Yes, in the very same vein of the “Freedom Fries”, legislature has been introduced to change the name of Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The name change could mean a number of things, namely, a much more positive spotlight on our community and tons of press.

A recent MSNBC article stated that Mississippi state Rep. D. Stephen Holland introduced H.B. 150, “an act to provide that for all official purposes within the state of Mississippi, the body of water located directly South of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties shall be known as the ‘Gulf of America’; and for related purposes.”
Read the bill here.

This Tuesday, the bill will go before the Marine Resources Committee and is expected to get a hearing.

So what are your thoughts? If it came to a vote, would you vote to change the name?

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties right on the gulf.  They range from 1 to 4 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found lurking at PCBLP.com.

There seems to be some popularity with the concept of using a motor-coach RV park as a last ditch effort to generate revenue on a vacant piece of land. This is a topic that’s come up before with the community standing up in opposition.

Well, it’s come up again.

The land that’s being proposed.

The subject land in the limelight is owned by Royal American Development and is the current home to the welcome center for Royal American Hospitality (same principal owners). The land is adjacent to the gulf front resort, Boardwalk Beach Resort and was originally intended to be phase II of the Boardwalk Condominium development.

The actual parcel itself is about 400 feet on the gulf and rests between the Top of the Gulf condominium resort and the Boardwalk Condominium tower.

A need to generate revenue.

The story here seems to be the same. The market tanked before they could sell the other building so it has sat pretty much vacant every sense.

As with the LaBorgata piece of land, you probably have a developer who spend a lot of money on the land, pre-development costs and is badly in need of a way to stop the bleeding.  I assume there are monthly costs associated with holding the land, an annual tax bill, etc.  Of course, this is just an assumption.

But the desire to turn a non-revenue generating parcel into something that makes money is honest enough, right?  But at what expense?

The plan.

On paper, the plan is to turn this into an RV park, although no conceptual plans were turned in with the rezoning request.  The land owner is requesting the approximately 5.6 acres be rezoned from T-2 to T-M.

As noted in the application Data and Analysis document, the reason for the request reads as follows:

The applicants have indicated that they intend to develop the site into an RV park.  However, if the rezoning were approved the site could be used for mobile homes, travel trailers, motor homes, motels, hotels, condos, town homes, apartments, churches, clubs, lodges, parking lots, parking garages and mobile home sales.  

It is the breadth of possibilities that seems to have local property owners up in arms.  The potential for developing anything that could adversely effect their property values in an already depressed real estate market is being reported as unnerving.

The document then goes on to read:

A plan amendment is not required for this request.  As such, the request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan since the T-2 zoning district and the T-M zoning district are both part of the Tourist Future Land Use Map designation of the Comprehensive Plan.  This means the City must provide competent substantial evidence in the record of the meeting if it is to deny the request. 

Continuing later in the document:

Surrounding parcels are zoned T-M, T-3A and T-2.  Condominiums are located to the east (Top of the Gulf) and west (Boardwalk) of the subject site and an RV Park/Campground, T-shirt shop, and golf course are located across South Thomas Drive to the north.  A proposed RV Park on the subject property is compatible with the uses to the north. . . [With] adjacent property owners. . . the impact on property values of the condominiums is the potential issue.  As with all properties, if an adjoining property is not maintained and kept in a clean and neat condition; properties in the area can be adversely impacted. . . However, the applicant manages several units within the Boardwalk Condominium and will likely manage the subject property such that their values are not adversely impacted.  Whether an RV park in this area will diminish property values of adjacent condominiums is very difficult, if not impossible to determine. . . The RV Park/Campground across South Thomas Drive did not prevent the construction and increase in property values of the Boardwalk condominium. . .  For these reasons, staff cannot determine that the presence of an RV park on the subject property will cause an adverse impact to adjoining property values especially if the use is well maintained and managed. 

The document concludes:

Because the quest is consistent with the adopted Comprehensive Plan, the burden of proof is not with the owner but rather the City to base a decision on competent substantial evidence especially if the request is denied.  Based upon information gathered to date, Staff is unable to identify a substantial reason to deny the request.  However, judicial decisions have indicated that direct testimony of nearby property owners at a public hearing can be considered by a Board and used as competent substantial evidence in denying a request if such evidence indicated the owners will likely be adversely impacted by the approval of the request. 

What all this means and what to do (IMPORTANT).

