Category: Construction Update

Top 9 Things to Know About the New Grand Lagoon Bridge

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If you’re familiar with the Panama City Beach area then you know that the beautiful (sarcasm), yet archaic Grand Lagoon Bridge is and has been badly in need of replacement.  Having been built in the 50’s, it is time to be out with the old and in with the new.  The planning has been in the works for years, but funding has always been the question.  So, thanks to some stimulus funds, we’re good to go.  Here are the top 9 things to know about the new Grand Lagoon Bridge, and the construction process.

  • New bridge construction will begin sometime in September.  Bids for construction just went out last week and are due in July 31, 2009, and I was told that construction is expected to begin within 4 to 6 weeks of final bids in.  This seems a little aggressive to me, but if everything falls in place, these timelines should stay intact.
  • Access over Grand Lagoon will remain intact throughout the duration of the construction of the new bridge.  They will actually erect a temporary bridge to the west of the existing bridge which is expected to take 1 to 2 months.  When the temporary bridge is up, they’ll switch traffic and demo the existing bridge (hopefully I’ll be there for that!)
  • Total construction time of the new bridge is expected to be around 18 months.  This time frame includes construction of the temporary bridge and the widening of Thomas Drive from North Lagoon Drive to the bridge, then from the bridge south to Bristol Street, which is around the curve – sweet!
  • The estimated cost of the entire project (bridge and Thomas Drive widening) is around $18.5 million.  Currently, Bay County has $19,462,409 to fund this project with $5,629,822 from local stimulus funds, $9,299,990 from state stimulus funds and $4,532,597 from grants that Bay County has been working on for years.  Based on the cost estimate, Bay County has all the money necesary to fund the entire project.
  • The new bridge will be 4 lanes total, two lanes of traffic traveling each direction and will stretch 250 feet across Grand Lagoon over three span structures.  Each span will be 83 feet 4 inches long.  In addition, on the outside of the lanes traveling in each direction will be a bicycle lane and pedestrian walkway.  The automobile lanes will be 12 feet in width, the bicycle lanes will be 5 foot 6 inches, and the pedestrian walkways will be 6 feet.  The total width of the new bridge will be 73 feet 6 inches, including 2 feet and 6 inches of outside barrier. The existing bridge is only 10 feet above the water, severely limiting the boat size that has access to the residential section of Grand Lagoon.  However, the new bridge will rest 18 feet above the water.
  • Right now, Bay County is considering walkways to accommodate fishing and other recreational activities under the bridge both on the north and south side of the lagoon.  I’m unsure at this time if the existing funding in place could cover this cost, or if it would be in addition to.  I would think this should be included in everything.
  • The existing roadway that feeds the north and south side of the Grand Lagoon Bridge is only 2 lanes with a center turn lane, but the new wider roadway will be 5 lanes total.  With four 11 foot lanes and a 12 foot center turn lane, the new widened section of Thomas Drive will also include bicycle and pedestrian walkways, to continue the ease of passage for business foot commuters and bicyclers alike from the bridge.
  • The bridge will remain open to marine traffic for the duration of construction, with the exception for when the new spans are installed for the new bridge.  At that time, the waterway closure will be coordinated with the US Coast Guard and local commercial marine businesses.  Once the new bridge is complete, the waterway opening will increase to 218 feet with the maximum navigational width between the center span increasing to 72 feet 4 inches.
  • The existing bridge structure was built originally in 1952 and sustained damage in 1995 during hurricane Opal.  It has been cited to have irrepairable damage and is badly in need of replacement.  Right now, the bridge is a 6 span structure that is 150 feet wide.

7 Things to Know About Shubee Flowrider

Ok, so I know that we just did something on this, but I wanted to get something up that had more information, since there seemed to be some questions.

  • Shubee will be the name of this Flowrider, but Flowrider is the name of an actual “ride”.  A Flowrider is a proprietary name that describes an attraction that is essentially a man-made, surfable wave.  The way it works is basically a jet-engine blasts a flattened stream of water at around 30,000 gallons a minute up a padded slope to create a wave.  More can be found here, although something seems to be wrong with their web site as google was telling me its been blocked.
  • The Flowrider surface is a padded material that has a plastic feeling with the slope gradual at first, then increases.  I’ve been told by younger people that falling on it feels like you are falling on a cloud.  We’ll see how my 30 year old body takes it.
  • Steel structure is up, and has been for over a week.  Next step?  The roof.
  • The Flowrider equipment and machinery will be installed once a roof is on the place.  I’m unsure at this time whether they will have the building “dried-in” before this happens, or if they’ll have to leave the walls open.  There wasn’t anyone there that knew the size of the equipment pieces before installation.
  • The expected open time has been pushed back to August.  There was a longer than expected cure time on the actual structure that houses the Flowrider, but everything should begin moving fairly quick.
  • Most of the inventory is in, they’re just waiting for the roof and walls to start moving stuff in.

