Site work has begun for a massive Amazon distribution center in Deltona on land recently purchased from an Australian family that owned it since the ’70s. The family, one of the wealthiest in Australia, plans to develop its remaining 125 acres into a distribution center space for other companies.
DELTONA — The massive Amazon distribution center set to open here in time for the start of the 2020 holiday shopping season could soon have plenty of company.
The Australian family that sold the land now being cleared for the e-commerce giant has begun marketing its remaining 125 acres just east of Interstate 4.
The Hains family hopes to attract companies interested in opening their own distribution centers next to Amazon’s planned 1.4 million-square-foot complex.
“There’s interest already (from other prospective tenants),” said Deltona City Commissioner Anita Bradford.
Bradford described Amazon as a “major magnet” that could also draw service businesses interested in catering to the 500 workers the distribution center will employ.
“This could be the jump start that Deltona needed to get the services we need, such as restaurants, stores, daycares and grocery stores,” she said.
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Under the name D.O.T. Properties N.V., the Hains family of Melbourne, Australia, has owned the 227 acres in Deltona since the late 1970s, according to Volusia County property records.
The land is southeast of the I-4/State Road 472 interchange.
Up until now the Hains family has only used its land in Deltona for billboards, said Lynn Dehlinger, a real estate broker associate with Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA).
Dehlinger represented the family in negotiating the $12.6 million land sale that closed Dec. 20.
Amazon.com Services Inc. bought the northern portion of the 102-acre site.
Atlanta developer Seefried Industrial Properties Inc. purchased the larger southern portion.
Seefried has developed several distribution centers for Amazon throughout the country.
Two are in Florida: one at Orlando International Airport and at Lake Nona.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant in September 2019 opened a 66,000-square-foot last-mile delivery station in Daytona Beach.
Amazon’s aim is to speed the time it takes to fulfill orders, including same-day delivery on selected items.
The planned distribution center in Deltona would act as a hub for multiple last-mile delivery stations, confirmed Dehlinger.
The former economic development manager for the City of Holly Hill also works as an economic development consultant to the City of Deltona.
RMA was hired in October 2018 to assist in creating a new five-year strategic plan for attracting business park developers and users of industrial space to Volusia County’s most populous city.
“As soon as we got the contract (from the city), we met with the owners of the property,” said Dehlinger.
Her husband Bill is also a real estate broker associate with RMA.
“They (the Hains family) were interested in focusing on logistics (distribution centers),” she said.
The family’s plan is to develop its remaining property in the southwest Volusia County city into a commerce center called Portland Industrial Park at Deltona, said Dehlinger.
The industrial park would include Amazon as its first tenant.
“Portland is a perfect name (for the industrial park) because it’s an inland port,” said Dehlinger.
The name was chosen as a nod to one of the Hains family’s principal businesses, the hedge fund Portland House Group, she said.
Forbes magazine lists Portland House Group’s founder, David Hains, 89, as the 19th wealthiest man in Australia.
His estimated net worth is $1.9 billion.
“Portland House’s sole purpose is to manage the family’s wealth,“ according to Forbes.
The hedge fund is managed by Hains’ three children.
Upon learning the family’s goal for its property in Deltona, Dehlinger immediately contacted site selectors for Amazon.
She said she was aware that the company was already working with Team Volusia Economic Development Corp to find a suitable location for a distribution center.
Amazon wants that center to be built in time for the next holiday shopping season, she said.
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Deltona a year ago was not on Amazon’s short list of potential Volusia County sites, Dehlinger said.
Amazon agreed to locate its distribution center in Deltona because of the city’s willingness to fast-track the permitting process to allow the distribution center to be completed by November 2020, she said.
Also helping to sway the company decision was the $2.5 million in economic incentives offered by the city.
But those incentives come with strings attached.
Amazon must make good on its pledge to invest $100 million in constructing and equipping the distribution center.
It also must create 500 full-time jobs by the end of 2023.
And those jobs must pay an average of at least $32,000 a year with full benefits.
The economic development agreement calls for the company to create at least 150 jobs here by the end of 2021.
An additional 150 workers must be hired by the end of 2022.
And by the end of year three, 200 more must be hired for Amazon to qualify for the full $2.5 million in incentives, said Jerry Mayes, the city’s economic development and ecological tourism sustainability manager.
If the company falls short of those yearly hiring targets, it must create at least 80 percent of the pledged jobs in order to qualify for a “pro-rated” portion of the incentive money, he said.
“Amazon is excited to be joining the Deltona community and for its residents and members of surrounding communities to eventually join our team,” wrote Owen Torres, a Miami-based regional spokesman for Amazon, in an email.
“Exact timing (for the opening of the distribution center) is still TBD (to be determined),” Torres wrote.
The Conlan Company, the general contractor hired by Seefried to build the distribution center, began clearing the site in early December.
“Amazon has got such an aggressive program,” said Dehlinger of the e-commerce giant’s efforts to rapidly expand its distribution network.
“It’s their plan to dominate the distribution industry,” she said.
Amazon’s distribution center in Deltona will create a positive ripple effect on neighboring development sites, Dehlinger predicted.
Beneficiaries of that ripple effect are expected to include the Deltona Village property next door where the local DeMarsh family operates the Epic Theatres of West Volusia movie complex.
The Halifax Crossing medical village on the northeast side of the I-95/SR 472 interchange also could see an increase in interest from tenants, she said.
“You’re going to see a domino effect,” Dehlinger said.
The Hains property, Amazon site, Deltona Village and Halifax Crossing are all part of the city’s more than 500-acre “Southwest Activity Center.”
Bradford, the commissioner whose district includes the activity center, said, “I see it as becoming a downtown area” for the city.
While Deltona is home to more than 90,000 residents, over 80 percent of workers commute to jobs in other cities, according to Mayes.
Some commute as far as Orlando.
“We have the residents, but not the lunch traffic (needed to attract restaurants, shops and service businesses),” said Bradford.
She and her husband own a business in Deltona called JAS Construction Group.
“Even my own staff, they do (personal) errands during lunch outside of Deltona,” Bradford said.
That could soon change.
Mayes estimates “close to 1,000 jobs” will be created in the next few years in the city’s activity center.
Other employers creating jobs in Deltona include Halifax Health and AdventHealth.
Halifax Health is set to open its new hospital at Halifax Crossings on Feb. 4 with a medical office building also under construction there, confirmed Tangela Boyd, a spokeswoman for the public hospital system.
AdventHealth in December opened a standalone emergency department facility roughly one mile to the east on Howland Boulevard.
“I think there will be a lot of ancillary businesses pop up such as hotels, restaurants and shopping,” said Deltona Mayor Heidi Herzberg.
The city is already working with the county and state to explore potential grants to help pay for widening the two-lane Normandy Boulevard where the Amazon distribution center is being built, she said.
“I know road improvements are definitely going to happen,” Herzberg said.
Bradford hopes some Deltona residents who commute to other cities will choose to work closer to home when Amazon opens.
“If our employees are good enough to cross the bridge to work somewhere else, they’re good enough to work for Amazon,” she said.
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