Little progress made since luxury apartments proposed in Daytona Beach neighborhood

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Plans to build luxury apartments in one of Daytona Beach’s poorest neighborhoods are on hold for now.

The property is less than half a mile away from Bethune Cookman University along Martin Luther King Boulevard and Eldorado Street.

The only sign there are any plans to build something here is a chain link fence around the property—and because of the lack of progress, some doubt the apartments will ever come.

Heron Development LLC published renderings of a six-story luxury apartment complex on the two-acre plot of land and presented them to the City Commission last March.

Ten months later, the lot remains untouched, with no construction equipment or activity in sight.

“It is an eyesore compared to what it was,” said Scott Summers, who lives nearby. “At least it had some life. Now it’s dead.”

The units would go for about $1,700 a month in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, according to the developer.

“People with a whole lot of money are not going to want to move right in there,” said Barbara Young, who lives in Daytona Beach. “They are going to want to go right toward the beach, further out here in a better neighborhood.”

Heron declined to comment because of current litigation the company is engaged in with BCU.

Cox Media Group