By Ed Offley
Developer St. Joe Co. has set the stage for a near-doubling of Pier Park that will include a mixture of retail, dining and entertainment businesses on a 70-acre site east of the existing business district.
Labeled “Pier Park City Center,” the expansion will fit into an 83-acre “L”-shaped tract between Powell Adams Road and Hills Road, and U.S. 98 and Front Beach Road. The new district is located to the east and south of the Walmart Supercenter at 15495 Panama City Beach Parkway. Land clearing has been underway since July.
That is just slightly smaller than the sixteen-year-old Pier Park, which lies on a 110-acre tract west of Powell Adams.
An initial element of the project already under construction is the 38,000-square-foot Topgolf driving range and entertainment facility, on a 12-acre plot immediately south of Walmart. When finished in the summer of 2025, Topgulf will include a two-level golf driving range, restaurant and meeting spaces. It will feature 74 hitting bays, and a miniature golf course.
“The St. Joe Company plans to develop the remaining portion of the property with a mix of uses,” said St. Joe spokesman Mike Kerrigan, “primarily entertainment, dining and retail businesses that will compliment what already exists in the Pier Park shopping and entertainment district.”
Kerrigan said St. Joe has “the potential” to include vacation lodging and multi-family housing in the expansion. The master development map compiled by the PCB Utility Department shows that Pier Park City Center plans include a 250-room hotel and 200 multi-family units in addition to 195,000 square feet of commercial development.
Details of specific commercial properties eyed for the development, and a timetable for construction, are not available at this time, Kerrigan said. The company’s current focus is on developing the necessary road network and storm drainage infrastructure.
“It is a priority, however, of The St. Joe Company to attract new tenants that will be additive to the area and the surrounding businesses,” the spokesman said. “As we secure future tenants, we will build out the space to accommodate them.”
The new commercial district is expected to provide a major boost to city tax revenues.
Topgolf will create about 300 jobs and generate approximately $750,000 in annual tax revenues, according to Topgolf representative Todd Waldo.
In another sign of development in that part of Panama City Beach, construction is set to begin on a 230-unit apartment complex on Hills Road just north of Front Beach Road. The Seahaven Apartments will consist of a triangular, three-story building surrounding a swimming pool and common area.
