DAYTONA BEACH — It seems like a great way to improve a neighborhood one home or business at a time. Hand out grants to property owners who have fixes to make, and just watch things get better.

But in the Main Street Community Redevelopment Area, where over the past decade the city has provided 182 of the taxpayer-financed grants totaling about $713,000, results have been jarringly uneven.

The News-Journal visually inspected every property that received a grant. Some of those properties are well-kept, and the improvements made to them are impressive.

But some businesses and homes that used grants for improvements in the core beachside area are now vacant. A number of empty businesses along East International Speedway Boulevard received improvement grants.

And although rental property owners are no longer eligible for the program, the largest recipient of the facade grants within the Main Street CRA is actually a rental property owner who has clashed legally with the city over code enforcement.

"It's like putting on a clean pair of pants, but you're still wearing dirty underwear. It's pretty superficial," George Mirabal said of the grant effort. Mirabal was deeply involved in beachside redevelopment efforts when he was president and CEO of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce from 1987 to 2007.

Others think a more robust grant program could help turn the beachside around.

"Isn't the whole object of a CRA to be for grants?" asked longtime beachside resident Mike Denis. "Maybe that's why Main Street and A1A are blighted, because there haven't been enough grants."

Don't look for an increase in facade grants on the beachside anytime soon. The well is dry for now. This fiscal year, the Main Street CRA has earmarked just $50,000 of its $5.8 million budget for facade grants.

THE PROGRAM

Over the past 10 years, the city has handed out roughly 500 grants totaling more than $1.9 million to property owners in its five community redevelopment areas. The greatest number of grants have gone to the Downtown CRA, where numerous businesses have used the money to improve Beach Street properties. The Main Street CRA has received the second largest number of grants.

The grants, paid for with property tax dollars captured within each CRA, are intended to be a shot of financial help for property owners who want to make improvements.

The amount spent on grants in the Main Street CRA has fluctuated over the years. After climbing to a high of $153,485 in 2010, the amounts given out each year since have dropped. In 2011 there was a relatively small decline to $147,599, but only $8,050 in grants was awarded in 2012. Since then it's settled around $25,000 to $50,000 annually.

City Redevelopment Director Reed Berger said different forces push the annual grant numbers up and down. Some years, less is given out because fewer people apply. Other years, more CRA dollars are earmarked for other costs.

This fiscal year, the city has budgeted more than $2.5 million for an annual bond payment for projects completed decades ago. Another $2 million is being set aside for future work on East ISB, and another $1 million will go to a variety of administrative and other costs. That leaves just $50,000 for the grant program.

Those interested in a CRA grant first have to determine if their property is eligible. Rental properties became ineligible for the program in 2012; now, only owner-occupied homes qualify.

Only certain types of businesses are eligible. Gift shops and most bars, for example, can't get grants.

"We have enough (of those types of businesses)," Berger said. "We're trying to lift the other types of businesses, and it's really to help small businesses. Larger businesses typically don't ask."

A main goal of the program is to curb vacancy, Berger said.

Property owners interested in receiving a grant must fill out an application. In some cases, a business plan will be required. If an applicant qualifies, he or she has several different types of grants from which to choose: commercial facade, residential facade, business facade, leasehold improvement, lease subsidy, historic residential, historic commercial and landscape.

For those who are chosen for a grant, "CRA funds can be used to rehabilitate the exterior of existing residential and commercial buildings, with an emphasis on improving the appearance from the public street or public spaces," Berger said. Businesses also can use grants for things such as plumbing and ovens, he said.

Grants can't be used to fix hurricane damage, or for roof work. For homes in the Main Street CRA, allowable home expenditures include painting, refurbishing windows and improving doors.

The bulk of Main Street CRA grants over the past decade have been for $1,000 to $5,000. Many property owners don't seek more because they usually have to provide some sort of match, Berger said. There also is a way to get a grant with no match required, but most people don't like the strings attached to that offer, Berger said. It means getting a lien on the property and not being able to sell it for five years, he said.

The city requires grant applicants to get bids for the work they want done. Those approved then have to tackle the work with contractors following city code. They receive the money after the work is done.

THE LARGEST RECIPIENT

If anyone's familiar with the grant program, it's Jack Aberman, owner of numerous rental properties in the core beachside area. His company is Daytona Property Management.

In 2011, Aberman received 18 residential facade grants of $5,000 each, for a total of $90,000. That makes him the largest recipient of the grant program in the Main Street CRA.