I’ve been to a few of these meetings and the board is reasonable in hearing the opinions of the audience.  The developer should be amicable regarding the proposed development and how it will effect property owners, but if you’re an owner and you want your voice heard, you need to be at the meeting.

The document reads that there is no reason to deny the request unless the local property owners have substantial evidence that they’ll be negatively effected.

So, if you don’t like this, do your research on how this can be detrimental to your property, show up to the meeting with the facts, and be ready to present.  But, planning on coming to yell at the board, yell at the developer (or his engineer) or cite emotional turmoil won’t strengthen your argument.

The meeting will be held at Beach City Hall on February 13 at 2 pm cst.

So, what do you think, should they put an RV park next to Boardwalk Condominiums?

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found lurat PCBLP.com.

If you’ve been reading PCBDaily for a while, you probably remember a couple years ago when I sold PCBDaily to CYber SYtes.  You see, I had some grand plan that involved climbing the corporate ladder, at some point returning to school to get my graduate degree and just following where life took me.  Well, as life goes, the direction changed sporadically and somewhat unpredictably along the way.

Instead of climbing the corporate ladder, I accepted a position with CYber SYtes (who bought PCBDaily from me), and instead of going to graduate school, I decided to teach others how to do social media.  And of course, in the spirit of a true entrepreneur, working for someone else really began to wear on me.  So my wife and I started PCBLP.com, a vacation rental business, to build a more solid future for our kids.

So, that brings us to today.

After a year of explosive growth with PCBLP.com and almost exactly 2 years to the day, PCBDaily.com is back in the arms of it’s creator.  A part of me always resented the fact that that I sold it.  I know many of our readers certainly missed me.  But the last two years was necessary for me to be where I am and necessary for where the future of PCBDaily will be.

PCBDaily has always been the go to place for news and information specific to Panama City Beach and we want it to stay that way.  You’ve always been able to rely on us to find out what’s going on and keep tabs with the local current events.  We’re back, and we’re making plans for it to be even better!

But, I’m not alone.

I founded PCBDaily.com in 2006.  I ran it alone for three years but decided to instigate some growth in 2009 when I brought on board two very important assets.  With these assets, PCBDaily could have never instilled the value it now has today.  Each of them have been missing a part of their heart as the ownership of PCBDaily was held by CYber SYtes.

This second time around I have two partners in making the PCBDaily magic.  These two partners have always had as much passion for PCBDaily as I’ve had and offered not a moment’s hesitation when the opportunity of partnership came up.

Karen Smith

You probably know her.  Everyone knows her.  She’s the broker/owner of Beachy Beach Real Estate and her kind, fun-loving spirit, so generous she’ll literally give you everything she has and be thankful for the opportunity to do so is literally unforgettable.  She’s always had a passion for PCBDaily and she was one of our first paid advertisers.

She stuck with us from thick to thin and even stayed with it for the duration it was out of my hands.  She wrote for it when she could and she co-founded TheBeachShow with me in 2009.  She’s a real estate extraordinaire and has the awards to prove it.  And she’s so humble she’ll probably ask me to pull these glowing remarks down to subdue her blushing.

Now, she’s a partner in PCBDaily – part owner, equal contributor and 100% awesome.  You can expect regular episodes of TheBeachShow to come back and hear from her smiling face often about what’s happening in the real estate market.

Cebo Campbell

When I first hired Cebo to write for PCBDaily.com years ago, he was relatively new to the business community here, new to web development, but certainly not new to writing.  Having already been a published author, he certainly has taught me a thing or two.  He was, humorously, regularly dubbed my sidekick, of which a label did no justice for who/what he really was to me and PCBDaily.

Having grown to be not only my best friend (yes, Cebo, other than my wife, you are my BFF), he’s taught me about life, writing and work ethic.  While at first I was “mentoring” him on how to market, he’s far surpassed my skills and become a very high-paid talent to countless others around the country.  His skills are shown all over the place, and you’ll continue to see them as the future wears on.

His heart was always in PCBDaily and his passion was obvious in everything he wrote.  It really only made sense that he too was a partner in the new PCBDaily.  He’ll be writing about tourism, technology and current events.

What’s coming up.

PCBDaily has always been your source of news and information relating to real estate, growth and tourism in Panama City Beach, and it will continue to be so.  But, with that, we’re taking the reason for our being to a different level.  In years past, this was ran as a business – trying to generate revenue from ad sales.  Moving forward, there will be no drive to make money directly from ad sales.  In fact, we’re going to remove many of the ad spots, and won’t be taking any paid ads at all.

