COMING IN THE BACK DOOR — This rendering shows the route a proposed connector road will take to link State Road 11, on the left, to Eidson Drive, the main road in the Northwest Industrial Business Park at the DeLand Municipal Airport. DaVita Labs is just east of the intersection with the connector road.
IMAGE COURTESY CITY OF DELAND/BEACON GRAPHICS
THE PIONEER — DaVita Labs is the first, and so far only, tenant in DeLand’s Northwest Industrial Business Park. A proposed road that will provide a “back door” entrance to the park will connect with the park’s main road near DaVita’s facility.
BEACON PHOTO/JOE CREWS
A mile-long connector road is planned to provide a secondary entrance to DeLand’s Northwest Industrial Business Park from State Road 11, alleviating traffic congestion at other entrances to the airport and enhancing the marketability of the newest business neighborhood.
So says Steve Burley, DeLand’s economic-development manager, who told The Beacon that investments made by the city more than a decade ago are poised to finally pay off.
“The city had invested a lot of money ro run water and sewer and build a road” into the park on the northwest side of the airport, Burley said. “We were getting it ready to go, until the markets tanked.”
The city gated off the new industrial park until better economic conditions arrived.
That happened a few years ago, when DaVita Labs decided to consolidate its operations from several other sites at the airport into a new facility. It leased a parcel in the still-new park, and built a 160,000-square-foot complex that has sparked interest from other prospective tenants.
“DaVita came in, and Duke Energy put in three-phase electrical power, so we’re really ready to go,” Burley said. “The [State Road] 11 connector will make it more attractive as a back door to the Northwest Industrial Business Park.”
An array of incentives are available to help lure more businesses to the industrial park, some from the city and others from the county and state, Burley said. And while interest has risen among prospective tenants, no new deals have been finalized.
“We’ve had a lot of tire-kickers, but nothing yet,” he said.
The proposed connector road will tie the industrial park to State Road 11 a little more than a half-mile north of U.S. 17, or North Woodland Boulevard. The connector will be possible because the owner of the adjacent land, Greenway Management, agreed to donate the right of way, said Public Services Director and City Engineer Keith Riger.
“It will open up their property for development and make it available for purchase,” Riger said.
Constructing the road is expected to cost about $1.5 million, he said. The Legislature approved a $1 million grant through the Florida Department of Transportation, but those funds haven’t arrived yet. The city and the property owner will split the rest of the cost, but how it will be divvied up is still being negotiated, he added.
Burley said between the renewed interest in the Northwest Industrial Business Park and in a new sport aviation village under construction on the other side of the airport, DeLand is well-positioned to bring new enterprises to town.
“We’ve got a couple of nice businesses waiting in the wings,” he said. “If they come here, it will be a nice advantage to DeLand.”
— Joe Crews, joe@beacononlinenews.com