Volusia Mall to make way for apartments
California-based Legacy Partners is moving forward on plans to replace part of Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach with a 350-unit, gated luxury apartment community.
The development company, along with its joint venture partner Griffin Capital Company, LLC, acquired 10 acres of mall property — including the site of the former Macy’s and part of the parking lot — for $10 million on Jan. 10, according to deed records.
The seller is an entity affiliated with Chattanooga-based CBL Properties, which has owned the entire 1.6 million-square-foot mall since 1998.
But Jon Wood, senior managing director for Legacy Partners, said his company actually contracted with a separate Chattanooga-based company, Urban Story Ventures, for the sale.
Urban Story Ventures has controlled the vacant Macy’s that’s now slated for demolition since 2020, according to a news release sent on behalf of all parties involved in the sale.
“This is an ideal location to develop much-needed and desired apartments,” Wood said in a statement. “We expect Legacy Daytona to lease up quickly as there is a dense mix of desirable retail, entertainment, and dining in the surrounding area to support the residents.”
Wood told GrowthSpotter he’s still working to get the final round of permits from the city and expects construction to start by this summer.
He doesn’t yet know what rental rates would be, but noted that they would be “at the higher end of the market.”
Designed by Zyscovich Architects, Legacy Daytona, as it will be called, would span 424,219 square feet and rise four stories.
According to site plans, the residential building with interior hallways would include 20 studio apartments, 192 one-bed, one-bath units, 118 two-bed, two-bath units and 20 three-bedroom, two-bath units.
Two courtyards surrounded on all sides by apartment units and a clubhouse will be built into the middle of the building where a heated saltwater pool, cabanas and an outdoor kitchen with a gas grill will go.
A 1,290-square-foot two-story sky lounge overlooking the two courtyards will be built on the top two levels, site plans show. The sky lounge “is going to be pretty cool,” Wood said.
2 hotels planned near Lake Nona
A Townplace Suites by Marriott and a Homewood Suites by Hilton are set to rise on side-by-side sites along Boggy Creek Road near the Orlando International Airport and just outside Lake Nona.
Both hotels offer a similar product for their respective brands: apartment-style, extended-stay concepts with full kitchens.
A land development plan submitted to Orange County in December shows the two six-story hotels emerging within Ralph Singleton’s 80-acre Tyson Ranch planned development north of Simpson Road.
The Townplace Suites would cover 87,300 square feet on the west side of a 15.3-acre tract with 120 rooms. The Homewood Suites will be slightly bigger to the east, spanning 112,000 square feet in an L-shape with 130 rooms, according to plans drafted by Z Development Services.
The Lake Nona area is one of the most sought-after submarkets in the Greater Orlando area for hotel development, said Paul Sexton, vice president of HREC who specializes in hotel real estate.
The problem, however, has been that good hotel sites are hard to come by for outside investors since Tavistock Development Co. controls most of the land, roughly 11,000 acres, in Lake Nona.
“As such, hotel investors have had to nibble around the edges of the submarket,” Sexton said.
Tavistock developed the 156-key SpringHill Suites by Marriott at 13700 Boggy Creek Road in 2021 and recently completed the 234-room Lake Nona Wave Hotel in the Lake Nona town center.
Tavistock also built the dualbranded 203-room Marriott Courtyard & Residence Inn Orlando located at 6955 Lake Nona Blvd.
The developer has started construction on the 205-room six-story Aloft Lake Nona, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s brand portfolio. That’s expected to open this fall on land just north of S.R. 417 and next to Drive Shack.