coopera-
tion with Russia, Assad’s most
powerful military backer. Just
last week, the Trump admin-
istration signaled the U.S. was
no longer interested in trying to
push Assad from power over his
direction of a conflict that has
killed hundreds of thousands of
people and led to the worst refu-
gee crisis since World War II.
U.S. military officials
sought to portray the strikes
music.
In a letter to the county
explaining Summit’s requested
changes, Alex Ford, the devel-
oper’s attorney, wrote, “My
client feels Hard Rock is a
better fit for this project and for
this community. In fact, it was
originally my client’s desire to
pursue an affiliation with Hard
Rock, but that brand was not
available at the time. Hard Rock
provides a level of exclusivity
as was originally contemplated
with Westin.”
Ford added that the proposed
change of brand would be a
“great win” for the county that
“builds on the legacy of Daytona
Beach.”
The request to extend the
deadline for completing the new
hotel stems from Summit’s need
to make more extensive repairs
to the aging former Desert Inn
than initially anticipated as
well as delays caused by con-
struction labor shortages and a
power outage related to Hurri-
cane Matthew.
Abdulhussein said the cost of
construction, originally pro-
jected to be around $30 million,
is now expected to exceed $40
million.
Summit paid $6 million to
acquire the 1950s-era Desert Inn
in September 2013 and closed it
later that year to begin renova-
tion work.
The Desert Inn, prior to Sum-
mit’s purchase, had become
rundown with a reputation for
crime including the 2011 arrest
of the then-owner’s son. That
same year, travel website Tri-
pAdvisor ranked the Desert Inn
the third-dirtiest hotel in the
United States.
Abdulhussein said his com-
pany bought the Desert Inn
because they “believed in
Daytona” but saw “a dearth of
quality (hotels) on the beach.”
He said he believes people
would be willing to pay a little
extra to stay at a “quality”
hotel. “We’ve got an immense
asset here ... a beautiful beach
and an affordable place to go for
families.”
After the original Hard Rock
deal fell through, Dinneen said
he sensed skepticism from some
in the community that the area
could attract the kind of top-
flight development that could
be a catalyst for improvement
along Daytona Beach’s belea-
guered beachside. This deal will
change that perception, Dinneen
predicted, though he resisted
calling it a game-changer.
“This will be a namechanger,”
he said.
— Staff Writer Dustin Wyatt
contributed to this report.
as an appropriate, measured
response. But the assault still
risks plunging America into
the middle of Syria’s conflict,
complicating the safety of the
hundreds of U.S. forces fight-
ing a separate campaign against
the Islamic State group in the
north of the country. If Assad’s
military persists in further gas
attacks, the Trump adminis-
tration might logically pursue
increased retaliation.
Russia and Iran, Assad’s allies,
pose other problems. Russian
military personnel and aircraft
are embedded with Syria’s, and
Iranian troops and paramilitary
forces are also on the ground
helping Assad fight the array
of opposition groups hoping to
topple him.
Before the strikes, U.S. mili-
tary officials said they informed
their Russian counterparts of the
impending attack. The goal was
to avoid any accident involving
Russian forces.
Nevertheless, Russia’s Deputy
U.N. ambassador Vladimir Saf-
ronkov warned that any negative
consequences from the strikes
would be on the “shoulders
of those who initiated such a
doubtful and tragic enterprise.”
The U.S. also notified its part-
ner countries in the region prior
to launching the strikes.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
DEBATE
From Page A1
beach driving, and choking off
part of the oceanfront’s eco-
nomic engine.
Those were just some of the
things people at the meet-
ing said have helped change
the beachside from a popu-
lar vacation spot and stable
middle class neighborhood
into a crime-riddled collection
of streets lined with homes and
businesses crippled by decades
of neglect.
“We collectively have the
power to change,” beachside
resident Anne Ruby told the
crowd. “We can create the
changes and make the neigh-
borhoods we want.”
County Chair Ed Kelley, one
of four panelists at the meeting,
agreed that change, difficult as
it promises to be, is possible.
“I’m passionate about
change,” said Kelley, a former
Ormond Beach mayor who first
came to Daytona Beach in 1962.
“I remember what it was like.
You can’t go back to what was.
You have to start with what is.”
Kelley said Daytona’s beach-
side has the building blocks to
become a thriving area, includ-
ing affordable property, the
ocean and river.
“You have a gold mine here.
This whole area is a gold mine,”
Kelley said.
Thursday night’s meeting
followed a five-story series in
The News-Journal this week
that focused on the area of the
beachside between Oakridge
Boulevard and International
Speedway Boulevard. That
piece of the peninsula makes up
the Main Street Redevelopment
Area, a special district formed
in 1982 that’s able to use some
of the property tax dollars gen-
erated there for improvements.
The series focused largely
on the tax dollars spent in the
redevelopment area, and ana-
lyzed its effectiveness. The
News-Journal organized the
meeting to allow local residents
and property owners to share
their thoughts on the redevel-
opment area.
Those who jammed into the
church basement for the meet-
ing included everyone from
longtime beachside residents
and property owners such as
Theresa Doan to government
officials such as County Man-
ager Jim Dinneen and Daytona
Beach City Commissioner
Aaron Delgado.
