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Feature Article, August 2005 Taking The Lead
Casto Lifestyle Properties gears up for a new joint venture with International Speedway Corp. to develop a mixed-use center opposite Florida's Daytona Speedway.
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Speedplex will be located in Daytona Beach, Florida, opposite the Daytona International Speedway. The $75 million undertaking will include 50 acres of retail, entertainment, restaurant, office and residential space.
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About 9 months ago, Sarasota, Florida-based Casto Lifestyle Properties began scouting out sites in and around Daytona Beach, Florida, on behalf of Birmingham, Alabama-based Cobb Cinemas, who was interested in entering the market. It was a simple mission: to find a desirable site for Cobb Cinemas to open a movie theater. The area sorely needed a movie theater — it was as simple as that. What Casto Lifestyle Properties returned home with, however, was a much more complicated and exciting proposition: a brand-new entertainment/lifestyle center boasting not only Cobb Cinemas, but also the entire Daytona International Speedway, home to NASCAR's world-famous Daytona 500. Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
The wheels were first set in motion when the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) approached Casto Lifestyle Properties, whose 524,000-square-foot Winter Park Village in Winter Park, Florida, was just the sort of urban village design that ISC had in mind to complement its speedway. After all, when NASCAR races attract Super Bowl-sized crowds to a site, why not offer patrons a little retail, restaurant and entertainment respite as well?
“The uniqueness of this project is it's literally going to be attached by a pedestrian bridge to the Daytona Speedway,” says Brett Hutchens, president and CEO of Casto Lifestyle Properties. “The project will also house the world headquarters of International Speedway Corporation and of NASCAR.”
Called Speedplex, the $75 million project is situated on approximately 50 acres currently owned by ISC. The joint-venture development will offer 275,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, approximately 220,000 square feet of office space and 40 to 45 condominiums. Residential parking might pose an interesting challenge, especially on race days, but that is the sort of challenge Casto Lifestyle Properties welcomes. Also, during racing event weeks (of which there are five per year), ISC — not Casto Lifestyle Properties — will oversee operations at the center.
“It presents some pretty interesting challenges,” Hutchens admits. “But it's going to be fun. We've had a tremendous amount of interest in this place.”
Cobb Cinemas will anchor the entertainment component with an 18-screen megaplex that, upon completion, will be the largest movie theater in Volusia County. ISC and NASCAR headquarters will anchor the office portion of Speedplex, while restaurants (as yet unnamed) will most likely anchor the retail portion. There will be the opportunity for some fashion retail as well.
“We're feeling our way on the theme of this — whether it's going to be fashion or mostly entertainment,” Hutchens says. “My guess is that it's going to be mostly entertainment. However, the Volusia County Mall is literally across the street, so there should be some complementary fashion interest, not to mention you also have an office component of 900 employees on-site, many of whom are living on-site [in the condominiums], who have a lot of disposable income.”
Casto Lifestyle Properties is also leasing the project. In addition to the movie theater and fashion retail, Hutchens predicts that Speedplex will have a bookstore, perhaps a Starbucks, as well as a smattering of restaurants. He also likes the possibility of developing a hotel on-site — especially considering the area's heavy tourism traffic.
Race to the Finish
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NASCAR is America's Number 1 spectator sport, drawing Super Bowl-sized crowds several times a year. Here is a shot from a recent Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, which will adjoin Casto Lifestyle Properties' new Speedplex project.
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Groundbreaking on Speedplex is anticipated to begin in early 2006. Construction must be staggered so as not to displace existing ISC office tenants, who currently occupy several buildings on the property. Speedplex is expected to open in spring 2007, just in time for the Pepsi 400. Miami-based Beame Architectural Partnership, which also teamed with Casto Lifestyle Properties on Winter Park Village (which opened in 2001), is handling design duties.
“ISC made many travels to Winter Park Village from Daytona Beach, and that's the concept they had in mind,” Hutchens recalls. “So they called a few developers, and they chose us to do it. The stars just kind of lined up. I think it's something they might want to replicate if they like this experience.”
International Speedway Corporation currently owns and/or operates 11 of the nation's major motor sports facilities, including Daytona International Speedway in Florida; Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama; Michigan International Speedway near Detroit; Richmond International Raceway in Virginia; California Speedway near Los Angeles; Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas; Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona; Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida; Martinsville Speedway in Virginia; Darlington Raceway in South Carolina; and Watkins Glen International in New York. Other track ownership includes an indirect 37.5 percent interest in Raceway Associates, LLC, which owns and operates Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.
Approximately 1 million people visit the small racing museum at the Daytona International Speedway alone. “There's a constant stream of people coming from that speedway, even when there's nothing going on,” Hutchens says.
Therefore, it stands to reason that partnering with a speedway operator might be a lucrative deal — and perhaps one not usually explored by traditional retail developers. After all, NASCAR is the Number 1 spectator sport in America with 75 million fans coast to coast, according to a May 2005 NBC news report.
“For 5 weeks out of the year, they bring the equivalent of a Super Bowl crowd,” Hutchens says. “It's different, trying to plan for something like that.”
However, it's safe to say that Casto Lifestyle Properties welcomes that challenge as well.
— Katie Foxworth
©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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