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Developers urge Daytona Beach CRA to accelerate downtown redevelopment as agency nears 2036 sunset
Summary
Private developers told the Daytona Beach Community Redevelopment Agency that with the CRA set to sunset in 2036, the city should fast-track a private-led roundtable and survey to identify barriers to downtown projects; commissioners agreed to a 30-day survey timeline and asked staff to participate.
Private developers and downtown stakeholders urged the Daytona Beach Community Redevelopment Agency on July 1 to move quickly to implement a 10-year strategy for downtown redevelopment as the agency nears its 2036 sunset.
Jack White of Jack White Land Company told the commission the CRA’s remaining decade creates urgency to focus on projects that produce measurable returns. “We think we need to really start to strategize, think forward. What are we going to do in our last 10 years? How are we going to go out with a bang?” White said.
Jessica Gal, speaking as a resident, said the CRA was designed to remove blight and spur revitalization and that the final years should prioritize transformation over maintenance. She noted the CRA sunsets in 2036 across Daytona Beach’s redevelopment areas and said the agency needs to avoid “misallocating capital and low-yield results.”
White and Gal proposed a three-step private-led implementation: a targeted survey of downtown stakeholders, a privately convened roundtable that includes lenders, designers and site selectors (with city staff attending but not hosting), and a workshop to advance specific redevelopment sites into bankable projects. White described a two-part measurement approach — a citywide “scoreboard” and a project-level “scorecard” — to assess return on CRA dollars and prioritize projects that leverage private investment.
As examples of goals for the CRA’s remaining term, presenters proposed aiming for roughly 1,000 new residential units downtown, about $250 million in private investment and securing a grocery store within the CRA footprint. White emphasized mixing small storefront and facade investments with infill and catalytic projects to generate steady and repeat private investment.
Commissioners pressed presenters about likely impacts from a pending property tax proposal and about the staff resources the roundtable would require. White and Gal recommended that redevelopment and planning staff be at the table to provide regulatory guidance and that the private group handle most of the outreach work. Gal said the survey and roundtable would be more compelling to investors if done in coordination with the city.
The commission gave informal approval for the concept and set a 30-day target for completion of the initial survey and preliminary results. Chair Derek L. Henry summed up next steps: the private presenters will work with city staff to finalize the survey, return findings and propose a date for a roundtable and workshop.
The initiative is scheduled to return to the commission with survey findings and proposed next steps; presenters said the roundtable and workshop would be used to identify site-specific barriers and incentive packages designed to accelerate development before the CRA sunset.
