Daytona preparing for development boom
Three years ago, Daytona Beach was a city so wounded it launched a self-affirmation campaign with billboards and newspaper ads aimed at restoring a little pride and hope.
The town’s unemployment rate was flirting with double-digit range, housing prices had hit bedrock and too many oceanside lots were the butt of jokes about bombed-out war zones.
Not anymore.
Last fall, a thundering wave of new development crashed up on the World’s Most Famous Beach. Two $100 million-plus hotels announced plans to break ground on the oceanfront. International Speedway Corp. is spending $400 million overhauling Daytona International Speedway, and hundreds of millions more creating a cluster of commercial and residential development across the street.