Developer envisions row of new Cocoa Village buildings
A developer plans to build a row of brownstone buildings on Brevard Avenue in Cocoa Village where the former city hall once stood.
The $5 million project includes six three-story buildings for commercial and residential use as well as a restaurant on what is now a vacant lot and downtown parking.
Cocoa's redevelopment agency will give the land, appraised at $310,000, to Daytona Beach-based White Challis Redevelopment Co. as part of a public-private partnership in which the city will provide the property and the developer will pay for construction to ultimately profit from the sale or lease of the buildings.
City leaders made the deal to bolster the value of the unused property, which is owned by the Cocoa Redevelopment Agency, and increase the city's tax base.
"What we are doing is washing our hands of it and getting it on the tax rolls," Mayor Henry Parrish said. "For us, it signifies the city is growing."
Site work and construction of the restaurant and one building is expected begin within a year and the other buildings will be built based on demand, according to Jack White, co-owner of White Challis.
"We won't have huge vacant buildings sitting there waiting for buyers to come," White said. "It protects the city and protects us to do this one sale at a time."
Each brownstone will be a mixed-use building with commercial space on the first floor and a single-family residence on the second and third floors.
The first brownstone will initially serve as a model. White anticipates the two-story residences will be between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet and the first-floor commercial space would be about 1,400 square feet.
However, the top two floors could be designed to accommodate as much as 3,500 square feet of living space.
"We have the space to build as big as people want," White said. "The idea is that we can design a unit that fits the buyer's needs and wants."
White Challis has three similar projects underway in Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, the company believes Cocoa Village fits its business plan.
"We do boutique projects geared on the residential side for young professionals and empty-nesters," White said. "Cocoa Village fits our model. It's a small historic downtown with a great walkable area with shops and restaurants near the water."
Along with the Parkside Place redevelopment near Riverfront Park, Cocoa's mayor hopes the brownstones will encourage more economic growth in Cocoa Village.
"It promotes other development because it makes investors feel comfortable about spending money here," Parrish said. "We are looking for that to spur something else."
Contact Gunnerson at sgunnerson@floridatoday.com, 321-360-1016 and Twitter @scottgunnerson