LIVE – City Pier's done, Now County Pier's Under Construction!

_mg_7759wtmkThe projected construction timeline for the new County Pier located just west of Alf Coleman Road is around 16 months, barring no unexpected obstacles present themselves.  The design is exactly the same as the new Russell-Fields pier located right across from Pier Park.  Alf Coleman Road is the road the Shipwreck Island Waterpark is on, and it runs almost directly into Sterling Reef Condominiums on the Gulf of Mexico.

Construction began in March of this year with the concrete ramp that leads up to the portion of the pier that extends out into the water already complete.  The next milestone is expected in October when they should have the “mid”-section complete by.

The totall cost of this pier will be $7.6 million with FEMA picking up $3 million of the tab.  Completion is expected to be June of 2010.

New Pier's Open, Fireworks set to go off tonight!

Having been under construction for the better part of 18 months, the new City Pier, Russell-Fields Pier is open for business.  The new 1,500 foot pier, located right across from Pier Park opened at first light yesterday to a line of fisher-persons ready to catch anything from Bonita to King Mackeral to sharks. One onlooker said they spotted a 6 footer lurking around the pilings waiting for a stray crippled fish to gobble up.

I won’t go into too many details on the pier, as we’ve covered that, but I will say that it is long, very awesome, and super great to have it back.  I promise, I won’t neglect you new pier, I promise I’ll visit you often!

If you want to fish, the cost is $6 per person, but if you just want to walk out, the cost is $2 with kids 6 and under getting in for free.  The pier is open today, but will close sometime right after sunset for the fireworks display.

I was out there yesterday and they were getting all the fireworks set up, arranging the firing tubes in neat rowes.  “The layout is perfect and the setup is just right,” said “Yankee” Scot Fischer, one of the “technicians” setting up the array of explosives.  He was commenting on the rows of “blow-out” panels that are unique to this particular design of the pier.  They seemed to be the perfect width.  I’ll have more pictures next week of the setup as I’ll be back out there today.

15 Things to Know About the Development of the Old Airport Site

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 developments by Leucadia include Rosemary Beach and Draper Lake.

The community will be walkable: With 703 acres, the property consists of a little more than a square mile.  From the center, it would take approximately 10 minutes to walk to the edge of the property, and from one end to another a walk would take around 10 minutes; unless you’re a speed walker, in which it would take about 8.3 minutes.  Although little design conceptuals have been made, it is anticipated that it will be an open community that is very ped-friendly.

3,200 total residential units: The development has the capacity to hold 3,200 residential units with an expected spread of approximately 60% single family and 40% multi-family (including condos and townhomes).  Development time-tables will be completely subject to market demand and the expected build-out time is in upwards of 15 years.

Wide open community areas: Some of the discussions the other day included creating an area that Panama City could collect for events and holidays and enjoy company and the water.  Right now, Panama City has no area like Pier Park to hold these community events.  I believe Panama City could greatly benefit from this.  If they were to bring in the right marketing team and layout the initial public development right, they could create a community before there’s actually a community there.  Talk about buzz.

Multiple points of access: Feeding into the community are 8 points of access varying the ways with which to handle the out-flow and in-flow of the increased traffic.  Access roads include Frankford, Airport Road, Lisenby, Airport Circle, Baldwin, W 39th Street, and Jackson Way.

700,000 square foot of commercial/retail: Some mixed among the residential, others in concentrated areas, there will be approximately 700,000 square feet of commercial and retail area.  Right now, there are plans to have a “Town Center” in the middle of the community that will house the tallest of the structures, in addition to a higher concentration of retail.  There will be a small lake with a boardwalk around it and the buildings will have retail on the first floors, office space on the second floors with residential above that.

Height limitations set at 120 feet: I was told that even though maximum height is set for 120 feet as defined by the zoning (light industrial), the maximum planned height at this time is 80 feet.  In addition, the maximum height buildings will be in the center of the development, reserving the water-frontage for 2 and 3 stories.

