Huge Panama City project accelerating

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Douglas Sams Staff Writer

St. Joe Co. is planning several more waves of development in the Florida Panhandle - a potential building boom spurred by the region's new international airport.

St. Joe, one of the Panhandle's largest developers, has several projects in the works around Panama City-Bay County International Airport, which is being built on a 4,000-acre site in western Bay County.

St. Joe donated land to the Panama City/Bay County Airport and Industrial District.

Construction on the airport began in late 2007.

St. Joe has land entitlements near the airport for at least 4 million square feet of commercial and industrial development and at least 5,800 residential units.

The Panhandle is one of the most popular summer vacation destinations for Atlantans and the location many choose for second homes.

But, the expansion of the airport gives cities such as Atlanta - about a five-hour drive from the Panhandle - greater connectivity to the Bay County region, economic development officials say.

St. Joe is banking on that connection to spur residential and commercial real estate demand not just from Atlanta but from across the South.

"Within this area we have a lot of residential projects in development, and the dirt is turning on those lots," said Jerry Ray, a spokesman with St. Joe (NYSE: JOE).

"Some of those sites are ready for development," he said. "In some cases houses are already there and builder programs are in place."

In recent months, St. Joe Co. met with officials from Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL).

The meetings focused on the potential for more routes between the expanded Panama City airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Ray said.

"Here is the advantage the airport gives us," Ray said. "We were always a drive-in market. But, once we have the new airport, it's going to give us a chance to broaden our market and move from a regional destination to reach a much broader part of the country."

The Panhandle is Florida's second-largest tourism market behind Orlando.

With the airport's planned opening in May 2010, Bay County officials think it might be enough of an economic engine to pull the residential market out of its slide.

Florida has one of the hardest-hit housing markets of any state.

"It's going to be a catalyst," said Janet Watermeier, director of economic development for the Bay County Chamber of Commerce.

"The airport is getting national media attention," she said. "We're getting calls from people with business interests in our region from as far away as California and Texas as well as the usual states, such as Mississippi and Georgia."

The airport is one of the largest planned mixed-use developments in the United States.

St. Joe owns all of the land surrounding the airport, or about 71,000 acres. More than half of that is dedicated to preservation.