The sale of a 60-acre parcel is expected to address a need for more housing and help change the residential landscape in DeLand, Florida.
A company working with homebuilding giant D.R. Horton paid $6.9 million in June for the property, with plans calling for 300 townhouses, according to listing broker Steve Costa of NAI Realvest-Charles Wayne. But to make the deal work, the homebuilder had lengthy discussions with the city about resolving a series of environmental and traffic issues related to the property.
The transaction has earned a 2025 CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year for Deltona/Daytona, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Despite the Volusia County site's visibility from Interstate 4, multifamily developers weren't interested, and the land sat on the market for several years, Costa said in an interview. Part of the problem was that prior to 2021, DeLand, a city of about 43,000 people between Orlando and Daytona Beach, didn't have sufficient zoning for townhouses, according to city spokesman Chris Graham.
So Costa said he approached DeLand about providing zoning standards, and the city commission approved those in November 2021. The broker then contacted Arlington, Texas-based D.R. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder by sales, about putting townhouses on the site.
The builder signed a deal to buy the land but worked with the city for about 2½ years before getting the necessary approvals in May 2024, according to Costa. The site now is cleared for development, and the broker's persistence helped usher in new zoning standards that make it easier for other developers to propose and build townhouse projects in DeLand.
About the project: The site, originally on the market for $8.5 million, is at North Summit Avenue in DeLand. The seller was Abdel Hakim Samawi of Deprop.
What the judges said: "The developer worked with city officials to create a plan that met the community needs. It exemplifies the importance of collaboration,“ said Keith Norden, president and CEO of Team Volusia EDC.
They made it happen: Steve Costa, NAI Realvest–Charles Wayne.