New Smyrna Beach could get a five-story beach-accessible shopping mall with a rooftop restaurant.
The City Commission reviewed plans for the mall June 25, which will be up for a second reading and public hearing Aug. 13. The developer is seeking to rezone 1.01 acres of land at 1300 S. Atlantic Ave. from a B-2 Neighborhood Business District to a Planned Unit Development, and allow construction of the mall.
Set on the site of a former Regions Bank, the property is owned by the NSB Capital Group.
The location will be five stories tall. The first two floors will be dedicated to shopping space. The top three floors are dedicated to restaurant space with interior seating and beach-view rooftop seating. The retail areas are on the north side of the parcel, fronting East Third and South Atlantic avenues. The total area of the building is 35,280 square feet. However, due to mezzanines and open spaces between floors, there is only 26,556 square feet of usable space in the building, with a total of 9,689 square feet available for businesses on the first two floors.
The remainder of the planned structure is a 321-space parking garage. The parking garage has two planned exits: the first on South Atlantic and the second on East Fourth Avenue. There are 209 spaces of free parking dedicated to the retail and business entities. There will be 101 paid spaces offered to beach visitors, among others.
The Planning and Zoning Board required bathrooms to be added for parking garage customers and improvement to the beach accessibility. These changes have been incorporated into the plans.
More parking for the beach is already underway with the independent Carwile Parking Lot project nearing completion. Immediately north of the planned mall, it offers 86 ordinary spaces, four ADA spaces and seven golf cart spaces. It will be a paid parking lot.
The rezoning was requested because the existing B-2 zoning forbids a building of this height and the planned building exceeds the required setbacks from property lines, building cover and impervious coverage. The project would require multiple variances to resolve these issues, which are not required if developed as a PUD. The parking garage exceeds the floor area ratio and could not be constructed without the proposed Zoning Text Amendment.
The Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval of the project 5-1, but are considering if they feel the extent to which the property exceeds B-2 regulations justifies the benefits of a property like this close to the busiest beach ramp in Volusia County.
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