Pensacola Updates

[fvcrew22]

Some more good news.

Expansion completed for Pall Life Sciences facility
From staff reports • April 22, 2010

Pall Life Sciences will host an invitation-only ribbon cutting today marking the completion of its 40,000-square-foot manufacturing expansion in Ellyson Industrial Park.

A division of Pall Corporation, a manufacturer of filtration, separation and purification devices, the Pensacola division employs 200 scientists, technicians and operators at its Ellyson facility.

The expansion creates an additional 50 jobs at the Ellyson site, said Laura Lee with the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to state-of-the-art manufacturing spaces, the facility houses four research and development laboratories, a microbiology laboratory and an analytical chemistry laboratory.

Lee noted the Chamber's role in helping Pall obtain a qualified target industry tax refund from the state and a local property tax break through the economic development ad valorem tax exemption for the expansion.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100422/...S/4220306/1135

[Muskavon]

...to keep the thread semi-alive....

Portofino evening view on Thankgiving Day '09. I've got to say, this place is first class no matter how many locals hate it for gobbling up previously virgin beach. The balconies alone would make you fork over $1 mill....if you had it. Anyone willing to give it? I'm open for taking it.

[DruidCity]

I enjoyed a visit to Pensacola Beach-Navarre Beach a couple weeks ago. Hopefully, this oil spill deal won't cause any significant problems there.

[Muskavon]

Druid, I wish I knew how to post pics in the full size I shot them in. I was looking at that Portofino pic again while digging for something else....it just so happened I took that pic (accidentally of course) at the perfect moment between evening shadows being cast and the Gulf horizon beyond. If you look at it, you might think the Gulf is casting the shadow on the building in the foreground, or inundating 10th story condos. It is just coincidence. The shadow and horizon met perfectly at that moment. Pretty neat. Oh well, you probably can't see that detail with the small pics I am forced to provide (until I figure out how to upload large-size pics).

[fvcrew22]

Cool picture Muskavon, I can see the shadow you're talking about in the picture even if it is a little small.

Anyway, some unexpected news...

Margaritaville coming to Pensacola Beach
Internationally acclaimed hotel will go up at old Holiday Inn site
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • May 13, 2010



Jimmy Buffett's mythical Margaritaville is about to become a reality on Pensacola Beach.

The legendary singer-songwriter has reached an agreement with Pensacola developer Marilyn Woodbury-Hess to launch the first Margaritaville Beach Hotel in a $50 million, 162-room Gulf-front hotel expected to open in late May or early June.

Buffett's Orlando-based development partner, Jim Wiseman, announced the deal during the Santa Rosa Island Authority's regular board meeting Wednesday evening.

Wiseman said the decision to launch the hotel brand in Pensacola was the result of three weeks of rapid-fire meetings he and Buffett held with Woodbury-Hess' Little Sabine Inc., developers of the property owned by American Fidelity Life Insurance Co.

"Up until three weeks ago, our plans were to locate the first Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Hollywood, Fla.," Wiseman told Island Authority members. "It's really providential how this all came about. It was meant to be at Pensacola Beach."

Wiseman noted that Buffett, a Mobile native, "grew up on Pensacola Beach" and his strong affinity for the area factored heavily into the decision to locate the first hotel there.

Woodbury-Hess' deal with Buffett comes on the heels of a falling-out with Indigo, a boutique brand developed by IMG, parent company of Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental franchises.

"This is not just an economic boost for Pensacola Beach and this community, but we will have the advertising and billing of Jimmy Buffet," Woodbury-Hess said.

News of the deal brought immediate raves from Pensacola Beach hoteliers and business owners.

"I love it," said Fred Simmons, owner of Paradise Inn and several other beach businesses. "It's one of the biggest things to ever happen out here."

Innisfree Hotels founder and CEO Julian MacQueen, who owns the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front and several other hotels in Florida and Alabama, said he welcomes the competition.

He noted the "brand equity" of Buffett's Margaritaville has worldwide reach.
"I think it was a brilliant move by Marilyn to bring that brand to Pensacola Beach," he said.

Portofino developer Robert Rinke said the decision to locate the first Margaritaville Beach Hotel on Pensacola Beach means "everybody wins, and the local businesses on the beach and in Pensacola will benefit from the national and international exposure."

In addition to the hotel, Wiseman said plans are under way to build a 5,000-square-foot temporary gazebo-like structure immediately east of the hotel.

A large restaurant and water park also are part of the second phase development plan for the Gulf-front property, Wiseman said.

