EARLY PLANS — Pictured here is a rendering from Blue Sky Communities and Powell Studio Architecture. A concept plan for an 84-unit, affordable, multifamily apartment development was presented to the DeLand City Commission at the May 6 City Commission meeting. The developers are proposing to build on the site where the historic Hotel Putnam once stood on New York Avenue in Downtown DeLand.
More than a year has passed since the demolition of the Hotel Putnam, which once stood at 225 W. New York Ave. in Downtown DeLand. The historic landmark, built circa 1923, was demolished in 2023 due to structural damage and danger of collapse. There was once hope to restore the historic hotel, with plans for revitalization as recent as 2021, and efforts that saw millions of dollars poured into restoration by multiple owners.
Prior to demolition, DeLand Mayor Chris Cloudman stated, “We are disappointed to receive the news that the Putnam has been deemed structurally compromised… The building has stood for many years in the heart of our Downtown, and it is my hope that the property will be redeveloped in a manner that pays homage to the once-prestigious hotel.”
In March 2023, the land that the Hotel Putnam once stood on was put on the market. At the time, Beacon staff spoke with Casey Babb, an executive vice president of Colliers, the listing office for the sale of the land. At the time, Babb predicted, “…the City of DeLand will be receptive to a housing project that looks to capitalize on the Putnam’s history, possibly allowing as many as 120 units on the site, which has Downtown Commercial zoning and is in the Downtown Historic District.”
Now — a concept plan for redevelopment that doesn’t stray too far from Babb’s vision has been brought to the DeLand City Commission’s doorstep.
At the May 6 City Commission meeting, DeLand City Planning Director Carol Kuhn said that no formal action is required at this time, but the commission is being presented with a concept plan from Mark Watts, of the Cobb Cole law firm, and Blue Sky Communities for an opportunity to discuss questions and concerns with the applicant.
Shawn Wilson, president of Blue Sky Communities, a Tampa Bay-based affordable and workforce housing developer, joined Watts at the May 6 commission meeting to discuss elements of the current concept plan.
“Blue Sky Communities is an affordable housing developer — that’s all we do… we are going to create 84 units of affordable housing. These will be rental apartments — a mixture of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom,” Wilson said.
The current concept plan was reviewed by the city’s Historic Preservation Board and Planning Board in April of this year.
The HPB reviewed design elements, landscaping, building details, and parking needs in relation to the Downtown Historic District, and the Planning Board “reviewed the project and commented on the inadequate parking, building architecture, proposed colors and materials, and lack of amenities for the residents.”
Main points of discussion at the May 6 commission meeting included parking, the use of ground-floor space, architectural design, lighting, landscaping, stormwater, traffic, access, and off-site parking options — as well as definitions of affordability.
PARKING
Kuhn addressed parking concerns and constraints of the concept plan. “[The property] would need a total of 188 [parking] spaces. They can reduce the parking with bike parking… [and] the applicant did say they are reducing it with 66 bike parking spaces. However, based on the measurements — it’s a very subtle nuance in the code… the measurements are for two bikes, so they would only have a 33 bike space reduction,” Kuhn said. “Therefore, we would need 155 vehicle parking spaces that are required.”
Kuhn said planning staff does not support any further reduction on what is already a constrained site. The concept plan proposes an option of 64 on-site parking spaces, with 12 possible off-site spaces, but Kuhn stated that the off-site spaces cannot be deemed residential. “This is a 91-space reduction. They’re proposing less than one space per unit,” Kuhn said.
Wilson shared his thoughts on potential parking woes.
“This isn’t a question of residents needing to drive everywhere. A lot of the residents that move into our community are not going to own a car. They don’t want to own a car, they don’t need to own a car because they’re going to work Downtown, or they’re going to work at the university. When they need to go to the grocery store, they will either get a ride or they’ll walk to Winn-Dixie,” Wilson said.
“Our residents are going to be walking, they’re going to be biking. We’ve got bike parking, and this isn’t hanging a hook in a unit — this is a real bike parking garage that’s going to be in the building,” Wilson said.
Both Watts and Wilson addressed the potential option of shared parking and traffic access with adjacent county property, as well as several parking studies that they have completed that indicate a lower number of parking spaces would be needed for a residential complex of the proposed size.
“We need to know whether or not the commission is going to be able to be willing to work with us… we need to make the parking work for this in some combination of waivers, bike parking, surface parking, [or] licensed off-site parking that’s not currently permitted by your code — in order to make the overall project come into being, in our Downtown area,” Watts said.
“Commercial requirements… as far as parking — I would be more willing to waiver. Just because it’s Downtown, you’re going to park somewhere and walk to multiple places. For me, it’s the residential, and assuring the people living there have a place to park overnight and the other lots aren’t being filled,” Mayor Cloudman said.