City records show Aberman used most of the money he received to paint those properties. He also spent money fixing windows and making other exterior repairs.

Aberman said he followed a city-dictated color scheme on the properties that received grants, and he replaced windows, fixed porches, and made a variety of other improvements. He said the houses looked sharp when they were completed.

"They were immaculate," he recalled. He also agreed some of the homes are more worn now.

Eight of Aberman's properties are grouped in a horseshoe of sorts at the corner of North Peninsula Avenue, Coates Street and North Hollywood Avenue. The lawns of those properties are worn and somewhat littered. Some windows are covered with boards. In a few spots, paint is peeling.

"Paint jobs, because we're in such a hot climate, you really get only 5-8 years," Aberman said.

Hurricane Matthew also didn't help. It damaged the roofs and some windows. Aberman is in the process of having the roofs repaired and the windows replaced. Part of the challenge, he said, is that window contractors have been so busy doing hurricane repairs.

"It's going back, and that's why I've got boards on the windows," he said. "That corner has definitely been a work in progress."

But Aberman said the interiors of the homes "are all definitely in pretty good shape. They're not that bad as you would think." Until recently, some of the homes were vacant. But now all but one of them are occupied — some by the people who are working on the properties.

Aberman has had legal issues with the city.

In 2014, three code violation cases on Aberman's properties went before a special magistrate. The main charge in each case of the properties on Peninsula and Hollywood was failure to license residential rental property.

Aberman didn't make it to the November 2014 hearing, and Assistant City Attorney Anthony Jackson told Special Magistrate David Vukelja that the only response he got from Aberman was a fax warning the city to stay off his property. Jackson also told the magistrate that Aberman's company at that time, GEA Seaside Investments, was in bankruptcy.

Vukelja found each of the three properties in question that day not in compliance with city code and ordered daily fines of $1,000 if compliance didn't come about by the next month. Liens of up to $15,000 can be placed on each property that doesn't resolve violations.

Aberman sued the city in the fall of 2014, filing a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the city's residential rental inspection program was unconstitutional. The suit argued that before city inspectors enter homes, they should have search warrants and probable cause to believe there's been a legal violation. The city wound up changing its practices to seek permission or a warrant to search properties.

Now the city has brought a new code violation case against Aberman. In November, Aberman's property at 358 Nautilus Ave. was cited for roof damage, broken windows and failure to obtain a rental license. With the problems still lingering more than four months later, the case is slated to go before the magistrate next week.

Aberman has 32 additional properties that have recently been cited for code violations, and those cases will go to the magistrate in May if he doesn't come into compliance by then, according to Hector Garcia, the city's head of code enforcement. Garcia and other city officials said they were unable to provide information detailing which properties were cited for the potential May hearing. Nor could they specify the violations.

Asked about the city's complaints, Aberman said, "I'm coming into compliance."

Louise Patterson lives at 315 N. Hollywood Ave., literally surrounded by Aberman's rental homes. It's the neighborhood she lived in as a child 50 years ago. After moving decades ago to northern California, she returned to Daytona's beachside in 2015. Her 1920s-era home is a solid wood-frame, two-story home that has a beautiful dark brown wooden floor in the large living room.

Patterson said Aberman wanted to buy her home in 2006, and offered her a great price. She agreed, but the deal fell through.

She said some of Aberman's properties were vacant until recently. She added that last fall's Hurricane Matthew damaged the roof of Aberman's house at 311 N. Hollywood Ave., forcing the family that lived there to move. The roof of that house has been repaired, but the house is still unoccupied.

She said hotel employees and construction workers have recently moved into some of Aberman's houses.

"I don't mind telling you I appreciate them being occupied," Patterson said.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

The grant program's success rate with businesses in the core beachside has been decidedly uneven.

An example of success is the soon-to-open, refurbished Streamline Hotel at 140 S. Atlantic Ave. The Streamline is a motor sports landmark for hosting rooftop meetings in 1947 that led to the creation of NASCAR. The 1940s art deco hotel became a rundown eyesore, but was purchased in 2011 by Eddie Hennessy.

His company received a $25,000 historic commercial grant for the hotel project in 2011 and $5,000 in additional grants last year. Those dollars played a small role in the hotel's $6 million renovation.

After more than two years, work on the hotel is nearly done, and the hotel's interior is stunning. The hotel is in the process of hiring, and will open soon.

"It’s great. I love it," said Jack Beach, a subcontractor who worked on the Streamline's renovation and showed The News-Journal the first floor, which contains the lobby and a curved stone bar, marble columns, blue lighting, and a large jelly fish tank.

