DAYTONA BEACH — When Minto Communities announced in February 2017 plans to develop the Latitude Margaritaville 55-plus community here in partnership with singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, officials anticipated selling an average of 300 homes per year.
On Saturday, Minto officially unveiled the final phase of Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach: 112 “Conch Cottage” homes that will be built north of the community’s downtown amenities complex, along the west side of Tymber Creek Road.
Minto also has a few cabins available around “Salt Shaker Square Park” east of Tymber Creek Road.
“I suspect we will sell out by the end of this year,” said Bill Bullock, president of Minto’s Latitude Margaritaville division.
If Bullock’s prediction is correct, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach will be completely sold out in just seven years, more than five years earlier than initially projected.
After complete construction, the community will have 3,765 homes. It has city rights for up to 3,900.
“Minto follows good planning practices and this led us to plan the community in the best way possible, rather than allowing maximum density,” Bullock said.
What is Latitude Margaritaville?
The Daytona Beach active adult community was the first of several Latitude Margaritavilles that Minto is developing through a licensing agreement with the late Buffett’s Margaritaville Holdings.
Minto also has Latitude Margaritaville communities in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Watersound, Florida, with another planned in South Florida, as well as three in Texas.
All are inspired by the music of the late Buffett, whose songs romanticized laid-back life in the tropics. The communities are named after Buffett’s 1977 song “Margaritaville.”
Where?
Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach occupies 1,845 acres by one mile west of Interstate 95, along the north side of LPGA Boulevard.
It has been one of the fastest growing communities in the country
Since welcoming its first residents in March 2018, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach has been the fastest-growing master-planned community in Volusia County.
It’s also among the fastest-growing in the country, according to RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, which annually publishes a list of the top 50 master-planned communities, ranked by the number of new homes sold.
In 2018, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach sold 412 homes, ranking as the 31st fastest-selling master-planned community in the country, according to RCLCO.
It sold 437 in 2019 (33rd fastest), 645 in 2020 (tied for 18th place), 707 in 2021 (16th place), 600 in 2022 (16th place) and 546 last year (34th place).
By RCLCO’s count, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach sold an average of nearly 558 homes per year, nearly double what Minto officials originally predicted.
As of Tuesday, 3,630 homes have been sold or are under contract at Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, according to Minto spokeswoman Paula Robertson.
Could have been much bigger
Minto in February 2017 closed its Purchase of US$ 27.2 million of the initial 1,581 acres he had under contract to purchase from CTO Realty Growth.
It had another 1,614 acres under contract directly to the north for a potential 3,200 more homes, but ultimately let its option to purchase this additional land from the CTO expire in February 2020.
The reason given by Bullock at the time was the increased impact fees Minto would have to pay for the additional land compared to the initial acreage it put under contract in 2014, when the area was still recovering from the Great Recession.
The CTO ended up selling that land, along with some adjacent properties, along the south side of State Road 40 in July 2020 to Orlando-based Avalon Park Group. The proposed project for Avalon Park Daytona Beach remains still four years later. It would add 7,878 homes and one million square feet of commercial space.
Bullock said he has no regrets about letting his company’s option to buy the additional land expire. “Avalon Park is still dealing with the issues we anticipated,” he said. “That piece of land we passed by wasn’t the right deal for us.”
Minto added 264 acres in 2021. Bullock said his company has no further plans to expand Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach.
Put Daytona Beach on the map for retirees
Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach made national headlines when it was first announced. It even led Bloomberg News in September 2017 to publish an article titled “The Future of Retirement is Margaritaville.”
Syndicated television game show”Wheel of Fortune” also put Latitude Margaritaville in the spotlight by offering new homes as the top prize. Homes in the Daytona Beach community of Minto were chosen by WOF winners in 2018 and 2021.
Continues to attract residents from across the U.S.
“We sell to (buyers from) all states in the union, except Alaska, North Dakota and Vermont,” said Bullock of Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach. “Latitude Margaritaville has helped make Daytona Beach a destination for retirees.”
Case in point: U.S. News & World Report earlier this year ranked Daytona Beach No. 8 on its list of the nation’s 25 best places to retire.
Texas couple attracted to ‘active vibe’
Bob Robbins and his wife Jayne Ann moved from Fort Worth, Texas to Latitude Margaritaville in June 2021. The couple originally came from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they raised their children.
“We were looking for a very active, 55+ community,” Robbins said. “When we got here (to check out Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach), we felt that vibe. We knew this was where we wanted to move.”
When an opening became available for a new residential sales specialist at Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, Minto employees invited Bob Robbins to apply for the job.
Robbins now works full time promoting Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach. His wife works one day a week as an “ambassador” who takes future residents on golf cart rides around the community.
The couple said they plan to fully retire once the last of the new homes at Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach are sold.
This article originally appeared in The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona’s Margaritaville approaches full capacity 5 years early
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