DeBary plans massive downtown development, new walkable hub

In building center Florida, imagine building a downtown entirely from scratch. That's exactly what's happening in DeBerry as a massive new development takes a major step toward reality. The ground is getting prepped for a new walkable hub there. Fox 35's Chris Lindsay joins us live and Chris, neighbors are making one thing clear to you. Well, they don't want to lose the small town feel they moved here for. As you can see, crews have been working to prepare the site. As they wrap things up, local leaders are letting people know there's no need to be concerned about how much this project will grow the city. A welcomed level up in DeBerry. It'll be great. It's a kind of like decompressing something to do. Now that the vision for Main Street is closer than ever to becoming a reality. We're very excited about it that we will be able to create a city that we've all desired. The construction site has been prepped and building permits are being pulled for roughly 300 townhomes and a few commercial spaces. After that, some apartments, restaurants, shops and more will be on the way. Though neighbors seem to be on board with the plans. I don't want something to go all the way to Orlando. I want something that can go right there and come back home if I get overstimulated. They don't want the town to lose its identity. I want to stay in the small town, but where, you know, big little big, just minor big city convenience. I'm told decision makers have that in mind. One of our core values is maintaining a small town, close knit community, and everything we do is based upon those types of things. So they're focused on making it a walkable hub that people visit rather than a place that will make the population skyrocket. In addition to this project, city leaders are also considering putting a public's nearby reporting live into Barry, Chris Lindsay, Fox 35 News.