Preliminary site plans for the gazebo, additional parking and other exterior amenities were approved unanimously by the SRIA.

The hotel is on land once occupied by the Holiday Inn, built in 1972 and destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.


Link: http://www.pnj.com/article/20100513/...ensacola-Beach

[fvcrew22]

Bad timing with the oil and all, but the beaches will be ok. It's good to see some new development taking place.

Margaritaville Hotel opens on beach
Taris Savell • tsavell@pnj.com • June 28, 2010

The Margaritaville Beach Hotel is open after a weekend of showing off for the developer's family and friends.

Construction on the hotel at 165 Fort Pickens Road, former site of the Holiday Inn, started two years ago.

"It's been a challenge, but anything can be done," said Joe McCay, general manager.

The hotel is owned by Little Sabine Inc., whose chairwoman, Marilyn Hess, signed a franchise agreement with Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville two months ago.

"We hope to always maintain the authenticity of Jimmy Buffett's songline — a place that no matter what may be happening in the world, we always have an empty barstool, a party going on somewhere and everyone is invited," Hess said.

The seven-story hotel has 162 rooms, some with Gulf-front views, plus two levels of underground parking. Rates are seasonal, ranging from $200 to $400 a night.

The Frank and Lola Loves Pensacola Café seats about 60 people inside and another 60 people on the veranda. Construction on an outdoor pavilion is scheduled to start next week and construction of a less-formal eatery, Margaritaville Café, is scheduled to begin in September.
The hotel's 190 employees are ready for visitors.

"July already looks very good on the books," McCay said.
Call 916-9755 for information and reservations.



link: http://www.pnj.com/article/20100628/...opens-on-beach

[DruidCity]

Looks nice ! No matter what anyone else says of Buffett, he does appear to be one of the few "celebrities" who gives a damn about our coast.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by DruidCity

Looks nice ! No matter what anyone else says of Buffett, he does appear to be one of the few "celebrities" who gives a damn about our coast.

Very true. Though, I wish he would build more stuff in his home state...

[fvcrew22]

Yes, maritime park construction has finally begun. I drove by there yesterday and saw around a dozen construction vehicles on site. Here's an article from yesterday's New Journal about the construction.

Community Maritime Park work going full steam
Jamie Page • jepage@pnj.com • August 7, 2010

Now that full-blown construction kicked off this week on the Community Maritime Park, it won't stop until the park is complete Dec. 31, 2011, developer Scott Davison said.

The now-$52 million waterfront park project has gone through nearly four years of financial shortfalls, bureaucratic roadblocks, construction hang-ups and arduous, controversial challenges that made it seem as if construction might never begin.

The latest citizen petition drive seeks to remove the stadium from the project.

After the design-build contract — allowing general contractor Magi Construction to start work — was approved May 17, the site sat with virtually no activity for nearly 2½ months. The start of construction Aug. 2 was ahead of schedule, according to the park's final work schedule.

"The 10-week time frame between execution of the construction contract and the start of construction is actually rather quick given the nature of the project," said Mark White, vice president of design and construction for Magi. "However, I understand the public's interest in the progress of the project."

On Friday, the Community Maritime Park Associates board unanimously approved the second of seven packages of work for the project. Each must have a guaranteed maximum price by the contractor.

The second package — which includes site grading, wetlands mitigation, and pilings and auger work for the base of the stadium — has a maximum price of $6,019,463.

The land is being cleared of growth and debris with dozers and heavy equipment. Then loads of fresh fill dirt will be brought in to build up the site to up to 15 feet higher than Main Street, which runs in front of the 30-acre site.

Construction also will begin on new east and west seawalls, said Michael Horton, a construction manager for Magi. Wetlands mitigation is expected to begin in 30 to 60 days. Piles will begin being driven for the stadium base in October, Horton said.

The work that began this week was part of the $10.5 million first package of work approved in June.

The first phase of the public project includes a waterfront park, a multiuse stadium, amphitheater, promenades, plazas, streets, marina, breakwater, boat slips and other infrastructure.

Link: http://www.pnj.com/article/20100807/...ing-full-steam

[fvcrew22]

A few pictures from ricksblog of the maritime park land clearing on August 6th..

[fvcrew22]

Some unexpected great news for the area, it will be good not seeing a large vacant building when driving through Gulf Breeze.

Tech firm Avalex moving to Gulf Breeze
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • September 29, 2010

Avalex Technologies is moving its headquarters from downtown Pensacola to the former World Ford property east of Gulf Breeze.

