Daytona Beach |
DeLeon Springs Park |
Downtown DeLand |
St. Johns River |
Vistoria Park Golf |
Geographically, Volusia County
sits 50 miles northeast of Orlando, between the
St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. But these
days, in a region where the growth is pushing outward
in all four directions, geography doesn’t
mean as much as it once did.
Indeed, as metro Orlando spreads
north and east along 1-4 through Seminole County;
Western Volusia is directly in growth’s path.
Today the area, once identified
almost exclusively with Daytona Beach, is emerging
as a suburb of Orlando. With nearly 70,000 residents,
Deltona has long since surpassed Daytona Beach as
the largest municipality in Volusia County. It has
seen a 343 percent growth rate since 1980 and adds
roughly 1,100 new homes each year.
Much of the activity is spurred
by commercial development along the so-called High-Tech
Corridor, which runs the length of 1-4 between Tampa
and Daytona Beach. Projections call for the stretch
of interstate between Lake Mary and Sanford, just
east of the Volusia-Seminole border, eventually
to contain more than 13 million square feet of office
space.
The widening of the 1-4-St. Johns
River Bridge alleviated one of the region’s
most annoying traffic bottlenecks, making western
Volusia an easy 30-minute commute to downtown Orlando.
Lured by that surprising proximity,
as well as by the region’s abundance of lakes,
springs and the nearby beach, families began flocking
to the new home communities near 1-4, including
the St. Joe Company’s Victoria Park on the
outskirts of DeLand.
Buyers have also discovered the
impressive stock of historic residences west of
downtown DeLand, which is clearly one of the coolest
small towns in Florida.
The quaint downtown district, which
is on the National Registry of Historic Places,
is thick with eateries and antique shops. And stately
Stetson University, which has been located here
for more than a century, adds an air of permanence.
Meanwhile, tiny Lake Helen is holding
its breath as Victoria Park adds 4,000 homes and
10,000 residents right near the city’s border.
The rural enclave, home to no stop- lights or fast—food
restaurants, is expected to grow 16 percent by 2025.
Those interested in more natural settings, plus
an unusual lunch, may head north on U.S. 17 to DeLeon
Springs State Park, where you can cook your own
pancakes at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill and then
paddle a canoe through the wilderness.
In the winter, manatees seeking
warmer water can be seen lolling around at Blue
Springs State Park. In the summer, humans, seeking
relief from the heat, plunge into the same bubbling
blue oasis.
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