With about $600K to spend on the Voorhis Avenue streetscape project, the City of DeLand is working with residents on what design options may work best.
DELAND The crew behind the restoration of the J.W. Wright Building has always known the property is special.
Now, it s official, because the 101-year-old building at 258 W. Voorhis Ave., the center of what used to be a thriving district for the Black community, made it to the National Register of Historic Places. After several different hurdles, we were able to make that accomplishment, and I am just stoked about it, said Mario Davis, executive director of Greater Union Life Center Inc., a DeLand-based nonprofit that owns the building.
Davis said restoration expert Mark Shuttleworth, who owns downtown s Florida Victorian Architectural Salvage, and Sidney Johnston, assistant director in Stetson University s Office of Grants, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives, were instrumental in bringing that goal to fruition.