DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Business owners along Seabreeze Boulevard say the closure of the Seabreeze beach approach is threatening their livelihoods — and they want the city to find a solution fast.
The city closed the Seabreeze beach approach after declaring the Plaza Hotel, which stands above it, non-compliant and unsafe due to a long list of code violations and public health and safety concerns. No reopening date has been announced.
Business owners and nearby residents say the approach is a lifeline for foot and vehicle traffic in the area.
“When they’re getting ready to leave the beach here they’re not going to be coming down Seabreeze and going to all the businesses here so that’s going to be a problem,” said Rick Kitt, a Seabreeze Boulevard business owner.
Kitt says the closure leaves beachgoers with few nearby options.
“There’s no close beach ramp for people to get on and off the beach. The closest one is on Zelda, which is several miles up the street,” Kitt said.
The frustration extends beyond the ramp closure. The Plaza Hotel has been closed since the 2022 hurricanes, and Kitt says little has been done to address the building’s condition.
“He hasn’t done any work on the hotel at all. He’s had it closed for four years and has not done any work on it,” Kitt said.
Unit owners in the condo-hotel have previously said they paid the building owner tens of thousands of dollars for repairs.
Tom Caffrey, a Main Street business owner, called the approach integral to the area’s identity and economy.
“This is integral to our history of the World’s Most Famous Beach. We need to keep this thing open; we need to get it back open as quickly as possible — I plead to whoever is in charge of getting this done, please get this back,” Caffrey said.
Caffrey would like to see the city and Volusia County reopen another closed beach access, such as the Main Street ramp, in the meantime to help offset the impact on local businesses.
“There’s really not going to be a lot of people down here. This is one of the busiest sections of our beach to drive year-round and to population so I think you’re going to see a massive decrease in revenue for a lot of these businesses,” Caffrey said.
The city has not said it would look into reopening alternate access. According to the city’s building department, repairs to the tunnel could take 60 to 90 days, depending on weather. The building owner has until Sept. 2 to bring the rest of the Plaza Hotel’s code violations into compliance or face a $1,000-per-day fine.