- April 25, 2024
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The 10,440 postcards are designed to entice owners of vacant residential lots to build now.
The city’s economic development plan includes strategies for bringing in money from out of town and help it to circulate here instead.
The latest strategy is to entice owners of vacant residential lots to build the homes they might have been planning to build but didn’t, perhaps because building costs were high at the time the land was purchased.
The city is planning to send about 10,440 postcards to these property owners. Of the owners, 439 are international addresses from 61 countries. Canada is the most common foreign address with 93. Second on the list is Venezuela, with 43.
In the United States, New York is the most popular spot for vacant residential lot owners, at 2,528. New Jersey is second at 1,505.
Forty-eight states are represented on the address list. Idaho and North Dakota have yet to discover Palm Coast.
Mayor Jon Netts said this strategy has been successful in the past.
“That’s what ITT did when they marketed this place,” he said.
City Manager Jim Landon pointed out that the cost of the postcards would be made up if just one house was built as a result of the plan. Moreover, if one owner moves to town, he or she will spend money here for years to come, benefiting local businesses. In that way, the city would be contributing to job creation without actually being responsible for creating the jobs directly.
City Council member Frank Meeker was in favor of the plan. He said, “The circular effect on that one home (being built) radiates out to the homes on either side of it.”
BY THE NUMBERS
10,440 — postcards to be sent out
2,528 — addresses in New York
1,505 — addresses in New Jersey
48 — states in the U.S. represented
439 — international addresses
61 — foreign countries represented
93 — addressed in Canada
43 — addresses in Venezuela
