Tuesday, May 28, 2013, the St. Andrew Bay
Land Company received approval to start phase one of what Panama City officials
are calling the biggest development that's been in the city. The plan, which
spans over the next 30 years will build over 3,000 homes and create 700,000
square feet of commercial space.
"My heart is racing with
excitement because the labor of love and all the hard work that's gone into
this is finally getting close to shovel ready," said Ward 3 Commissioner
Billy Radar.
"That's gonna be the
biggest development that's been in the city of Panama City, ever," said
Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki.
That project, dubbed Sweetbay,
is predicted to bring hundreds of jobs to Panama City.
"We're taking a piece of
property that's never generated any taxes for the city before and now we're
gonna turn it into residential and have a school over there," said
Brudnicki, "it should be really nice."
Commissioners did have
questions about some of the requests for flexibility the developers made, but
representatives from the company said what they're asking for isn't out of the
ordinary.
"All we're asking for is
basically the curb that's asked for in other places and works," said St.
Andrew Bay Land Company Vice President, Bill Cunningham.
Work will begin soon now that
the developer has approval on phase one of the development. The next hurdle the
group will have to overcome is negotiating where pipes will be in a future
phase with Gulf Power, but for now, so far, so good, with the plan receiving
approval across the board.
