May 2025 | Carlton Proctor
SPOTLIGHT
The City of Pensacola’s priority initiative to foster more affordable housing has taken a major step forward with developers’ plans to build two apartment projects on the old Baptist Hospital campus.
The Georgia-based Paces Preservation Partners’ plans, recently approved by the Pensacola City Council, call for construction of Kupfrian Manor, a 94-unit senior housing development, and Avery Place, a 112-unit family apartment complex.
The two developments are being built through a partnership with Paces Foundation and Tampa-based Soho Housing Partners. The development will be built on land that Baptist Health Care vacated in 2023 when it moved into its new $700-million hospital campus.
Steven Bauhan, chief development officer with the Paces Foundation, says the sale of the property for $2.9 million has closed.
The next major step will be demolition of the old Baptist Hospital buildings to make way for the combined 206 apartment units.The dual projects already have won state tax credits and grants totaling $14 million.
Bauhan says both developments will be geared toward mixed-income families and individuals making 30%, 60% and 80% of the area’s median income.
According to the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the rent limit in 2024 in Escambia County for a one-bedroom unit for an individual making 30% of the area median income was $506 a month. Rent for an individual making 60% of area median income will be in the $1,000 range.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance says Algaplast Corp., a Brazilian-headquartered company, is establishing its first U.S.-based operation in Century, a small town in north Escambia County. The company manufactures plastic and rubber components for the automobile and oil and gas industries. The company says it will bring about 25 manufacturing and technical jobs to the area over the next few years.
ENERGY
- GE’s wind turbine assembly operation in Pensacola is among the company’s handful of U.S. plants receiving some $100 million in capital investment to help meet the global demand for renewable energy. The company’s investment is expected to create a total of 1,500 jobs at its U.S. wind energy plants, including Pensacola’s, which has a workforce totaling some 600 personnel.
HEALTH CARE
- Pennsylvania-based PAM Health and Baptist Health Care, headquartered in Pensacola, have announced plans for a 40-bed physical medicine and rehabilitation hospital. The rehab facility will be located within the Henderson Health Center on the Baptist Hospital’s campus. The 40,000-sq.-ft. rehabilitation hospital, PAM Health’s ninth such facility in Florida, will create some 80 jobs and serve patients recovering from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes, cardiac conditions and post-surgical conditions. Construction is slated to begin this May with an anticipated opening by mid-2026.
TOURISM
- After months of delays at its long-time Philadelphia berth and a two-week, 1,600-mile tow, the once-famous ocean liner SS United States has arrived at shipyards in Mobile, Ala. There it will undergo a year-long conditioning to become the world’s largest artificial reef planned for a site some 20 miles south of Destin-Fort Walton Beach. The modifications at the Mobile shipyard will include removal of all hazardous materials and any fuels or oil that remain within the ship. Okaloosa County, which bought the ship and is paying for the reconditioning and sinking, will continue a partnership with the SS United States Conservancy to eventually open a land-based museum to honor the historic vessel known for its record-breaking speed for an ocean liner. The museum will include the ship’s funnels, radar mast and other components, and an extensive curatorial and archival collection.