DAYTONA BEACH
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 32
Coming soon: International Fest 3B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2026
Pushing back against spring break promoters Nine civil suits have been filed against unsanctioned ‘takeovers.’ Sheriff: ‘Daytona Beach is closed.’ PAGE 8A
DeSantis celebrates interchange Governor visits Ormond Beach for groundbreaking. 3A INSIDE CONSERVATION
Volusia County Council OKs $20.1 million Volusia Forever purchase in Osteen. PAGE 4A
TOP SALE
Margaritaville home: $871,000. PAGE 7B
REGION CHAMPS
Mainland’s Rivers win two regional track titles. PAGE 9B
DRONES ARE HERE Schools host drone demo. PAGE 9A
INDEX
Business....................PAGE 10A Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 2C Letters....................... PAGE 11A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Schools....................... PAGE 5B Sports......................... PAGE 9B Tributes ...................... PAGE 4C Real Estate................. PAGE 6B
New 7,000-square-foot event center under review The Halifax Community Center plans include the event facility on the river, and a second phase for a 12-unit condo building. SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
A new private event center may be coming to Daytona Beach to fill in one of the few vacant lots along the Halifax River. The proposed Halifax Community Center would be located at 801 N. Halifax Ave. on the barrier island side of the Halifax River, near the Seabreeze Boulevard bridge. The three acre lot is currently vacant, but had previously been the site for a stalled high-rise condo project called the Bellaria. “Halifax Community Center is the name intended to be a private event center,” said land use attorney Jessica Gow. “So family events, weddings, graduation parties.” Gow, an attorney with Cobb Cole Law Firm, represents the developer, Gajanan Halifax LLC. The event center project will be built in two phases, she said. Phase one is a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building that has a 7,000-square-foot ballroom space inside, an on-site manager and security suite, equipment rooms, a kitchen for catering and a back patio area.
Local land use attorney Jessica Gow discusses the Halifax Community Center plans with neighboring residents at a May 4 neighborhood meeting. Photo by Sierra Williams
Phase two is a separate, threestory condo building with 12 units that will be available for sale, not rent. Gow said per city regulations, the condos will not be allowed to be used as a short-term rental. The property is surrounded on three sides by single-family homes. A public meeting with local residents within 500 feet of the project site was held on May 4 at the Daytona Grande Oceanfront Resort. The project is still in the early stages of review with Daytona Beach, Gow told the crowd, with no firm dates for being reviewed by the
FREE
ON NEWSSTANDS.
$1/WEEK
ON YOUR DRIVEWAY.
A concept rendering of the proposed Halifax Community Center. Rendering courtesy of BPF Design Inc.
city’s planning board or the Daytona Beach City Commission. The project first needs to be reviewed by city staff and the city’s Technical Review Team. Because the property had a planning development zoning already in place, the developer is only applying to replace the previouslyapproved Bellaria project with the Halifax Community Center plans. The Bellaria project was approved by the Daytona Beach City Commission in 2015, but the development approval expired without any active construction. Residents in attendance at the neighborhood meeting had several concerns about the property and the proposed projects: parking, road maintenance, the types of events the facility would host, hours of operation, and flood mitigation plans. Gow said from Sunday to Thursday, the facility events would need to end by 11 p.m. and by 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Gow said any music performed outside would have to end at 8 p.m. every day of the week. A lack of parking was a large concern for residents. The ballroom space, Gow said, would be able to
accommodate a maximum of 500 people, per fire codes, but that is without any tables or chairs taking up space. The actual occupancy number will likely be lower. But, per city parking requirements, the developer has only tentatively outlined around 150 parking spaces for the property, some 24 of which would need to be dedicated to the future 12 condo units. Several residents were also concerned about security if the property did not have a gated parking entrance to prevent overnight visitors. Others questioned the need for a facility like this. “Of all of the hotels, of all of the condos, all of the yacht clubs, all of the everything — I can’t imagine this is needed,” one resident said. Gow said that a market study has not been conducted at this stage, except to see what needs to be done for the process. “Before a shovel is in the ground, I can promise that this development team will not invest millions and millions of dollars in construction of this facility without knowing that there’s market demand,” she said.