CEO and founder Tad Ihns said Tuesday he expects to close on the sale of the 9.2-acre property today and to break ground on a $10 million renovation within two to three weeks.

"I think this project will be great for the area," Ihns said. "It's an investment in the community, and it's a positive thing that is going to happen."

Avalex's decision to move to the Gulf Breeze area is a good sign for the overall economy, said Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Meg Peltier.

"I pass by that empty building every day, and to see it occupied again will truly be a sign that the economy is turning around," she said.

The 20-year-old Avalex is a manufacturer of specialized aerial surveillance equipment for law enforcement and the military. Inc. Magazine repeatedly has recognized it as one of the fastest-growing small companies in the U.S.

The design will have an eye-popping, decidedly Silicon Valley look that Ihns settled upon after site visits to several of the nation's tech hot spots.

He worked with the Orlando architectural firm of Hunton Brady to come up with the design.

"A lot of tech companies in the Pensacola area are not that visible," Ihns said. "We're hoping this will raise the bar for other tech company expansions. This is what tech looks like today."

Ihns said the remodeling and expansion will be put on a fast track by Pensacola-based general contractor Hewes & Co. Occupancy is expected by August.

Ed Hewes, the president of the construction company, was with Opus South Construction Corp. from 1982 to 2008. His projects include numerous buildings at Pensacola Christian College, including the $54 million Crowne Center.

Once completed, the new multistory Avalex building will encompass some 53,000 square feet. With 1,100 front feet along U.S. 98, there's room for two more buildings down the road.

The two downtown Pensacola buildings Avalex occupies total 17,000 square feet.

"We have people on top of people here, inventory stacking up, and we are absolutely out of space," Ihns said.

Avalex's expansion plans were welcomed by economic development officials in Gulf Breeze, Pensacola and Santa Rosa County.

"A company like Avalex could do business anywhere in the country," said Collier Merrill, incoming chairman of the board for the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. "The fact they've chosen to grow here in the Pensacola Bay Area is a true testament to our quality of life and skilled workforce."

Avalex is a model industry for the Pensacola Bay Area and an asset for recruiting other aerospace and defense companies, TEAM Santa Rosa Executive Director Cindy Anderson said.

Avalex began looking for an expansion site more than two years ago.
Two efforts to build in downtown Pensacola fell through.

Then, last year, Avalex and Gulf Breeze web security provider AppRiver, which is another fast-growing tech company, announced they were joining forces to construct a $12 million building in downtown Gulf Breeze.

But that partnership fell apart several months ago when Ihns said it was not moving along fast enough to meet his company's pressing need for additional space.

Link: http://www.pnj.com/article/20100929/...to-Gulf-Breeze

[fvcrew22]

From the Pensacola News Journal...

Air Force tanker: Pensacola mayor-elect aims to land contract for Gulf
Bart Jansen • News Journal Washington Bureau • December 6, 2010

Pensacola Mayor-elect Ashton Hayward met today with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and with lawmakers, to urge construction of the next Air Force refueling tanker in the Gulf Coast region.

"We want to diversify the Gulf," said Hayward, who will be sworn in Jan. 10. "After everything that we’ve gone through, from Hurricane Ivan to Katrina to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression to the Gulf oil spill, it’s very important for me as the mayor of our city to be visible."

The $35 billion military contract is vital to the Gulf because if the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. wins, it would build the plane in Mobile. The military and related civilian contracts could bring 10,000 jobs to Florida’s Panhandle.

But rival Boeing Co., which enjoys powerful support in Congress, is also competing for the contract to build the plane in Kansas and Washington state.

Hayward traveled with Mobile Mayor Sam Jones and Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, pushing for the Gulf region under the banner of the advocacy group Ready 4 Takeoff.

"This will directly impact Pensacola and create high-paying jobs that will move to the east from Mobile,” Hayward said.

Jones said building the tanker and a new Navy vessel called the Littoral Combat Ship would make much-needed investments in Alabama.

"If awarded the contract, these projects could create tens of thousands of jobs for our region. This is the type of one-two punch we need to get local economies in the Gulf moving again," Jones said.

Ready 4 Takeoff is a regional coalition of groups advocating economic development for the Gulf region. The group held a series of town-hall meetings over the past year.

“The message emerging from all of our town halls was unanimous: the federal government must make it a priority to invest in America’s Gulf Coast and help foster new, good-paying job opportunities,” Smith said.

Because of the high stakes of the tanker contract, the competition has been contentious for years. EADS won it before a challenge forced another competition. The Pentagon had been expected to award the contract in November, but the deadline passed without any announcement or even a new time frame.

