Panama City Airport Sale awarded to Leucadia

Community Airport Redevelopment (or CAR) of Salt Lake City, a subsidiary of Leucadia, was awarded the sale of the current airport site and is expected to move quickly. Leucadia’s original bid came in second place to the Pittsburgh group, PCA, at $50 million. Leucadia is previously know for the development of Rosemary Beach and Draper Lake Developments.

“The Panama City – Bay County Airport and Industrial District (Airport Authority) today announced it has approved a contract to sell the current airport site to a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corporation of New York (NYSE: LUK) for $56.5 million in cash and significant revenues from transfer fees from the sale of future properties developed on site. The airport is being relocated to a site in northwestern

Bay County to be donated to the Airport Authority by The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE). The current airport site is approximately 700 acres adjacent to North Bay inPanama City.”This is the final piece of the puzzle; our financial plan for the new airport is in place,” said Bill Cramer, Airport Authority vice chairman and lead negotiator for the property sale. “We can now move forward aggressively to meet our goals to create a new airport with improved air service, provide an opportunity for economic development and create an environmental jewel for the entire region.”

The purchaser or the airport site is Community Airport Redevelopment, LLC (CAR), which is 90% owned by Leucadia National Corporation. Leucadia developed Rosemary Beach and

DraperLake inFlorida, among numerous other properties. The remaining 10% of CAR is owned by WMR Capital Corporation, a Delaware corporation which has developed more than 30 residential, commercial and office real estate projects including Willow Creek Plantation in Okaloosa County, Florida, and Noventa Ocho inWalton County, Florida.

Upon execution of the contract, CAR will place $56.5 million into an escrow account. Transfer fees will provide the Airport Authority with 0.05% of the sales price on most properties on the current site sold by CAR over the next 90 years. These fees were previously estimated to total some $38 million over the first 30 years of the agreement with additional fees collected during the final 60 years.”

Read the full press release here: Airport Property awarded to CAR/Leucadia

I have heard unofficially that the groundbreaking for the new airport will take place at the end of the month or first part of November. I’m hoping to attend so as to get video and pictures.

The TDC is bringing MTV to Panama City Beach

The Tourist Development Council approved an arrangement to work with MTV for Spring Break 2008. The expected cost is $150,000 in TDC funds and $50,000 from local tourist properties. This arrangement was made under the urgings of YPartnership, the marketing firm leading the TDC’s marketing efforts for the Panama City Beach area.

I’m gonna back up here. I know I posted the other day about how spring break is a tourism necessity for our area and how the revenue dollars make up a good percentage of what our community thrives on, but I thought we were trying to get away from the “college spring break” and the “party-crazy atmosphere”. Wasn’t the cause of the whole TDC disbandment several months ago (maybe at the beginning of the summer, has it been that long?) because the “college spring break” was directly benefiting a local tourism business owner that had a majority influence over the decisions of how TDC funds were spent? Wasn’t everyone upset because Charlie Hilton had influence on the TDC to make marketing decisions that would drive business to his resorts that may be targeted to a younger crowd? What’s going on now? How is what is happening now different from what was happening then, other than it being a NEW board is essentially making the same decisions. Am I missing something?

I thought all the uproar at the beginning of the summer was because we were tired of the party crazy image this area has from all the years of being the “spring break capital of the world”. I thought the new TDC board was going to work miracles and make things totally different and set precedent for how this area is to be perceived over the next several years. I thought we were going to set in motion a transformation that would solidify this area as a true destination for families and higher end tourists.

I know many on the TDC board read pcbdaily, I also know that many who have influence over the decisions the TDC make read pcbdaily too. Please chime in and let us know how the decisions that are being made now are different from the decisions they were making months ago and even last year. Click on the “comments” link below to respond.

Also, what happened to the Other 96%? I thought they were huge proponents to “family spring break”? I haven’t heard a peep from them since the new board was appointed.

The Towne of Seahaven – updates, video, pictures

Origin, the first building in The Towne of Seahaven in Panama City Beach is nearing completion with closings expected to begin this month. When completed, The Towne of Seahaven will have an approximately 6.6 acre village with retail and dining. Some of the tenants already placed include:

Johnny O’ Quigley’s Irish Pub and Grille – with its old World Irish pub motif, is a family-friendly restaurant specializing in all made-by-scratch menu items, including Kansas City Style BBQ.
Rum Runners – a full-service restaurant, live entertainment venue and sports bar all in one offering casual dining and featuring a mix of live entertainment and customer participation.
Fat Tuesday Daiquiri Bar and Grill – the famous New Orleans daiquiri and frozen drink bar is a family-friendly eatery with plenty of café sidewalk seating and a great place to watch your favorite game.
Uptown Beach – an upscale beach-inspired boutique featuring the collections of resort brand design for women and trendy collections for young adults, uniquely blending contemporary and resort styles.
Beach Bling – a ladies’ accessories store featuring sterling silver, unique designer and handmade moderately priced jewelry and other accessory collections funky to formal and whimsical to bold.
Liz and Jane Clothes – brings their signature look to The Village of Seahaven with a unique collection of casual, urban, natural, funky and chic clothing designed for maximum comfort.
The Seahaven Company Store – will carry everything from beach towels to quality logo T-shirts to keepsakes that you can treasure for a lifetime.

