DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona residents are weighing the future of a historic building tied to the city’s Black history: the Campbell Hotel on Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard.

The property was discussed Wednesday during a Daytona Community Redevelopment meeting. The hotel is considered one of the only places in the city that welcomed Black travelers during segregation, before the Civil Rights Movement.

The building was condemned in 2023 after a fire. City staff later proposed demolishing it in September 2025, prompting community members to push to preserve it.

Sharon Hawkins, founder of the nonprofit Coming Together LLC, said her group is asking the city to donate the building and worries the community will lose an important piece of history if it’s torn down. She said her group believes the structure can be restored and expanded while keeping the hotel’s historic footprint.

Another proposal came from Dean O’Brien, who owns 06 Marketing LLC, a company that designs apparel for historically Black Greek-letter sororities and fraternities. O’Brien said he wants more than a cosmetic fix for the property and proposed tearing it down to make way for a mixed-use development that would include branding and marketing space along with residential units.

Commissioner Stacy Cantu said the presenters will need to have more detailed discussions with the CRA as the process moves forward.