Air Force Secretary Norton Schwartz remained vague when asked about the schedule at the National Press Club in October.

"In my view, it is more important to get it right than get it fast," Schwartz said. "And so, once again, we see the source selection coming to a conclusion in the next few months."

The delegation meeting with Mabus, a former Mississippi governor, was scheduled because he oversees President Barack Obama’s Gulf Coast Recovery Council, which recommended ways for the region to get back on its economic feet after the massive BP oil spill during the summer.

He was also meeting with Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, who has strongly supported Gulf construction of the tanker. But a chance meeting with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., offered an opportunity for them to compare notes on their support for the Gulf region.

"Don’t forget about Mobile," Shelby said as they parted.

Contact Bart Jansen at bjansen@gannett.com.

[elb401]

Glad to see the Gulf Region working so hard as a group! I hope this attitude doesn't change! Also, it seems like the new mayor of Pensacola is going to be more hands on than the old one. I think Hayward is going to be a great mayor.

[Muskavon]

Originally Posted by fvcrew22

Some unexpected great news for the area, it will be good not seeing a large vacant building when driving through Gulf Breeze.

I know I'm late on this, but as it might be a nice gain for Gulf Breeze, it is a huge failure for the area, IMO. Avalex is relocating from downtown Pensacola...to basically the suburbs. Not exactly the preferred concept. And certainly not like scoring a new industry for locals. Other than now Avalex found somewhere it can expand (as if the City didn't have plenty of vacant, unused, underused areas to offer). But that is an illustration of the failures of Pensacola (which hopefully will be changing soon...as this announcement, which was made months earlier when both App River and Avalex were going to leave the city for Gulf Breeze...was probably one of the big tipping points that led to the re-doing of the Chamber of Commerce, the new Strong Mayor concept, and ultimately Hayward's win over Wiggins in the Mayor's race).

That Pensacola felt no need to find a way to keep these two companies in a downtown that many times resembles a ghost town is unforgivable and worthy of tying ropes around some trees, to be frank. Maybe App River will stay now that their co-move with Avalex has fallen apart and some people downtown have woken up to the anger from its citizens. But, as the article states, 17,000 square foot more of DT Pensacola will now be vacant by the move of Avalex...plus whatever future expansions of tens of thousands of square feet might have come. Oh well....that is what makes Pensacola...well...Pensacola. Maybe it'll change. Always gotta have hope, I suppose.

In the meantime add 17k s.f. to an already vacant downtown full of unused buildings and beautiful prime lots with no prospects in this economic environment. Add in the soon to be vacant property the sewage treatment plant was on and you have property that should be available to scoop up at pennies on the dollar considering the glut of nothingness and economic conditions, hopefully enticing someone to invest here. Of course, noooooooooo, that's not how it works here. We want to make them all parks and public projects which produce no tax incomes, spend more of the impoverished people of the area's tax money, create few jobs above minimum wage and basically guarantee poverty forever and locl gov't bankruptcy sooner or later.

It's amazing the willingness here to run off job/wealth producing/tax generating industry in order to replace it with a fish tank a downtown lawyer can appreciate by his lonesome (as he and his clique are the only people in a metro of 450k with a reason to venture downtown). Maybe they'll tip the fish feeder (the job we will have produced for $30/mil. of public money) who makes $7.70/hr...but I seriously doubt it. Like I said earlier though, hopefully the new structure of downtown government and the new blood thinks these things thru differently than has been done for the last 60 years of corruption, arrogance, small thinking, lack of courage, stupidity and tendency towards a belief public projects create all the wealth.

But in other news...I'm glad we now have a AA baseball club ready to compete with the Bay Bears in 2 years coming downtown.

[Muskavon]

BTW, I know this is now out-of-date and I'm sure the difference is expanding...but for any Pensacolian feeling beaten down by Mobile's gains and our dissapointments over the years...here is a comparison:

Table 1. GDP by Metropolitan Area in Current Dollars, 2004-2006 (2006 figures shown) (Millions of dollars - Overall Rank)

Mobile, AL 13,892 - 125 Rank
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL 13,040 - 136

for configuring your expectations:

Pascagoula, MS 4,610 -268

Wow. OMG. If we only coulda been Mobile up till 2006? I just wish we could be half of them! They ARE SO HUGE!!!!!! WOW!!! What can we ever do????

