The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

After about 12 years of dicking around, there's a couple of highrises being built in our neighborhood in Daytona.
Click here for the article.
In the picture you can see the Sea Dunes, where I have an apartment. It's the aqua colored building. The big parking garage is diagonally across the intersect from us.

"The southern half of the property, once covered with hotels, is also vacant now except for the two-story Sea Dunes motel that’s been owned by a local family since 1960. Plans show the huge hotel-condo buildings wrapping around the tiny Sea Dunes, which sits near the edge of A1A."



This was my view out the kitchen window during Bike Week.

 

Trying to get my bearings; it that looking S on Atlantic Ave., beach on the left?

 

Yes, lot being cleared used to be the Esquire.

 

Bet you wish they'd allowed the proposed casinos. Whatever happened to that idea? France family said no?

 

Is Sea Dunes going to stay?

 

We have every intention of staying.

 

They ran out of money and bailed.
Jimmy Buffet is working on building some sort of retirement community on LPGA out by the car dealerships.

 

Can't say that beachside redeployment is a bad thing for Daytona. It's become a dump.

 

Because as we all know, retirees need quick and ready access to new cars and the Interstate.

 

A friend who lived in DB for most of his life told me that Daytona is completely dependent on tourist money because all of the industry moved away. He also said it is a ghost town from October to February.

 

The Hardrock idea? It's not the France family on that one. At least in Volusia, the dog track people somehow have a mighty influence.

Yeah, but it's the wrong type of tourism. If Daytona could redevelop itself to attract family vacationers it would be great. Right now, it's all special events... bike week, speed week, BCR etc. It lends the tourism industry to put as little money as possible into facilities and just grab the quick cash during the special events.

 

But then there's the 900 pound gorilla a few miles down I-4.

 

Their stated goal for years has been to get away from event based tourism and have the beach itself as the main attraction. They drove MTV out with a big chunk of Spring Breakers. Biketoberfest was supposed to siphon off people from Bike Week. Some time ago the city acted upon advertising which stated that Biketoberfest would last for ten days. Officially it's a four day event. Local law allowed the vendors to be open the day before the event and the day after the vent. They changed the law so that the vendors were only allowed to open during the official event. Then the hurricane hit and messed up a lot of the city. Suddenly the government was pushing a ten day Biketoberfest and doing all sorts of crazy stuff to get the biker money back in town.
Honestly, I don't think they know what they want.

When I got back to the Sea Dunes from St. Augustine my last day there, they were still excavating at about 8:30, 1½ hours after the shut down time stated in the permit. Paulita was really pissed when they told her they were going until 5:00 AM. When the site foreman came back from dinner and was shown the copy of the permit, he said, "Things have changed." So I had bulldozers and shovels working all night right outside my bedroom window. While I was driving to the airport, Mike and Paulita were headed to City Hall, dying to unleash their wrath.

To be continued.....

 

The 900 pound gorilla doesn't have a beach.
A lot of the peoiple who show up on the weekends are what Bunny calls "The Inlanders".

 

"Wrap around the Sea Dunes" - like this?

 

Exactly! Like in the movie "Batteries Not Included".

 

They had these orange signs posted around the perimeter. Paulita and I would be taking pictures and the construction guys were waving us off furiously. We'd smile and keep taking pictures.

 

Goddam I'm a redneck from North Dakota, and been to Daytona twice and I recognized that parking ramp.. and what I recall was a beachwear store when I was last there.. 2010? I do recall some pile of shit that looked like a black mold factory right about where that construction site must be...

 

Checking the photo archives, the Esquire was still standing but fenced off. Across the street there was a big vacant lot where one of the t shirt shops had burned down. (Rumor had it that it was an insurance job) Notice that the building behind the three palm trees in the above picture looks relatively new.