Daytona getting first new beachfront hotel in 20 years

A family from Russia is building the first beachfront hotel in Daytona Beach in the last 20 years together with a condo-hotel in a $275 million project.

The Lysich family has undertaken the most expensive private development in Daytona Beach history between the Atlantic Ocean and the Halifax River, which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway separating beaches from the mainland.

The family from St. Petersburg, Russia, is spending $90 million to build a 29-story hotel and another $185 million to put up a 31-story condo-hotel building.

Their $275 million development, called Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums, will consist of a 31-story condo-hotel with 120 condos and 42 hotel rooms, plus a 27-story hotel with 459 guest rooms.

Construction of the complex is under way and expected to be completed in phases by 2020.

Through a company called Photogroup, the Lysiches bought the 4.5-acre oceanfront development site just south of Seabreeze Boulevard for $6.3 million in a 2012 foreclosure sale.

Alexey Lysich, who is listed as a vice president of Photogroup, owns several hotels in St. Petersburg, Russia, together with his father and his brother, including a Holiday Inn and a Staybridge Suites that they opened from 2006 to 2010. [Daytona Beach News Journal] – Mike Seemuth