DAYTONA BEACH — Latitude Margarita helped propel housing starts in Volusia County last year to the highest level since 2005.
The Jimmy Buffett-themed “55-and-better” community in Daytona Beach, which welcomed its first residents in March 2018 sold an impressive 412 homes last year.
The 373 building permits issued last year for new homes at Latitude Margaritaville accounted for one out every eight new homes started in Volusia County, according to Volusia Building Industry Association statistics.
Latitude Margaritaville is off to an even stronger pace so far this year.
Through the first two months of 2019, Minto Communities, Margaritaville’s developer, has pulled 134 permits for new homes.
That’s an average of 17 a week for Margaritaville — one out of every three permits issued countywide.
“I would think that’s unprecedented in Volusia County,” said local observer Ronnie Bledsoe, an Ormond Beach developer who has worked in the local construction industry more than 40 years.
Helping drive the active adult community’s growth in new home sales has been the national attention it has received since its launch, thanks to its connection to singer-songwriter Buffett, whose tunes about laidback living in the tropics serves as the inspiration for Latitude Margaritaville.
The community’s strong start has also earned it a number of industry awards.
After being named earlier this year by Chicago-based 55Places.com as the nation’s top 55-plus community of 2018, Latitude Margaritaville in late February won several more awards from the National Association of Home Builders including “55+ Community of the Year.”
The Washington, D.C.-based trade association also named Minto the nation’s Builder of the Year and Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach won the NAHB’s gold medal for best sales/welcome center as well as awards for home design, landscaping and marketing.