The Speedway’s proposed sports and entertainment complex project cleared another key hurdle Thursday night. The city’s Planning Board unanimously approved a rezoning measure that’s needed for Daytona International Speedway and its parent company to push ahead with plans to dramatically improve the track facilities and add new hotels, restaurants, shops, movie theaters and nightclubs. The board’s nod of approval Thursday was for 483 acres around the Speedway, a thumbs up that comes just a few weeks after board members OK ‘d a similar measure for 180 acres of International Speedway Corporation land just north of the track on the other side of International Speedway Boulevard. If city commissioners agree in a series of meetings this fall with the requests to rezone the full 663 acres on both sides of the bustling thoroughfare from major sports district to planned master development, the Speedway will be able to chase its dream for the sprawling complex. If the Speedway is able to move ahead with its plans over the next few decades, it will assure the track a spot on the top of the heap. The planned master development rezoning for both properties would allow the Speedway to build up to 2 million square feet of shops, restaurants and nightclubs; up to 1,785 hotel rooms; movie theaters with a combined maximum 5,000 seats; up to 1,600 multi-family residential units and 950,000 square feet of industrial uses. If it’s legalized in Florida, the Speedway wants to add casino gambling on the two sites straddling International Speedway Boulevard. The Speedway also has a list of improvements it would like to make around the track, including adding new metal panel screening to the exterior of the grandstands, five new track entrances with sponsors such as Pepsi that would have vendors inside the track, thousands of additional seats for fans and elevators. The Speedway is also looking at extending the pedestrian bridge over International Speedway Boulevard so it connects more directly with the track and adding hotels, shops and restaurants on the east, west and south sides of the track.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(8-24-2012)
