Panama City Beach: Positive Development Vibes

Charlotte Crane | 1/1/2008

Pier Park planned for Panama City Beach

Two-story, cinder-block lodgings accommodating spring breakers along Panama City Beach are rapidly disappearing, replaced by towering resorts targeting family vacationers and Boomer retirees. Thousands of new condo units are creating an oversupply. The result: Price declines, and for some builders, postponed construction starts and slower sales.

New in 2007
» Origin — 17 stories, 300 units, first phase of a 10-year, $800-million Towne of Seahaven project
» Grand Panama Beach Resort— two first-phase towers, 20 and 22 stories, 298 of 999 planned residential units
» Shores of Panama — 709 units, 22 stories
» Splash and Reflections — 363 units combined

Market Changes
» Lodging units number 28,000, compared to 16,000 three years ago, with another 12,000
expected by 2012
» The median price of Bay County condo sales in October was $245,000, down from $305,000 a year earlier

But tourism leaders and most major developers remain unfazed. They point to numerous projects still moving ahead, including Simon Property’s nine-figure, 1.1-million-sq.-ft. Pier Park lifestyle/retail center, to be open by spring.

Also stoking that optimism are tourism prospects created by the $330-million Panama City-Bay County International Airport expected to open in 2010.

“For the first time in our history, we’ll be able to promote international travel,’’ says former Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Bob Warren, now vice president of the Grand Panama Beach Resort.

Tags: Housing/Construction, Northwest

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