We want to provide quality information about the area and we hope that you’ll support us through our other businesses.

There will still be some ads.  Choice, non-competing businesses that want to trade some of their products or services will get in exchange the opportunity to advertise along with feature articles and Newsletter promotion.  But this will be kept at a minimum.

Plus, the newsletter will be redesigned and begin going back out weekly – I know a lot of you have asked for this.

We’d like to go back to having regular giveaways and contests and continue with community involvement.

We’re super stoked to have the team back together and to have PCBDaily in its rightful hands.  Tell us in the comments below what you’d like to see us do, moving forward!

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found lurat PCBLP.com.

Regardless of your political affiliation, when a president or president hopeful comes to our neck of the woods, it’s something to take note of.  You may remember, not long ago President Obama came to our beach.  Love him or hate him, he’s still the president, and he along with all the journalists that were following him know about Panama City Beach.  Now, let’s add what could be our next President – Mitt Romney.  Grant it, we couldn’t get him on the beach, he was pressed for time, but at least our general area got some press!

Being a fellow Mormon, I have a natural attraction to Mitt and his position on how to run a country.  Of course, the fact that he runs a tight business ship and wants to make America better for business helps a lot too.  Being a small business owner myself, we need all the help we can get!

Anyway, I didn’t intend on this being a political soap box for me to share my views on who would be a great president (you can see why he’d be great here), just wanted to let you know he was here and share some pictures!

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found lurat PCBLP.com.

Ok, so I’ve worked out a deal with the owners of PCBDaily to be a regular contributor again, and I have some ideas on what to write about.  But, I want to hear from you what you’d like for us to report on.

There are a number of things going on up and down the beach.  Here is what I’m planning on writing about in the next couple weeks.

• State of the real estate market
• 2012 tourism predictions
• Update on the Aaron Bessant Park improvements
• Update on the Thomas Drive CRA construction
• How to rent your condo all by yourself
• Revise the Pier Park list of stores
• Revise the Pier Park list of restaurants
• An article on a new residential development

These are some of the things I’m planning on writing about.  What are some of the things you’d like to see?  Let us know in the comments below.

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found at PCBLP.com.

With all the talk of Walmart coming into the area, it’s spurred even more activity.  Although Target’s making no claims of “keeping up with the Jones,” or in this case, “Walmart”, their push to add an expanded grocery section is certainly a plan to keep them ahead.  The Walmart that is being installed adjacent to Target, right across Powell Adams Road, is rumored to have a significant grocery area including produce and meats – although nothing official has been announced.

What we can expect at Target.

Target already has a pretty good grocery section.  It is certainly not Publix (or a Walmart Supercenter for that matter), but our family’s spontaneous needs can typically be met there.  They have milk, eggs, deli meats, some frozen foods, ice cream, cereal, chips, coffee, bread and tons of other essentials, and it’s all very fairly priced.  Shoot, we often do our grocery shopping there.

With the reorganization they’re adding fresh produce and meats and expanding on the other item types they already carry.  This will make them more of a one-stop shop and should bring in more grocery shoppers.  If it’s decent produce, it’ll draw our family in, along with countless others.

Target is also getting remodeled.

Just less than 5 years after opening, they’re giving the inside a significant overhaul.  You may have noticed the circus-tent-looking structure to the side of the building, next to the retired garden center – that’s the staging area for the work being done.

Expect new paint inside, new end cap designs, new isle layouts, isle shifts and a fresh new look.

When it’ll be complete.

Timing is everything right?  The new Walmart hasn’t even broke ground yet, much less begun moving dirt.  But the remodeled Target, groceries, and produce should be complete by mid-March.  Employees are expecting things to be ready for spring break.  This is well suited for what is projected to be, again, the busiest rental season ever.  As we just learned, last year broke records, if 2012 is better, then we’ll break more records.

What are your thoughts on the new Target? Do you think it’ll compete with whatever Walmart puts in?  Would you shop there?

Jason Koertge has an awesome vacation rental business in Panama City Beach that focuses on remarkable properties around the Pier Park area.  They range from 1 to 3 bedrooms, they’re clean, and amazing.  He can be found at PCBLP.com.

