St. Joe Co., Panama City Ink Land Lease for New Hotel, Restaurant
The hotel and restaurant are the first step towards implementing Panama City’s 2019 Strategic Vision for Historic Downtown.
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL—The St. Joe Co. and Panama City have executed a long-term land lease to bring a new hotel and restaurant to the city’s downtown waterfront district. Under the terms of the lease St. Joe will lease a city-owned parcel to develop, construct and operate a waterfront hotel and standalone restaurant on a portion of the Panama City Marina property fronting beautiful St. Andrews Bay.
It took close to two years of planning, discussions and public meetings for this deal to be reached.
St. Joe initially expressed interest in the project in September of 2018 in a letter to the city and reaffirmed that interest in November of that year after Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm, caused significant damage to the city’s downtown district.
“We are making this investment in downtown Panama City with the anticipation that it can be a catalyst for other investments that over time, will make downtown Panama City a vibrant destination to live, work and visit,” said Jorge Gonzalez, President and CEO for St. Joe, in prepared remarks.
The hotel and restaurant are the first step towards implementing the 2019 Strategic Vision for Historic Downtown created by design firm Dover Kohl & Partners.
The leased property and most of the downtown Panama City area are in an Opportunity Zone. St. Joe created an OZ fund for the downtown Panama City area.
Under the terms of the lease, St. Joe will pay rent to the city based on the performance of the planned hotel and restaurant. St. Joe intends to fund the hotel and restaurant project without any city or public funding.
Current plans for the project include a five-story, branded hotel on the western portion of the marina property with an adjacent restaurant with outdoor dining.
Once complete, the planned hotel and restaurant will be managed by St. Joe Resort Operations, a subsidiary of St. Joe that operates hotels, restaurants and other hospitality assets in Northwest Florida. The company has three existing hotels under management with an additional four hotels currently under development or construction and anticipates a fifth will break ground in the coming weeks.
The company intends to break ground in the second quarter of 2021.