Daytona Int’l Speedway yesterday cleared a major hurdle in its effort to renovate and reinvent the racetrack. The Daytona Beach City Commission unanimously approved a rezoning request that could make it possible to begin a major renovation project in '13 or '14. ISC, which owns the 53-year-old track, submitted a request last June that asked the city to rezone the speedway from a major sports district to a “plan master development zone,” which would allow it to develop anything from retail space to dining facilities to a museum. The seven-member City Commission yesterday approved that request. Now, track officials will work with ISC’s internal design team and outside architecture advisers Rossetti to finalize their redevelopment plans before going to the ISC BOD for funding approval. Current plans call for an overhaul of the speedway’s grandstand, adding new suites and creating a modern exterior and redesigned midway (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal). Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Ritchey last night said, "It's the largest project ever proposed and approved for the city of Daytona Beach. It's a historical event. It will pay great dividends to the city and Speedway." City leaders said that the new development “will happen over the next few decades, and will likely be driven by developer interest and the economy as it recovers.” In Daytona Beach, Eileen Zaffiro-Kean notes improvements to the 53-year-old facilities and grandstands at DIS “will probably happen first, and could be completed within two years.” Those improvements could include “new metal panel screening on the exterior of the Speedway, five new colorful metal entranceways, escalators and a doubling of seating.” The new development also could include “up to 2 million square feet of retail space, 1,785 hotel rooms, 1,500 multifamily residential units, movie theaters with 5,000 seats total and 950,000 square feet of industrial uses” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 10/18).
