The developers behind the $289M first phase of One Daytona, an "ambitious vision of shops, restaurants, hotels and apartments across the street" from Daytona Int'l Speedway, are asking for about $40M in "public funding from Volusia County and the city of Daytona Beach," according to Gant & Zaffiro-Kean of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL. The proposals will be "discussed at City Commission and County Council meetings this week and voted on within the next few weeks." Atlanta-based developer Jacoby Development Managing Dir Brian Leary said, “This next week will be the most important week for the project." Gant & Zaffiro-Kean note the "idea is for the city and county to each give" $20M to "help cover" the project’s estimated $52.9M in infrastructure costs. A $20M grant would represent roughly 3% of Volusia County’s operating budget and almost 11% of Daytona Beach’s budget. Leary said that the developer, JV Partners, a joint venture between ISC and Jacoby Development, "will pay the remaining" $13M or so. With plans to "start infrastructure work by this summer and open the first phase by early 2016, he hopes city and county leaders make their decisions soon" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 3/2).
NOT IN A HAPPY PLACE: In Charlotte, Rick Bonnell noted NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick hit the wall at DIS head-on during the Daytona 500 and is "sore emotionally that a sport making so much money won't spend to make the top safety technology universal, even in the sport's premier venue." Harvick said, "The tracks, for the most part, don't listen to really anything unless it's profitable for their shareholders. So when you see somebody spending $400 million on their track, and they don't have soft walls around the inside, maybe they could spend $403 million on their track and finish the inside of the speedway down there in Daytona." He added, "It really shouldn't even be a debate. ... It's just one of those things, I guess, that you just wait around for something else (horrible) to happen and then they'll fix it" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/1).
