- November 23, 2024
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The building at 147 Tomoka Ave. now looks abandoned and forlorn, for those who remember when it was the site of Gray’s Garden Center, brimming with plants. The good news is that in the coming year, it will be revitalized with a new, plant-related business.
An entrepreneur has plans to open Greenery Accents, an indoor plant business. The City Commission recently approved a $50,000 Building Improvement Grant that will help business owner Mallory Kennedy, and property owner Dory Dunn, pay for the remodeling project.
Kennedy is a member of the Dunn family, longtime integral members of the business community, who ran Dunn’s Hardware and Lumber and Dunn’s Toys and Hobbies in Daytona Beach.
Mallory's grandfather was Austin Dunn, one of the owners of Dunn Hardware and Lumber. She is a cousin to Wes Dunn, owner of Dunn’s Attic and Auction House on Granada Boulevard.
Her mother, Dory Dunn, has owned and operated a local interior plant leasing and maintenance business.
“We are committed to making this a family-owned and continuously operating establishment for many years to come,” she wrote in a memo to the city.
Kennedy likes the fact that the property is only a block away from Granada Boulevard, which has gone through a lot of restoration over recent years.
“It’s an awesome property, the way it’s tucked in here near the downtown, which is looking good,” she said.
Her business will install and maintain interior plants for businesses, and will include design services. She has a degree in architecture, with a minor in landscape architecture, and has worked as an interiorscaper in Fort Lauderdale.
Kennedy said indoor plants not only help the appearance of office space but studies show they provide a sense of well-being and improve air quality. They are normally tropical, plants that grow under a forest canopy where there isn’t much light.
Customers for interior plants are not just the typical office, but also hotels, hospitals, airports, etc.
“If people want to change the design, it’s easy to do with plants,” Kennedy said.
The planned work for the building includes a new roof, a porch with columns along the eastern side of the building, new siding, and a decorative fence to replace the chain link fence. The $50,000 from the city will offset the cost of the project, expected to be more than $100,000.
Properties in the Community Redevelopment Area, an area north and south of Granada Boulevard, are eligible for the grants. The money comes from property tax collected in the area.
