DEBARY, Fla. – City leaders’ hope to create a downtown area has finally gained traction.
The city said a developer sent a letter of intent to purchase about 20 acres right across the street from the city’s Sunrail station to build a “Main Street.”
“We’re essentially creating a Main Street from scratch,” said Carmen Rosamonda, city manager.
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He said it’s a project they’ve been working on for over a year and a half and just within the last few weeks, they found a developer who matched their vision.
“It’s going to be commercial on the first floor. Small shops, just like any downtown and then residential on the second, third, and fourth floor,” he said.
It’ll be a centralized location for residents to gather, especially with the amount of people moving there.
“All of the trails that the state of Florida is building here in Central Florida, they all converge in one place and that’s DeBary’s Main Street,” Rosamonda said.
Between the trails and the Sunrail train, some local restaurant owners already have their eye on it, like James Letterie who’s behind Blue Springs Brewery in Orange City and Riverwalk Pizzeria in Sanford.
“People are looking for new places to go and spots to visit where they don’t have to drive,” he said.
It’ll be built in two phases with two developers. There’s other developments also going in around it.
“People could literally just get on their golf carts and go back home and make it easy for them,” Letterie said.
Rosamonda said they were selective with choosing developers wanting someone who could help lower density in the city with limited living units.
“So we can manage the infrastructure and traffic and everything else but at the same time build an asset for Debary,” he said. “We have half of our Main Street under contract now and when we bring the purchase and sales agreement to the council next week we should be able to get it all under contract and ready to go.”