Plan to Move Swimming Hall of Fame to Daytona Beach to be Considered Wednesday

By Phillip Whitten

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida, May 31. THE International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), located in Fort Lauderdale since its birth in 1964, may have a new home in Daytona Beach, if Hall of Fame President Dr. Sam Freas and South Florida developer the Swerdlow Group have their way.

A proposal to relocate the Hall along with the national headquarters of six Olympic sports as part of a larger redevlopment plan for Daytona, home of NASCAR, will be discussed by the city Commission on Wednesday. At that ime citizens of Daytona will be invited to comment on the plan.

Supporters of the proposal are thought to outnumber opponents by about three-to-one.

The sports project, of which ISHOF is the centerpiecee, is part of a larger plan for two condo towers and a third 300-room hotel to be built in the city's core tourist area. Previous plans had called for three towers, all consisting of condos. To build the condos, hotels currently in the area would have to be torn down.

Local merchants had opposed the previous plans fearing lost sales due to the lost hotels rooms. Swerdlow Group, the dveloper, anticipates that the revised plan will speak to the merchants' fears. The merchants, the city and the Hall of Fame would be the beneficiaries of an approval of the revised plan by the City Commission.

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