AN EARLIER TIME — Pictured is the historic Hotel Putnam on Feb. 13, 2023, being readied for demolition. Built circa 1923, the Hotel Putnam was demolished in 2023 due to structural damage and danger of collapse. “We tried to take what we thought were some of the best elements of Hotel Putnam and incorporate them into the buildings,” President of Blue Sky Communities Shawn Wilson said.
GROUND-FLOOR SPACE
Kuhn addressed concerns regarding the utility of the ground-floor units. According to city code, residential units are not permitted on the ground floor, and there is a proposed benefit of “activating” the street with commercial storefronts.
“[There are] provisions in the concept plan that really talk about activating the spaces along New York and Woodland with commercial and retail, and not wanting residential… [but] the applicant is proposing to put the leasing office on the bottom floor… the bottom floor would then only be limited to the residents, and that’s seen as an accessory use to the residential, and would not be activating that ground floor with commercial,” Kuhn said.
“The first floor will have the solid, commercial look, with the big commercial windows and the commercial looking doors. It’s true that we’re proposing to put our resident offices and other common amenities, as opposed to renting it out to an office dweller or retail store, but we feel that we are still going to activate the street,” said Wilson.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Kuhn addressed that the proposed development would be beholden to a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) at the time of site plan submittal because it is located in the historic downtown area.
“Staff does not believe [that illustrative renderings of architectural plans] meet the intent of the code,” Kuhn said. “The Putnam had a lot of interesting architectural features in its day, and staff is concerned about this looking like a standard building that you would put in a new development.”
City Commissioner Jessica Davis echoed Kuhn’s questioning of the proposed architectural design, as well as an interest in honoring the historical design of Hotel Putnam. “[The concept plan] is missing some of the elements that we clearly saw in the Putnam, and I think that’s why it took so long for us to want to see the Putnam being torn down. It pretty much came to the fact we had no choice. We want to keep a lot of those elements — the roofing, the windows… this is giving close to the ‘Marriott-look’ to me, that we’re not all in love with… I’m not getting the ‘Oh, that’s nice’ — not yet,’” Davis said.
“We tried to take what we thought were some of the best elements of Hotel Putnam and incorporate them into the building,” Wilson said. “We are very much open to modifying the facade… to incorporate other architectural elements that really make your toes tingle. We do want Commissioner Davis to go ‘ooh and aah’ the next time we come in. We want to try and find common ground in all those areas,” Wilson said.
A PROPOSED FOOTPRINT — An aerial view of the site where Blue Sky Communities has presented a concept plan for an 84-unit, affordable, multifamily apartment development. During a May 6 City Commission meeting, Blue Sky Communities addressed the potential option of shared parking and traffic access with adjacent county property.
AFFORDABILITY
“Thirteen of the 84 units [will specifically be] handled and managed in partnership with The Neighborhood Center,” Watts said.
The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia is a homeless prevention and social support organization based in DeLand that works to provide permanent and transitional housing for Volusia County residents. The 13 units would serve as permanent, supportive housing, in which The Neighborhood Center would place clients and provide ongoing case management support.
Watts continued: “All 84 units are affordable… you’ll have the restrictions that the state imposes on the maximum rent that can be charged based on the income rate and the unit type,” Watts said. “That could range anywhere from a low of $400 a month to $1600, or $1700, a month depending on which size unit you’re in…,” Watts said.
“We’ve long talked about the need for affordable housing in our community,” Cloudman said. “The range that you’re talking about is definitely more in line with that, than a 400-square-foot efficiency going for $1,200 a month. That’s a very important element of this.”
FUNDING
Wilson mentioned that Blue Sky Communities applied for funding through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) fund and has received just under $9 million in funding through the state of Florida, resulting from hurricanes Nicole and Ian. “That also came with some other funding from the state that created a total funding package in excess of $20 million,” Wilson said.
Blue Sky Communities is also the recipient of a portion of $7.8 million of state and federal funds that were allocated for affordable housing by the Volusia County Council on May 7.
“We feel there is a strong synergy not only with the state government, but with the county government… and we are here to help the city achieve its goals of affordable housing and really serve your residents and make Downtown a vibrant place,” Wilson said.
“We’ve gotten exactly what we wanted from this process so far, in the form of feedback… direction on how to come back and work through the redesign of the building to bring it forward in the actual site plan process,” Watts said.
“At the end of the day, the project has got to be feasible, and that’s ultimately what we’ve got to put together. Something that works — that works enough with regard to the concerns with parking, that looks good, that we can all be happy with and that provides some affordable housing in Downtown,” Watts concluded.