When done, The Towne of Seahaven will have endless pedestrian friendly walking opportunities with strategically placed retail, shops, grab & go eateries, and dining amenities and over 2000 residential/vacation units. Other amenities will include a waterpark for the kids, a private beach club, a spa, conference center, events plaza, and more.

I am still a firm believer that once we get the new airport completed, Pier Park completed and nationwide industry begins to recognize this area as a great place to come, we will see a huge growth opportunity. And guess who’s going to be positioned perfectly? Seahaven. Think about it: 1400 feet on the Gulf, 1/2 mile from Pier Park, 20 minutes from the new airport, right on Front Beach Road (the CRA’s timeline is right in line with development here) and a first building that DOES NOT look like a boring concrete box on the beach. Find me another building that looks as beautiful as Origin. Over the weekend, my wife said the next most beautiful building on the beach is the Shores of Panama, but (please take to offense Shore’s owners, you’ve got a great place) the only exterior treatments they have to dress it up is multi-colored exterior walls with some small accentual treatments close to the top. The developer of Seahaven could have chose to VE out (value engineer) a lot of these exterior accents, but chose not to.

The bottom line: sure the market has changed, but Origin is still the nicest condo in Panama City Beach, and Seahaven still has more potential than any other resort in Panama City Beach. I’m excited to see this new development flourish.

I was scheduled to tour the building Friday, but they ended up having to close the building because they were trying to finish up some details to obtain the Certificate of Occupancy. I was told today that I will get the full tour on Thursday and will be allowed to take photos and video of the inside of the building and some of the units. Below are some pictures and video of the outside.

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This week in Pier Park

Pier Park is rocking and rolling. Simon Property Group has a reputation for being on time and last I talked to them, they were on time with Pier Park. The outside is looking awesome.

The most current tenant list is:

Dillard’s (126,000 sq ft), JCPenney (83,692 sq ft), Target (opened 10/06, 137,000 sq ft), Borders Books and Music, The rand Movie Theatre (opened 5/07), Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville (only five in the US), The Fresh Market, Old Navy, Long Horn Steakhouse (opened 4/07), Panera Bread (opened 5/07), ULTA Cosmetics, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Ann Taylor Loft, Alltel Wireless, Back Porch Seafood House, Bath and Body Works, Beach Scene, Bebo’z Gift & Home Collectables, Buffalo Wild Wings, Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe, Candymaker Candy Stores, Chico’s, Claire’s, Del Sol, Emerald Coast Photography, Five Guy’s Famous Burgers and Fries, Fresh Produce, GNC, Guglielmo’s Italian Grill, Hofbrau Beer Garden, Irene and Co. Resort Wear and Boutique, Jake at the Beach – Life is Good Genuine Neighborhood Store, Joseph A Bank, Kilwin’s Chocolate, Lane Bryant/Cacique, Lid’s, Marble Slab Creamery, Merle Norman Cosmetics, No Regrets Stationery and Gift Boutique, Payless Shoes, Quizno’s, RedBrick Pizza, Reggae J’s Island Grill, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Smoothie King, Solace Day Spa Salon – An Aveda Concept Store, Southern Water Outfitters, Starbucks, Sunglass World, SUNSIGHTS by Solstice, The Walking Co., Trader Tom’s Shells and Gifts, and Victoria’s Secret.

Pictures with more to come this week:

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Panama City Beach TDC Information

In a meeting this week, the Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council explored ideas regarding increasing the bed tax. Currently the TDC is being funded by a 2% tax that will generate over $3.5 million this year. The County Commissioners have the authority to increase the bed tax up to 6% as mandated by state law, but must have a separate authorizing vote for each penny per dollar increase. With the sharp increase of rental available units on the beach, it is estimated that we have to draw an additional 3000 visitors here each day during the in-season. I think we need to be clear how the current budget is being spent before we make any increases in bed tax. I think we need to be sure we’re not wasting money before we increase the bed tax which will in turn either increase room rental rates, or cut into rental management profits.

In a conversation I was having with the owner of PanamaCityBeach.com, it was brought up that “spring break is a necessary market segment.” As our industry is tourism, we have no choice than to try and have the best tourism season year after year in order to increase revenue and support our area. But actually, it goes further than that. Tourism is a necessity to keep our community alive. Currently, this is our main revenue generating industry and it feeds the mouths of a large percentage of families in Panama City Beach. We can’t afford to sacrifice any of that market share. The bottom line is, spring break and other types of vacation tourism is our bread and butter, and until we get some other substantial industry here, this is what we have to work with.

With that said, the TDC decided to work with MTV this year to create an “Spring Break Village” during a 10 day period and broadcast the event through its cable and online network. In my conversation with PanamaCityBeach.com owner, we discussed the “party crazy” look that MTV will bring to the area but that it needed to be controlled. He spoke of marketing through “brand conscience Apple and MySpace.” I was against college spring break, but he made me aware that college spring break is a necessity as is commands a large percentage of our yearly tourism revenue, but agreed that we need to move away from the “party crazy” spring break. He mentioned that by utilizing advertising mediums such as Apple and MySpace – whose demographic is specifically targeted – we could ultimately achieve a “higher-end” spring break visitor.?