The project's general contractors, brothers Anthony and Paul Viscomi of Viscomi Construction, said they wound up gutting the inside of the building, leaving only the structural walls and floors. Practically everything, including the electrical wiring and plumbing, needed to be replaced.

Beach, who has lived in Daytona Beach for 52 years, said the Streamline effort is worth it. "Hopefully, this is the start to (revitalizing the beachside)," he said. "This (the area) is the pits right now. I liked it the way it was when I was a kid."

A couple hundred yards to the south, examples of CRA grants that didn't pan out are easy to find.

At 729 E. ISB, the former Blue Skye clothing shop received a $5,000 facade grant in 2009. It's empty now, and for sale.

At 509 E. ISB, the former Santilli's Restaurant received $8,252 for three facade grants in 2010. The place has been empty long enough for the restaurant's name to have faded from the sign on the west end of the property. A small handmade sign in the window advertises that a shop called "Danny Daytona" will open soon.

Some businesses that received facade grants on Main Street have fared little better.

The building at 601 E. Main St., owned by Archie Dodani, received a $5,000 façade grant in 2009. It's now closed for much of the year. During this year's Bike Week, it temporarily turned into a Donald Trump store selling T-shirts, hats and other keepsakes supportive of the president. Itinerant vendor Jason Johnson said business was good during Bike Week, but fell off a cliff the minute the bikers left town. A big sign on the building says it's "AVAILABLE."

Beach Photo & Video, located in a 1922 building that's been around almost as long as Main Street itself, took five small commercial facade grants from 2006 to 2010 totaling $3,430. Co-owner Mark Robertson believes the city should spend more money on business grants and less on things like fixing the Main Street Pier.

"I've called City Hall over the years and they told me there's no money available for grants," Robertson said. "I call one or two times per year and ask. If we could get these buildings on Main Street looking good it would start us in the right direction."

Robertson said he's been on a waiting list to get CRA money to paint and work on his front door. "Instead of me calling them, they should send a rep and look at my building," he said. "They should go door to door. Most of these businesses can't afford to make improvements."

BITTERSWEET SUCCESS

Even homeowners who've received the city grants aren't thrilled with the program. The over-arching problem is the crime-plagued, worn nature of the Main Street redevelopment area.

John and Stacy Nichols purchased a worn multi-family property at 120 N. Peninsula Ave. Then they went to work, turning it into their home just blocks from the World's Most Famous Beach.

They received a $10,000 facade grant from the city in 2014, and used it to put a beautiful open porch on the front of the home. The couple spent thousands of dollars more improving the rest of the home. Like the two homes immediately to the north, the Nichols' home is now an example of what the core beachside could be.

But behind their home are some multi-family rentals that appear to have squatters living in them.

"They just camp out in the house," Stacy Nichols said. The neighborhood, she added, is "just not safe. It’s not nice."

Among other things, they’ve had a motorcycle stolen. Another day, a girl who was attacked ended up in their driveway and bled all over it. They love their home, but are frustrated that the core beachside area isn't what it could be.

"It's sad to me that it's pretty bad," Stacy Nichols said.

Beachside activist Amy Pyle was recently appointed to serve on the city's Beachside Redevelopment Area Board. She was surprised to learn the city has given out more than $713,000 in grants to Main Street CRA property owners in the past decade. Other than a few homes that capitalized on the grants, Pyle doesn't see the impact.

"The idea is to bring the area up," said Pyle, who's also part of a nonprofit group called Citizens 4 Responsible Development that’s working to lure small development into the core beachside. "Very little has been done."

Looking at a sprawling vacant lot across the street from her, she asked, "How could that be empty?"

Beyond city grants, Pyle believes the beachside needs more homeowners, more small businesses and smarter code enforcement. But she refuses to become bitter about the lack of progress, or stop believing in the beachside.

"This place is incredible," she looking at her historic Grandview Avenue home, located just a couple blocks from the ocean. "Smell that air. I think it’s only up from here."

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TARNISHED JEWEL: A Five-Part Series

DAY ONE: Daytona's troubled beachside

DAY TWO: Daytona Beach’s historic beachside main drag languishes

DAY THREE: Empty Promises: 10 years, $1.87M later, Daytona lots wait for buyers

DAY FOUR: Empty Promises: 10 years, $1.87M later, Daytona lots wait for buyers

DAY FIVE: HITS AND MISSES: Daytona homes, businesses received improvement grants with mixed results