"Nothing of this magnitude has ever been attempted in the state of Florida," Bob A. Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, tells GlobeSt.com. "It's a win-win-win situation for all parties, including the city of Daytona Beach and its residents, but the key element was getting the cooperation and support of the Boardwalk Property Owners Association."

That group is comprised of seven merchant families with a dominant market share of oceanfront businesses in this city of 80,000 permanent residents and a wintertime tourist and special events population of one million.

GlobeSt.com has learned from construction industry sources familiar with the project that Beverly Hills, CA-based Hilton Hotel Corp. and Marriott Corp. of Washington, DC are two of several developers that have asked to become part of the development team.

"It's a little early to say who will and who will not take over various phases of this project, and probably speed it up in the process" Boyd says.

He and Rutledge, a former DeBartolo Corp. executive, wouldn't confirm or deny GlobeSt.com's information. "In a project of this size, we know that several major apartment, hotel and restaurant developers will want to work with us," Rutledge says. "We are always open to ideas."

The anatomy of the current redevelopment deal was structured last September. Trammell Crow and Carlsberg each presented separate proposals to the city. Crow suggested a $268 million project. Carlsberg's proposal came to $135 million. City commissioners liked both plans.

And then there was a third plan being drawn up privately by the Boardwalk Property Owners Association.

"They were going to do their own separate deal," Boyd tells GlobeSt.com. "However, they were my clients so I went to them and we talked of the possibility of using the best of all three proposals in a single project that would benefit the community, the state and the investors themselves," Boyd says.

"The property owners were a critical and crucial piece of this entire project," he notes. "It was critical that we all form an alliance because without the owners' support and enthusiasm, this project would have been difficult to put together" by any one group.

Boyd says the increased tax base that will be created from the project will be "a tremendous asset" to the city of Daytona Beach. "It will be unprecedented," he says

The infrastructure planned for the beach/boardwalk project will be Florida-themed with some elements copied from other landmarks. For instance, the 105,000-sf pier design and concept is being borrowed from the Santa Monica Pier in California, a much-photographed icon displayed in hundreds of movies.

The Orlando offices of Scott Partnership and Morris Architecture are blueprinting the redevelopment project. Suitt Construction Co. is the lead contractor along with Daytona-based Foley Construction Co. and Orlando-based Collage Cos.

Other consultants are Entertainment Design Group, Dames and Moore Engineering, Parker Mynchenberg Associates Inc., Edward D. Stone Jr. and Associates, and ArchitecturePlus International, Inc.