When Minto Communities develops new residential subdivisions, it can usually count on generating 2,000 to 5,000 inquiries from potential homebuyers on its website. As of May, the number of people registering for more information about the planned Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach community has now hit 70,000, said Bill Bullock, the Minto senior vice president overseeing the project. “I don’t like to use the word overwhelming because we’re handling it, but it’s definitely beyond our wildest expectations,” Bullock recently told Builder Magazine in an article posted online Thursday by the national construction industry trade publication. Bulllock in the interview provided an update to the planned 6,900-home active adult community, which broke ground in March on the north side of LPGA Boulevard, just west of Interstate 95. The first 400 homes at the 55-and-older community are slated to be move-in ready by early second quarter 2018, while the Latitude Margaritaville sales center nearing completion next to the Halifax Humane Society is on track to open this fall. “We should break ground on the first homes in the next couple of months,” Bullock told The News-Journal. He added that his company has already begun planning a second batch of 400 homes.
Minto began efforts to develop an active adult community in Daytona Beach three years ago, but the project, originally slated to be called Oasis Daytona, made national news when the developer in February announced the addition of Margaritaville Holdings as a partner. The name of the project was also renamed and redesigned to reflect that new partnership. Margaritaville Holdings is a company that oversees the various business enterprises of singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, which include include restaurants and resorts. Buffett’s 1977 signature song “Margaritaville,” which espouses the laid-back tropical lifestyle of Key West, serves as the inspiration for Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach. “When you think of Jimmy Buffett and Margaritaville, immediately three things come to mind: food, fun and music,” Bullock told Builder Magazine. Amenities planned for the gated community will include a grocery store-anchored neighborhood shopping center open to the general public along the southern entrances along LPGA Boulevard that will include one of Margaritaville Holdings’ restaurant concepts, and a residents-only town center within the heart of the community that will include a band shell for live musical performances.
The town center will also feature an outdoor resort-style pool, an indoor lap pool, a fitness center with aerobics studio, a spa, indoor and outdoor dining options, and arts and learning programs. In addition, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach will offer a private beachfront club in Ormond-by-the-Sea that can be accessed by a continuous loop shuttle. Minto and Margaritaville Holdings plan to soon announce an agreement with a local hospital that will provide medical staff on-site to work with Latitude Margaritaville residents on lifestyle and wellness choices, Bullock confirmed. The development partners also recently announced plans to build a second Latitude Margaritaville active adult community in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Bullock credits Consolidated-Tomoka CEO John Albright with playing matchmaker between his company and Margaritaville Holdings. “I had a meeting with Jim Wiseman (president of development for Margaritaville Holdings) last summer when he mentioned that they were looking at retirement community opportunities,” Albright recalled. “That’s when I said ‘You should talk with Minto. Daytona would be perfect.’” Albright said the Latitude Margaritaville project has helped spur interest in the LPGA Boulevard corridor by other developers and companies.
Nearby developments in the works include a Buc-ee’s mega gas station/convenience store that will offer up to 120 pumps and a supermarket-sized “travel convenience center,” a specialty grocer that is planning a store on the northeast corner of LPGA and Williamson boulevards, and multiple restaurants and retail stores Canadian developer North American Development Group plans to build immediately east of the new Tanger Outlets mall, which opened in November. Said Bullock: “How could you not be ecstatic? On both the east and west sides of the interstate you’ve got incredible things happening … and they’re all complementary uses. … It’s putting Daytona back on the map.”