Leucadia National Corporation/CAR/SABLC: Leucadia National Corporation is the parent company of Community Airport Redevelopment, which was changed to the St. Andrew Bay Land Company.  Leucadia has home offices in Salt Lake City, UT and New York City.  Labeled as a “mini Berkshire Hathaway” as noted in their Wiki page, Leudadia was a $6.6 billion company in 2006 generating revenue in a variety of ways including mining & drilling services, telecommunications, health-care services, manufacturing, banking and lending, real estate, and winery businesses.  Other notable developme...

The new Panama City Airport is less than 12 months from completion and the on site action is really accelerating.  With new construction milestones being made on a weekly basis, new things seem to be growing out of the ground all the time. The main 8,400 foot runway is 100% complete with final approval still pending from the FAA on the 10,000 foot extension.  I have no idea what the hold up is, only that I’ve been told that it is expected soon (they’ve been saying that for months!).  Once the approval comes in, however, construction of the runway extension will take less than 6...

Brand New Name: This is a big one.  What’s in a name?  Everything.  A name identifies what something is and can convey the magnitude of its existence.  Panama City-Bay County International Airport just isn’t going to cut it for a 10,000 foot 4,000 acre international airport capable of receiving the largest of passenger jets from anywhere in the world.  We need a name that conveys a much larger representation.  Suggestions here on Pcbdaily have included Sunshine State International Airport, Emerald Coast International Airport, Florida International Airport, Gulf of Mexico Int...

As Panama City Beach prepares for a new airport slated to be taking in flights by this time next year, many question how the airport is really going to benefit their businesses. Well, here is your answer…actually, five of them. 1. More People = More Money This is the easiest reason. Obviously, with the completion of the new airport, Panama City Beach will be able to reach new markets it could not before. In addition to opening direct travel channels that previously did not exist, current feeder markets will be more encouraged to fly into Panama City Beach because of the significantly che...

Having been up there, I was able to take video of the creeks and waterways that serve as the natural water run-off point for the new Panama City Airport.  Again, I was able to see no apparent damage or side-effects of any damage.  However, apparently, after the comments in the other post, I would need to be in a helicopter to observe the claimed negative effects the airport construction site is having on the environment. ...

Despite other reports in the media, the construction of the new Panama City airport in West Bay has caused little disturbance in the natural environmental habitat of the pristine areas of West Bay, Burnt Mill Creek and the adjoining waterways.  Linda Young of the Clean Water Network, a whistle blower since the beginning of the project going underway, cried red flags citing that serious, irreparable damage was being caused by water run-off at the construction site.  Young claimed that the natural pristine areas would be forever damaged and that the marine habitats’ destruction would rui...

Dancing on the animated floor projection, Governor Charlie Crist made an appearance at the Panama City Beach’s Chamber of Commerce last Tuesday to attend a “round-table” meeting with 10 of the leaders of the Panama City Beach community.  Among many topics, the dynamics involved with education funding, offshore drilling, and the new Panama City-Bay County Airport were discussed. A restricted schedule kept the questions to a minimum, but 5 were able to address the Governor including Anthony DuBose on the lending industry, Al McCambry on private vs public education funding, Dan...

A recent ruling ended all pending legal actions against the airport as the United States Court of Appeals denied all legal challenges to the relocation of the Panama City Bay County International Airport.  The legal challenges were brought upon by The National Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife and Friends of PFN, who argued against the FAA and Airport on January 23, 2008.  Baring an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, all legal challenges should be over. Here is the press release: The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on May 1 denied a pending petit...

Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill reported that the airport construction team and engineers had completed their plan for addressing stormwater management deficiencies at the new airport site in West Bay.  The Airport Authority submitted the plan to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for review and approval. “This represents the first step in correcting stormwater management issues at the airport site,” said Tannehill.  “We have hard work ahead, but we are committed to correcting deficiencies on the site as soon as possible.  I have instructed our construc...

Tannehill Pledges Accountability for Deficiencies, Stronger Oversight (Panama City - April 27, 2009) — Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill pledged a full public accounting of the actions and events that led to stormwater control deficiencies at the new airport site in West Bay during the recent deluge. Last week Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) officials and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) toured the new airport construction site and expressed concerns that current efforts to mitigate excessive stormwater runoff had become inadequate in the w...