Seven parcels of land on Whitehall Street. Four lots on Wallace Street. Seven lots on Cedar Street. Three on South Street. Three on Fulton Street.
These are just some of the 53 parcels of city-owned land in Midtown that city officials want to put on the market, with some lots selling for as low $1,951 – most not selling for more than $9,000.
“It’s a fire sale,” noted one Midtown property owner who remembered when the city was acquiring the land using Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) funds and is now worried that the money made from the sale of the land in Midtown would not be reinvested back into the community.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, who was scheduled this week to vote on whether the city will implement a plan to sell the properties, told the Daytona Times that if land was purchased with CRA funds, it should go back to the same CRA.
Low prices
There are worries that the money made from the sale of the lots will go into the city’s general fund, which may not have a direct impact on improving Midtown.
“I don’t want revenue to go to the general fund if it came from CRA,” said Henry.
Henry said he realizes how difficult it is to get anyone to come into Midtown to build and invest.
He is willing to support selling the properties at record low prices back to the public, which will at least mean some funds coming back into city and CRA coffers from property taxes. The hope is that the new property owner will build something – a business or a home – on the property.