Developer plans to build 100-unit apartment complex on Derbyshire Road
Clayton Park
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
DAYTONA BEACH — An Orlando area developer who attended a conference on affordable housing here in 2019 plans to break ground this fall on a project to address that growing need.
The planned Brentwood Village Apartments project will offer nearly 100 affordable work force housing units that are expected to be move-in ready by fall 2022. The five-acre development site is on the southeast corner of Derbyshire Road and Brentwood Drive, one block north of Mason Avenue.
"Our goal is to break ground this fall with the first residents moving in a year later," said Steve Smith, president of Provident Housing Solutions Inc. on Friday.
Smith said his company completed its $440,000 purchase of the development site on Dec. 30, 2020.
The total estimated cost of the project is $20 million. He said he hopes to offset his costs by obtaining a Sadowski Affordable Housing Act grant from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation as well as tax credits from the federal government.
How much for the monthly rent?
The grassy development site is directly north of the aging retail center on Mason that includes the Placita Supermarket, Hampton's Restaurant, Western Union and Wells Fargo.
Smith said his proposed project will consist of four three-story buildings, each with 24 apartments that would include 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, as well as a community center that would offer after-school and summer programs for kids and computer and employment assistance services for adults. Other amenities include a swimming pool and a laundry room.
Monthly rental rates for the apartments would start as low as $390 for a one-bedroom unit, up to $860 for a three-bedroom unit.
The actual rental rates will be determined based on annual household income, Smith said. "The apartments would be for households with annual incomes of up to $47,000 a year," he said.
The average monthly cost to rent an apartment in Daytona Beach as of November ranges from $800 for a studio to $1,603 for a 3-bedroom unit, according to the website Apartmentguide.com.
The planned Brentwood Village Apartments will be built in the 32117 ZIP code area where the median annual household income is $27,106, one of the lowest in the city, according to the website unitedstateszipcodes.org.
Apartments 'Needed All Over Daytona Beach'
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry said the project is "something that's needed all over Daytona Beach and Volusia County," especially with housing costs continuing to rise.
"The average resident can't afford a new home and in the Derbyshire area, the average annual household income is less than $30,000. This is the type of project we would like to see come to fruition," Henry said. "Affordable workforce housing is one of my top priorities."
The proposed site for the Brentwood Village Apartments "is a great lot. It's ideal for development in the core of the city," he said.
Smith said the property appraisal, environmental study and land survey for the project have already been completed. "Everything seems to be lining up," he said.
Sue Odena, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Commercial Benchmark, assisted Provident in its purchase of the development site. She also was recently appointed chair of the Daytona Beach Affordable Housing Committee, a volunteer position.
"Provident is hoping for approval from Florida Housing," she said.
"We're still waiting for it," said Smith. "We will be applying in early March for funding to build the apartments. Round figures, we're seeking around $15 million."
The property was put under contract to be sold to Provident in early July, Odena said.
The seller was a family that also owns the small shopping center next door, according to Odena. The owners of the vacant lot prior to Provident's purchase was listed in property records as the WE Cartwright Trust & The Estate of Ruth H Cartwright.
The retail center is owned by Cartwright & Sons. "It is all the same family. The entities were set up as estate planning. There are four sibling members," Odena said.
"There is a great need for affordable workforce housing," Odena said. "The (Daytona Brentwood Apartments) development meets all the major requirements of real grocery store, real medical, real school, real pharmacy and public transportation all within a one-mile radius as well as federal recommendations of major employment within 30 minutes of mid-level and lower-income employees."
Smith who lives in Clermont founded Provident as a nonprofit corporation in 2017. Its goal, according to his LinkedIn page, is to create "beautiful and affordable housing for special groups such as low-income households, disabled veterans, seniors and the working homeless."
Developer Looking For More Land in Daytona
Provident so far has developed two affordable housing complexes in Clermont. "We're breaking ground (soon) on a project for workforce housing in Lakeland and another for seniors in Clermont," Smith said.
Smith said Daytona Beach City Manager Jim Chisholm approached him about possibly developing an affordable housing project here after the two met at a developers conference here in April 2019. The event was put on by the Daytona Beach Housing Authority.
"We're looking for more land to build in Daytona Beach," Smith said. "We want to go forward with other developments."
Terril Bates, CEO of the Daytona Beach Housing Authority, said she did not know anything about Smith's Daytona Brentwood Apartments project but said, "I think it's wonderful that the effort we made inspired a developer to consider the opportunities here.
"For low-wage earners such as service workers, people that work in restaurants, hotels, convenience stores and grocery stores, it's very difficult if not impossible to find decent affordable housing," she said.
The coronavirus pandemic has increased the area's need for affordable housing, Bates added.
"COVID has impacted so many people who have either lost their jobs or had their hours cut," she said. "There just is never enough affordable housing."
