You know how when you see project or construction renderings, the imagery always seems so polished, glossy and beautiful looking?  You always hope the final product will look just half as good as the original artist’s touch, but the real thing just never seems to be quite as beautiful.  Well, in the case of the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport – the exact opposite is true.  The final product, to me, looks even more beautiful than the original artist’s concepts.

It was January when I was looking through some old PCBDaily pictures and realized that I didn’t have any pictures of the New Airport as a completed project.  The new airport has opened up a whole new era of travel to Panama City Beach, spurred an immensely competitive arena for air travel to Northwest Florida (think $19 flights from Vision to VPS) and has consistently posted numbers three times what the old airport did month over month.

Now, before you look at these pictures, I want to address ONE thing – the lack of people in the shots.

When I was on site taking the pictures, I realized something that I hadn’t before I arrived, or I would have planned this a little better.  Flights come in on a schedule (duh), but I didn’t realize that the place would be practically empty in the 2 hours in between flights.  Well, it just so happened that when I came on property, the afternoon Southwest jet had just left, full with an afternoon crowd.  So, naysayers, before you jump into the comments with accusations that the new airport is empty, realize that the time before each flight leaves, the place is jam-packed.  I was asked to come back at 5 am right before the morning flight – I was told the baggage check area is full, almost wall to wall.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures!

The one year anniversary for the opening of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is coming up fast but we figured many of you still haven

We spent the afternoon touring the new airport site. From the outside, there is still so much land-work to do one would think the open date set for May 23rd is utterly unreachable. But, once we ventured into the terminal it became clear that the airport will definitely make its date. Already, many of the necessary systems are in place, the drywall is up and tile being laid. The baggage claim area is nearly complete and upstairs 4 of the 7 gate bridges are already in place. We even took the 10 story trip up the control tower and took in the view of the whole place and, man, it looks spectacular. I could bore you with all the superlatives, but, why would I when I have pictures. Take a look.

Well folks, we’ve done it again.  You see them here first – new aerials of the new Panama City Airport have been released and they show the runway extension of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport as almost complete.

It is so fascinating to watch the progress of this creation grow over time.  It has been a fun few years watching our area grow and see this development come to fruition.  The Terminal looks pretty much complete from the outside, and you can see grass coming in strongly in many areas.  But enough talk, lets see them pix!

The runway extension is heavy production, the terminal is almost complete and we’re just a few short months away from seeing those beautiful canyon blue jets flying over our beaches.  Here are the latest aerials of the brand new, but not yet completed Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

Man, we’re getting so close to landing Canyon Blue planes in Panama City.  Every time I see new aerials I’m thoroughly impressed with how far along the new Northwest Florida International Airport (actually, formally named Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport) is.  Lets get right down to it!

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This shows the huge progress made on the terminal.  You can see the airtraffic control tower to the left and the main parking area in the upper left side of the image.

You can see down the length of the runway in this image.  the darker pavement to the left is the main taxiway.  To the left out of frame, there is space prepared for a parallel 10,000 foot runway that could be built in the future when demand is met.

In this image, the terminal actually is looking pretty complete.  Well, actually from the outside, it pretty much is.  I have no idea what those buildings are in the bottom right hand segment of the image.

In this image you can see one of the retention ponds.  Across the site there are several large retention ponds to help deal with run-off and run it through a series of complex filtration systems before it is circulated back into the environment.

This is looking out past the terminal area, it looks quite small in this image.  Not actually sure what that area is right in the middle of the frame, does anyone know?

Boy how time flies when you’re having fun.  With construction to end in just 8 short months and planes to start landing on the new runway the construction process seems to be flying by.  I remember thinking how far away May 2010 seemed when they started construction.

This article was contributed by Cebo Campbell from PcbDaily.com

These are large renderings from the new Bay County Airport. They’ve been on the PCBDaily shelf for a while and recently someone asked to see them so we thought it appropriate to show them to everyone. Enjoy.

Click on any picture to see full image:

Airport at A Glance

Drop off Lane

Interior

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.

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.

Having been up there, I was able to take video of the creeks and waterways that serve as the natural water run-off point for the new Panama City Airport.  Again, I was able to see no apparent damage or side-effects of any damage.  However, apparently, after the comments in the other post, I would need to be in a helicopter to observe the claimed negative effects the airport construction site is having on the environment.