(Top photo) Will it be ready for Biketoberfest 2005? Bruce Rossmeyer says yes. The centerpiece of “Destination Daytona” is the world’s largest Harley-Davidson dealership, a two-story 109,000 square-foot mega store.

(Bottom photo) The complex will include two hotels, condos, a pair of motorcycle-related strip malls, seven restaurants, bars, pubs and lots more. One of the first buildings to near completion has retail space on the first floor, condos on the second and a third-story luxury penthouse apartment in the middle.

“Destination Daytona” will be a city within a city. There will be 150 acres of attractions here, and you won’t have to walk it all. There’s a shuttle service planned to zip you around once you’ve arrived.

It doesn’t look it now, but the Destination Daytona Harley-Davidson dealership has a 50,000 square-foot showroom. It’ll hold 200 motorcycles. A 40,000 square-foot service area is on the second floor.

he schedule had it up and running for Biketoberfest 2005. Four devastating Florida hurricanes in 2004 have pushed that construction deadline to its limits, yet that late-October debut still might happen. Workers are toiling desperately to make up for lost time and complete Phase One of “Destination Daytona.” It’s going to be the biggest change to hit Bike Week and Biketoberfest in years.
     Bruce Rossmeyer, whose brainchild all this is, isn’t at all worried about the timing, though. He plans to make this motorcycle mega-site a destination year-round. The 750,000-plus riders who come to Daytona for Bike Week and Biketoberfest are fine, he says, “but I’m building this place for the other 11 months of the year, too.”
     And “this place” will be something to see. Situated on 150 acres just off the intersection of 1-95 and U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach, just up the road from downtown Daytona, Rossmeyer is definitely thinking big. He’s spending upwards of $50 million on the project. Phase One will include the world’s largest Harley-Davidson dealership, a two-story 109,000 square foot extravaganza with a 50,000 square-foot first-floor showroom. It’s big enough to hold 200 motorcycles. Escalators lead up to the second-story service area, itself covering an immense 40,000 square feet. And that’s just the start. Besides holding the biggest Harley dealership anywhere, which will be open 24 hours a day, the site will also include two hotels and a condominium complex, seven restaurants, including The Daytona Pig, Quarterdeck Restaurant, San Francisco Oven, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, Subway, Krispy Kreme Donuts and Hot Dog Heaven. There will be a number of motorcycle-themed bars such as The Screamin’ Eagle Pub, and there are plans for an additional 80,000 square feet of motorcycle and lifestyle-related retail spaces and a Coca-Cola sponsored outdoor amphitheater able to hold 10,000 people. A full 15 acres have been devoted to a new campus for the American Motorcycle Institute, and there’s a brand-new J&P Cycles superstore going in along with a new home for Rossmeyer’s own Boss Custom Motorcycles and Hollywood Choppers. In addition to all that there will be a 9-acre Love Travel Stop on the grounds, too, open to both cars and trucks.
     And then there’s the helipad. Rossmeyer plans to offer “Fly And Ride” packages, as well. Motorcycle rentals will all be handled right at the dealership. There’s a whopping 20 acres of parking surrounding and intermingled with all this, and to make everything easily accessible there will be a shuttle service within the facility. And it all started with Rossmeyer’s need for a new dealership to augment his 20,000 square foot downtown Daytona Beach store that had grown to the point of becoming way too cramped.
     Opened in 1994, that Daytona Harley-Davidson dealership–and the park across the street from it–“Added Beach Street to Bike Week,” Rossmeyer says. Beach Street, with its seemingly never-ending rows of vendors and nightly free concerts has become a staple and must-see of both Bike Week and Biketoberfest. But big changes are in the wind. The city of Daytona Beach has plans to redevelop the entire riverfront area around North Beach Street with 22-story condos and time-share hotels. They’ve already taken back more than half of Riverside Park with the placement of an historic old house with garden paths smack-dab in the middle of the grounds. All this could very well spell the end of major motorcycle action along the street. During this past Bike Week some vendors had already taken note and moved their trucks, trailers and exhibits to the Daytona International Speedway. Many more will undoubtedly relocate even a little further up the road when Rossmeyer’s “Destination Daytona” opens.
     But Rossmeyer is thinking way past just those two weeks of motorcycles. His idea is to host at least one major event a month on the Destination Daytona site all year long. He and his team are booking in everything from the Regional Competition for the National Chili Cook-Off to boat shows, car shows, antique shows, RV shows, jazz and blues festivals and, a real natural for the area, NASCAR tie-ins. The site is ripe for all of this, too. It’s sitting right in the middle of a boiling hotbed of activity. During the next 20 years the area around Destination Daytona is projected to grow with 12,000 new homes, 1.5 million square feet of new retail space and 5 million square feet of new light industry. The Florida DOT, with help from Rossmeyer, is already widening and lengthening the I-95 off-ramps in anticipation of all this. And area movers-and-shakers are solidly lined up behind Rossmeyer in his endeavor. The Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, who actually own the “Destination Daytona” name, allowed its use here in exchange for a brand-new Visitors’ Information Center to be set up right inside that new Harley dealership. “We’re thrilled to be a part of all this” they say. “Bruce always does things in a big way, and ‘Destination Daytona’ is proof of that.”
     Rossmeyer, who already owns 10 major Harley-Davidson dealerships throughout the state of Florida and as far away as Grand Junction and Aspen, Colorado, recently consolidated them all–including the downtown Daytona store which will remain open–under the “Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson” banner. At first he says he balked at the idea, fearing it would be perceived as a mega ego-massage on his part. But as a marketing and advertising move it made good business sense, and if nothing else Bruce Rossmeyer is a good businessman.
     “But this is it for me,” he says. “This is my last big project. It’s time to hand it over to my kids.” Not quite. First he has to hand it all over to the motorcycle world. With Destination Daytona added to the mix, Bike Week, Biketoberfest and Daytona Beach itself will never be the same.

The roads are graded and the curbs and lighting are in. There’s 20 acres of parking here, too, soon to be filled with motorcycles and motorcycle displays. An outdoor amphitheater and helipad are planned, as well.