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A giant warehouse and distribution center planned in Deltona won the City Commission’s unanimous approval Oct. 7.
“There is nothing this grand and this beneficial in the history of Deltona,” Commissioner Chris Nabicht said as he and his colleagues voted 7-0 in favor of allowing an undisclosed company to build the distribution center on vacant land along North Normandy Boulevard.
City officials are working under a confidentiality agreement, and speculation abounds regarding the identity of the firm, with Amazon at the center of the buzz.
The project, according to city officials, will bring hundreds of high-paying jobs to Deltona and lure ancillary commercial development, notably retailers and restaurants, in a city whose residents now often go to Orange City for goods and services.
An Atlanta firm, Seefried Industrial Properties, is fronting for the unnamed corporation in handling the site-acquisition negotiations and related matters, such as traffic management, leading up to the groundbreaking for the project.
“We have worked diligently with the city and the county,” Vice President Paul Seefried told the City Commission. “We believe this is an optimal site.”
The City Commission’s vote approved industrial planned-unit development (IPUD) zoning for the site, along with a development agreement for construction of a 1.4 million-square-foot warehouse and trucking complex on 85 acres strategically located near the interchange of Interstate 4 and State Road 472.
The land is already zoned for industrial use, including warehouses and light manufacturing. The IPUD is a higher form of zoning, with specific conditions and regulations negotiated between the city government and the future owner of the land.
The identity of the distribution center’s owner will be revealed later, city officials say, noting they are bound by a confidentiality agreement authorized by state law for economic-development matters.
Two votes are required to pass an ordinance. Final action by the Deltona City Commission is set for Monday, Nov. 4, when commissioners will vote on the rezoning’s second reading.
Seefried said his client may break ground for the mammoth facility in December.