There’s been tons of buzz about what’s happening and what’s not happening at Pier Park North.  There has been plenty of speculation about what it is, who’s doing it, why and how.  To add, there have been articles that have published a list of stores coming, then later changed to report that they were prospective stores.  Of course, all this adds to the buzz that is currently surrounding that whole area.  We’ve talked about Aaron Bessant Park improvements, a new Walmart and a Target expansion all in this little area.

So let’s talk about the facts, what we know and leave what we don’t know to another article where we can dream.

For clarification purposes, we’ll refer to the portion of Pier Park that is already developed as Pier Park South.  This is just to avoid confusion, it’s not actually called Pier Park South.

Who’s developing the mall.

Simon Property Group developed Pier Park South.  They bought the land from St. Joe and have right to use the name Pier Park – although the name is still owned by St. Joe; trademarked, really.  The Pier Park brand has been used to identify that area for many years.

Pier Park North is being dubbed such because of that control St. Joe has with the brand. They are leasing (or selling) the land to mall developer Glimcher.  Glimcher is a publicly traded company that has 24 mall developments in 15 states.

They have full-size conventional malls, strip malls and outlet malls and they are considered a genuine competitor to Simon Property Group.

But with this development, I don’t think it’s necessarily about the competition, but rather the growth in shopping options.

Size, shape and location.

The published square footage that will be developed is 396,000, which is 36% the size of the Pier Park we know on the south side of Panama City Beach Parkway.  This is plenty large enough to have several “anchor” stores intertwined with a variety of smaller shops.

One of the elements that sets Pier Park South apart from conventional outdoor malls is the way it was designed.  There are nooks, crannies and all sorts of other architectural individualities that really make it a fun place just to walk around.  There are alcoves, seating areas, large open areas for the kids to run and a variety of recreation areas.  These characteristics are what make Pier Park South a destination to not just shop, but to hang out.

Of course, this was done intentionally – people that hang out where stuff is sold tend to buy stuff.

From the plans, Pier Park North will not be this way.  The facade will be straight and flat.  There will not be tiered levels or shops that come out or are set back from others.  From a retail development optimization perspective, this is ideal.  This development method maximized square footage and ensures equal visibility to all stores.  However, this design will lack the character of Pier Park South.

Although no artistic renderings have been released, Panama City Beach City Planners are expecting the actual look to be consistent with Pier Park South: bright colors, hardy board plank siding, and some accent towers (think of the tower at Five Guys).

The location of the development will be due north of Pier Park South, will have frontage right on the Parkway and will back right up to a conservation area that will serve as a buffer zone between it and Palmetto Trace.

Pier Park North will have three points of entry from Back Beach Road and one point of entry from Pier Park Drive N.

About the stores that are coming.

The funny thing about submitting plans to the local planning authority is that one typically includes a list of potential stores to give the planners an idea of the size and type of stores that would or could come.  Typically the store logos on the plans are just for concept and don’t usually indicate any potential lease negotiations.

When Pier Park South was in the planning stages, I personally saw all sorts of names being thrown around.  I saw plans with Best Buy, Belks and a variety of others that never were necessarily intended to be tenants.  I was told over and over that I could not release these names because they were not necessarily being announced as potential tenants, they were just on the plans as examples.

The images of the plans here include logos, such as this.  However, none of these have been announced by the developer as signed lease holders.  In fact, we’re way too early in the game to even have a hint as to who would be coming to Pier Park North.  Typically mall developers won’t officially start releasing names until a predetermined amount of time before they’ll be open.

Here is a list of stores that have been speculated on, which some may come, but none have been officially endorsed as actually signing a lease.  Estimates based on the plans indicate there will be 20 to 40 stores with 7 to 15 anchor stores.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Bed Bath & Beyond
• Michaels
• Fresh Market
• Pier 1 Imports
• Kirklands
• Ross Dress for Less
• Shoe Carnival
• Petco
• Toys R Us
• Rooms to Go
• Men’s Warehouse
• VisionWorks
• Osaka’s
• Cheddars

Images of the plans

This is an overview of the project.

From here you can see how the proximity of the development to the residential area.

As you can see, there are logos for retail shops.  This is in no way intended to document that these brands are actually coming to the development.

Again, more brand logos.  This is just to give you an idea of the type, size and location of stores like this.

This image gives us some hope of the tower-like structures that are found in the existing Pier Park development.

When the mall development will be open for business.

