DAYTONA BEACH — One thing appears certain: the Daytona Beach area will soon be getting a new Veterans Affairs outpatient center. What has yet to be determined is who will build it.
Just days after a Cleveland, Ohio, developer became the first to publicly unveil plans to build a VA clinic here, a Chicago, Illinois area-based developer has stepped forward with its competing project that would be built next door.
And there could be more, conceded Joshua Hausman, a principal and co-owner of Lake Forest, Illinois-based WD Schorsch.
“We would welcome the opportunity to build the VA clinic in Daytona Beach,” said Hausman whose company submitted its bid under the name of a subsidiary called JTW Development. “The fact is, it’s a closed bid process so we have no idea who we’re competing with.”
John Albright, CEO of Daytona Beach-based CTO Realty Growth Inc., confirmed that JTW Development agreed in January to put 15 acres under contract to buy from his company. The site is along the west side of Williamson Boulevard, one block north of LPGA Boulevard.
Albright said a third developer had been looking to potentially buy another site further north on Williamson from his company in hopes of competing to land the federal government contract to build the new VA clinic. That developer backed out after the federal government ruled out the site because of potential flooding concerns.
Albright declined to identify the third developer. He said the federal government’s rejection of the site was because of an “old map that needed to be updated.” “It’s not actually in a flood plain,” he said.
“I hear there actually could be another (fourth) developer out there (bidding for the VA contract) as well.” he added. “I don’t know where the other site is.”
The federal government is expected to make its decision by the end of September.
The VA clinic that Hausman’s company is proposing to develop would be a two-story building offering a total of 138,108 square feet of space, according to a copy of site plans obtained by The News-Journal.