Nothing available to purchase until 2012: The St. Andrew Bay Land Company will take possession of the land the day after the airport operations are moved to the new airport site.  Upon possession, it is estimated that infrastructure installation will take approximately 1 year with real estate product available to purchase last 2011 or early 2012.  The SABLC may build some, but it is expected that they will sell plats to developers to handle build out once infrastructure is in place.

Tons of green space: All the green areas depicted in the images will be open park-like areas that may have open grassy areas, trees, nature trails and the like.  The idea, again, is to create a pedestrian-friendly community that encourages the natural beauty of the Bay County area.

No water-front buildings: There will be plenty of water views to be had from residential units, but nothing will be right on the water, cutting off access from the general public.  The design is intended to keep the pristine areas pristine, and enjoyable by everyone.  There will be large open areas in between the buildings and the water.

All open to the public: The whole community will be open to the public.  Amenities such as shopping, dining and the marina will be open for everyone to enjoy and the community will not be gated.

150 boat marina: Quenching the thirst for much needed wet slip space, this new community will house a 150 slip marina capable of accommodating vessels up to 60 feet.  The marina depth will be 6 feet.  There is only one small spot on the whole plot of waterfrontage that will accept a marina without having a negative environmental impact; located at the top, close to where the runway terminates into the bay right now.

Marina to be developed first: Right now, talks include developing the marina first, in addition to around 10 shops and restaurants with some residential above around the marina.  The idea is to give something to the community that is usable right now (or in a couple years) until the demand for real estate product comes back.  The conversations I had were very interesting in that for once, I was talking to a developer that wasn’t acting like a developer, but a rational, reasonable person.  With my background in preconstruction sales and marketing I have quite a bit of experience working with developers and new developments, and it always seems like they are drinking their own cool-aid; not so with these guys.  They were very much verbal about the current conditions of the market and were very open with the fact that at this time its hard to tell where the market will be in two years.  This, by the way, is exactly opposite the outlook of most of the developers I’d worked with in the past.  typically with a new development such as this, you’d expect to hear aggressive development time-lines.  I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with their level-headed outlook.

The developmental options are plenty: They’ve kept the initial planned layout open so as to offer a wide variety of developmental options.  With plats around 500 by 260 feet, it will be easy to determine where single family versus multi family will go in the future, based on market demand.  The plats are large enough to accommodate an alley system, should they decide to go that route.

Sasaki Associates brought in to help with initial planning: Sasaki and Associates are known for their master planning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ruston Town Center in Virginia, The Woodlands in Houston TX, Charleston South Carolina Waterfront Park, and Harbor Town in Hilton Head, just to name a few.

PC Airport Construction Update – PHOTOS

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 60 days.  They are also seeding and mulching the main access road for grass.   Sand is being installed on the bottom of Pond C.

The terminal construction is making great progress with the metal framing of the exterior walls in Area A on the 1st and 2nd floor helping to define the overall shape of the building.  The roof decking in Area A, B and a portion of C are almost complete.  The excavation for the pedestrian bridge construction has begun and the fire sprinkler installation in Area A (baggage claim area) has begun as well.

The existing terminal is just over 55,000 square feet.  The new terminal more than doubles the size at 120,000 square feet with ample room for ticket counters, baggage claim, TSA offices, and offices for the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau and a business center hosted by the Bay County Chamber of Commerce.

The air traffic control tower is growing with the structure over 100 feet tall.  The final tower will rise 15 stories into the sky.

Now Renting: Laketown Wharf

What was at one time riddled with controversy and held back by a cloud of uncertainty now has, what it would seem, a new and happy re-beginning.  Laketown Wharf, what was once dubbed Condo Canyon by its creator unaware of its negative connotations, is open for business and has 300 fresh new rentals available for rent to families who are traveling to Panama City Beach.

A breif summary:

Laketown Wharf was a victim of timing.  They pre-sold, they started building, the market tanked, very few actually closed.  With over 700 total condos, less than 50 condos fell into the hands of individual owners.  This threw the developer right in the middle of a very nasty spot, and the bank took the development over.

Fast-forward to today:

Sterling Resorts has been brought in by the bank to manage the hospitality side of the operation as the bank has smartly furnished 300 condos and made ready to rent to vacationers.  Sterling Resorts is known for managing (and being a part in the development of many) local resorts such as Sterling Breeze, Sterling Reef, Sterling Beach, Splash, and Reflections at Bay Point.  Having personally toured Sterling Beach, I’m well aware of their operation and excellent reputation for having some of the nicest properties around.