HOMELESSNESS
Homelesspeoplearescattered
throughout the beachside, and
can be seen wandering every-
where from the Boardwalk to
thedilapidatedresidentialareas.
One man who said he owns
property around Main Street
said he’s tried, and failed, to get
homelesspeopleoffhisproperty.
He said he’s called police, and
they don’t respond a good deal
of the time. He said he’s put up
notrespassingsigns,onlytohave
the homeless tear them down.
Hesaidherecentlysawcollege
girls on the beachside “accosted
by vomiting drunk homeless
people.”
When News-Journal Editor
Pat Rice asked the meeting
attendees how many of them
felt the homeless issue had been
properly managed, no one said
yes, and most yelled no.
Kelley explained to the crowd
thatthecityandcountygovern-
ments have been working for
years to put a dent in the home-
lessproblem,andhesaidarecent
efforttocreateanewshelternear
the Volusia County Branch Jail
holds promise for taking some
of the homeless burden off Day-
tona’s shoulders.
“I think you’ll see a huge
benefit when we’re able to do
something with the homeless
people,” Kelley said.
Marcia Tuggle, who also
served as a panelist at Thursday
night’s meeting, said too many
beachsidepropertiesareallowed
toplaybyoldrulesundergrand-
father clauses that enable them
to help the homeless and per-
petuate problems in struggling
areas.
Tuggle, who said she’s seen
homeless people squatting on
propertyacrossfromherbeach-
side home, said the city needs to
tighten up its rules and crack
down on code enforcement.
CODE ENFORCEMENT
When Rice asked about code
enforcement, people booed,
laughed and some said, “It’s a
joke.”
| Friday, April 7, 2017 A9
“The biggest issue is it’s arbi-
trary and it’s reactive,” Tuggle
said. “The city puts the respon-
sibility on the citizens to self
report.”
KristinSpanisgettingaggres-
sive with code enforcement
problems and beachside blight,
and she’s hired an attorney to
help in her battle. Fred Zigler,
a retired police officer who has
lived on the beachside 20 years,
suggested that the city hire four
law firms, and have police and
codeofficersreporttheproblems
they see to those firms who can
then take legal action.
“Whenpeoplegetaletterfrom
code now they laugh,” Zigler
said.
MAIN STREET
City Commissioner Ruth
Trager, whose zone includes the
beachsidesouthofInternational
Speedway Boulevard, said Main
Street won’t improve until the
homes around it get better.
Tuggle said the city needs to
do a better job of making Main
Street businesses stay open
most of the year, not just for the
few weeks during Biketoberfest
and Bike Week. But she’s not
opposed to the raucous motor-
cycle parties.
“Ibelieve it’s part of the cul-
ture here,” she said. “It’s what
makes us unique. I think it has
it’s place.”
LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS
Trager grew up on the beach-
side and lived in a home where
the Ocean Center now stands.
Sherecalledhowdifferentthings
used to be.
“The Boardwalk at night was
a mecca of entertainment,” said
Trager, who was one of the four
meeting panelists. “You had
rides, games and food.”
She said Main Street “was a
very, very, very thriving area.”
AmyPyle,whohaslivedonthe
beachside for seven years, is not
intimidated by the mountain of
problems that have built up on
the oceanfront.
“I never panic and I never
give up unless I know some-
thing is impossible,” said Pyle,
who was recently appointed to
serve on the city’s Main Street
Redevelopment Area Board.
“I don’t think it’s impossible
here. I thinks improvements are
imminent.”
Pyle, who is also active in
neighborhood groups, said
making improvements to her
home has tripled its value
since 2010. She drew applause
when she said the city could
make dramatic changes too if it
shifted its focus from things like
landing large hotels to property
upgrades.
She said little things would
make a difference in her neigh-
borhood, such as cracking down
on code violation and crime
problems, repairing cracked
sidewalks, paving streets and
pruning trees.
“The gold mine that is the
beachside belongs to us all,” she
said.
Tuggle said when she was
acitycouncilwomaninColorado
for eight years her town dealt
with a lot of the same problems:
a depressed downtown, home-
lessissues,safetyissues.Shesaid
that city overcame some of its
problems,butDaytona’sbeach-
sidehasbeen“kindofstagnant.”
“It’s not working,” Tuggle
said. “There’sa vision for what
it should look like in 30-40
years, but nothing for right
now. If you don’t address code
and safety, you won’t have big
improvements.”
At a separate meeting ear-
lier Thursday, Volusia County
Councilwoman Deb Denys said
that she wants to form a beach-
side redevelopment committee.
Thecommitteecouldbemadeup
ofpeopleappointedbymembers
of the County Council and Day-
tona Beach City Commission.
The idea was supported by
others on the Council, and will
be discussed further and voted
on in the near future.
“We’veallseenthenewspaper
articles about what’s going on
beachside in Daytona Beach,”
Denys said. “I think it’s time
that we step up to the plate as a
Council and as a county and try
to address very positively the
issues on the beachside in Day-
tona Beach.”
Kelleysaidpeoplewillbeasked
to attend meetings of the com-
mittee and give input. He said
the beachside has to figure out
how to evolve.
“You’ve got to work with
what’s left,” Kelley said.“If you
don’t change, you’re going to
die.”