As of right now, the timeline plans indicate that construction will begin in March of this year with stores to be opening approximately one year later.  Of course, timelines are meant to slip and no dirt has been moved as of yet.  Although survey crew have been spotted on the property.

Location as it relates to Palmetto Trace.

What has seemed like q quiet community in the past, Palmetto Trace residents are in an uproar about this new development.  They’ve recently been very vocal about the Aaron Bessant Park improvements and they aren’t happy about a new mall development being erected so close to their homes.

Looking at the size of the buffer zone, it’s likely that many of the homes will be able to see the back of the mall development through some conservation area.  There is a pretty good distance between the back of the mall development and the homes, but also a large area of it is water, which doesn’t help much to buffer sound.

What are your thoughts on this new development?  Do you think it will help the community grow?  Do you think it’s a smart way to grow?  If you’re a Palmetto Trace resident, what are your thoughts on this?

The Man in the Sea Museum, local secret, is scheduled to host a fundraiser to repair the Sealab I.

What is Sealab I?

First lowered in 1964 off the coast of Bermuda, Sealab I was an underwater laboratory for U.S. Navy divers.  It was submerged 192 feet with four divers and scheduled to stay for three weeks; however, due to an approaching tropical storm it was removed after 11 days.  The Sealab I allowed for proof that saturation diving in the open ocean was viable for extended periods and provided information about habitat placement, umbilicals, humidity, and helium speech descrambling. Sealab I was tested off the waters of Panama City Beach, FL.

How Will They Raise the Money?

Man in the Sea will hold an Oyster Bash at The Dive Lab on January 20th, 2012 from 3pm-7pm.  (The Dive Lab is located at 1415 Moylan Road, across from Panama Jack’s.)  Aiming to raise $250,000 for the restoration and a structure to contain and display Sealab I, the Oyster Bash will kick-off the fundraising program.  This is the first Oyster Bash, but if the event is a success, they are hoping to make it an annual one!

Tickets are for sale online and at the museum for $25, which will cover all-you-can-eat raw and steamed oysters, cheese grits, and hot dogs.  Beer will be available at an additional cost.  Table sponsorships are available for $500; includes ten tickets and ten beer mugs that can be refilled at no additional charge.

Will you help restore Sealab I?

Congratulations to Panama City Beach’s Firefly Restaurant on winning the Golden Spoon for the second year in a row!  The Golden Spoon Award is given by Florida Trend magazine in recognition of the exquisite cuisine and outstanding ambiance found at Firefly.  “We are thrilled to receive the award for the second year in a row,” said owner Dave Trepanier. “Excellence and creativity is something we strive for to set us apart from other Panama City Beach restaurants. It is our chef and staff that continually make us great every day, and this award is a direct reflection of that.”

Firefly is located in the Shoppes at Edgewater and was commended by Florida Trend on having “urbane dining with lots of fish, local oysters and serious sushi, plus a chef who dares eggplant pancakes and boar shanks.”

If you haven’t been to Firefly yet- it might be time for you to try it! Congratulations on the second Golden Spoon Firefly!

While most people think of Panama City Beach as a place for family vacations, college spring breaks, or weekend motorcycle trips- Where to Retire magazine thinks of the area as a place perfect for retirees.  The truth is, Where to Retire named Panama City Beach as one of the top places for retirees to relocate to.  The magazine will be featuring Panama City Beach in their January/February issue. Retirees bring a wealth of economic support to areas, which is why many states and cities hope to attract retirees who which to relocate each year.

Many of PCB’s retiree population comes from the thousands of winter residents who enjoy the area and decide to relocate permanently to our beaches.  “I have the pleasure of seeing first-hand how much our seasonal winter residents enjoy reconnecting with friends and experiencing all the terrific things there are to do in Panama City Beach. It’s no surprise that many choose the REAL.FUN.BEACH. lifestyle year round,” says Dan Rowe, president and CEO of the Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Where to Retire is a magazine dedicated to helping people with retirement relocation decisions and the only one of it’s type in America.  Approximately 700,000 Americans relocate to new towns after retirement each year.  Where to Retire editor Mary Lu Abbott said Panama City Beach possesses qualities important to today’s retirees.  “Though the area has grown in the last decade, retirees still find a relaxing, affordable lifestyle in the Florida panhandle. Panama City Beach shows off its natural beauty of white-sand beaches and emerald waters and continuing education opportunities are available through several area organizations,” Abbott added.