The furniture packages that were placed in the 300 condos were provided by Palette-Coastal and include many of the same furnishings used in Sterling Breeze.  I can’t attest to how it lives up to the kids, but I can say it looks fantastic.  From most of the condos, you have Gulf-views with plenty of space on the interior walkways to step outside and enjoy the view of the lake.  At night, the water show in synced with music and beautifully colored lights.

Laketown Wharf, despite all of the criticism (including me) is actually pretty cool.  With tons of amenities and a healthy supply of commercial space, the potential here can result in one of the best resorts in Panama City Beach.

Amenities include:

  • Five resort-style pools:
    • Zero-edge family pool, main level
    • Lagoon Pool on main level
    • Rooftop seasonally heated pool & spa with spectacular views of the Gulf of Mexico, 10th floor
    • Large island pool on the lake
    • Kiddy interactive aqua play pool with delightful views of the beach, 4th floor
  • Steps away from the white sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico
  • Pristine freshwater lake
  • Over 52,000 sq. ft. lakefront boardwalk
  • Spectacular dancing-style lake fountains
  • Children’s playground overlooking the lake
  • Seasonal children’s activities
  • Fitness center
  • Meditation garden, 3rd floor
  • Port-a-corchere covered entry with stylish Welcome Center
  • Two covered multi-level parking garages
  • Convenience of nearby shopping, restaurants and attractions
  • Community management/security company on-site 24 hours
  • Complimentary guest parking

Be watching SeePCB.com for a full list and write up on this resort that will include a feature video on SeePCB TV later this summer.

Cut That Ribbon: The Palms is Now Open

palms15On Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Suite Hospitality, accompanied by both the Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Bay County Chamber of Commerce, cut the ceremonial ribbon on the new Palms Conference center, with plans to also cut into an under-appreciated business niche market on Panama City Beach.

Mayor Gayle Oberst and other officials were on hand to welcome the new addition to the Sleep Inn on the corner of Joan Avenue and Front Beach Road. With dozens in attendance, the ribbon cutting event turned into a nice social for everyone, as the facilities proved comfortably genial.

Previously the Mariner Restaurant, The Palms is an impressive 6,000 sq. ft. conference center, complete with outdoor patio and, the rather nicely appointed, Leaping Lizard Sports Bar, that has been revamped perfectly to suit meetings, seminars, wedding receptions and fundraisers. The Palms’ impact has been so well received that already, within a week of opening its doors, has been home to several seminars and has pre-booked weddings, Christmas parties and even a ballroom dancing event this July. What becomes apparent the moment you enter the Palms’ doors, is that it also fills the void of one of Panama City Beach’s most eschewed niches: the business traveler.

The facility at the new Palms Conference center lends well to every sort of endeavor requiring lots of space, food and a state-of-the-art sound system outfitted with projectors, surround sound and wireless internet. They offer in-house catering for events, prepared by local chef Dee Brown who, by Sales Manager Kathy Barrs’ account, makes “the best crab cakes on the beach. ” The layout of the building is broken into three large rooms, the largest of them able to seat 20 tables of 10 while the adjacent room provides additional seating or can be used as a buffet. The third room extends over to the Leaping Lizards sports bar. This addition, open to the public, has wall to wall 40-inch flat screens and an enormous 130-inch projection screen, for those who can’t miss a second of the game. If you’ve ever eaten at the Mariner Restaurant years back, you’ll notice immediately that the Leaping Lizard maintained the old nautical theme by keeping the infamous bar-top as well as the inlaid tables.

The Palms Conference Center and Leaping Lizard Sports Bar are both open to the public. For additional booking information please contact Kathy Barrs at 850-624-4150 or Kathy@suitehospitality.net

Dunkin Donuts Opens Wednesday

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The highly anticipated maker of sweet round treats is all set to open this week as even today, excited teenagers train and eat donuts.  Dunkin Donuts on Panama City Beach has been under construction for a couple months, but “in the works for two years,” said owner, Bo Rivard.

Dunkin Donuts opens on Wedesday at 5 am serving all their donut and coffee goodness.

Located at the new Publix Shopping plaza at the intersection of R Jackson Blvd (formerly Bechrich Road) and Back Beach Road, the building is fresh and new and the donuts will be even fresher.