Ok, enough with my fun. Obviously this is about to change drastically. Mobile now has the steel plant online, ship building, great ports, cruise lines and hopefully soon-to-be airplane construction. All happened since 2006. I'm sorta scared to see how much difference these numbers have next time I find them.

But still, I don't want to go to the old thread everyone hopes will die, (Pensacola vs. Mobile thread). So I post this here. Not to suggest in any way Pensacola has any hope ever of even being slightly as wonderful as Mobile...but to suggest the difference in wonderfulness wasn't as awesome as has been reported in the past. The economies in 2006 might as well have been the same. That should be surprising to some who have posted baloney. But a lot has changed since then.

Whatever the case, forget the Mobile-Pensacola comparisons. Let's compare Pensa and Pascagoula. 13 bill to 4.6 bill GDP. Can we at least stop comparing the two little minion pathetic sisters on either side of Mobile as equals? And why do so many equate the ability to annex population with their town being a big city? My state won't allow that. Yet at least 160,000 Pensacolians live 1/2 mile from the City limit sign. This city is nothing but dust in Mobile's heels because of city populations? Seriously now?

Pensa can't expand practically and legally. Do you really find the non-city limits of Pensacola to be any realistic definable cut-off from the actual Pensacola? It's a continuous, non-defined transition from dense to suburb for miles. Does someone in Ensley (population 32,000) really grow up to call themselve's an "Enslyian"? Never happened. They are a Pensacolian. Just like the other 160,000 uncounted Pensacolians who you might call Myrtle Grovians, West Pensacolians, Brentians, Bellviewians, Warringtons, Beulians, Perdidians, and a dozen other non-incorporated near-by names, etc.

The reasonably incorporated population would be around 220,000 disregarding Gulf Breeze, Pace, Lillian, Seminole, Cantonment, etc and all the other county places that are only there because of the city that should be counted. Not too shabby. And apparently was doing well in GDP up till 2006. It ain't Mobile, but it sure as hell ain't the bs cow town they think it is while explaining to me that Mobile is 50x "awesomer" or whatever. It may be 1.13x awesomer in Mobile...but give me an effing break at all that crap they claim.

[thecapitalbama]

Originally Posted by Muskavon

BTW, I know this is now out-of-date and I'm sure the difference is expanding...but for any Pensacolian feeling beaten down by Mobile's gains and our dissapointments over the years...here is a comparison:

Table 1. GDP by Metropolitan Area in Current Dollars, 2004-2006 (2006 figures shown) (Millions of dollars - Overall Rank)

Mobile, AL 13,892 - 125 Rank
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL 13,040 - 136

for configuring your expectations:

Pascagoula, MS 4,610 -268

Wow. OMG. If we only coulda been Mobile up till 2006? I just wish we could be half of them! They ARE SO HUGE!!!!!! WOW!!! What can we ever do????

Ok, enough with my fun. Obviously this is about to change drastically. Mobile now has the steel plant online, ship building, great ports, cruise lines and hopefully soon-to-be airplane construction. All happened since 2006. I'm sorta scared to see how much difference these numbers have next time I find them.

But still, I don't want to go to the old thread everyone hopes will die, (Pensacola vs. Mobile thread). So I post this here. Not to suggest in any way Pensacola has any hope ever of even being slightly as wonderful as Mobile...but to suggest the difference in wonderfulness wasn't as awesome as has been reported in the past. The economies in 2006 might as well have been the same. That should be surprising to some who have posted baloney. But a lot has changed since then.

Whatever the case, forget the Mobile-Pensacola comparisons. Let's compare Pensa and Pascagoula. 13 bill to 4.6 bill GDP. Can we at least stop comparing the two little minion pathetic sisters on either side of Mobile as equals? And why do so many equate the ability to annex population with their town being a big city? My state won't allow that. Yet at least 160,000 Pensacolians live 1/2 mile from the City limit sign. This city is nothing but dust in Mobile's heels because of city populations? Seriously now?

Pensa can't expand practically and legally. Do you really find the non-city limits of Pensacola to be any realistic definable cut-off from the actual Pensacola? It's a continuous, non-defined transition from dense to suburb for miles. Does someone in Ensley (population 32,000) really grow up to call themselve's an "Enslyian"? Never happened. They are a Pensacolian. Just like the other 160,000 uncounted Pensacolians who you might call Myrtle Grovians, West Pensacolians, Brentians, Bellviewians, Warringtons, Beulians, Perdidians, and a dozen other non-incorporated near-by names, etc.

The reasonably incorporated population would be around 220,000 disregarding Gulf Breeze, Pace, Lillian, Seminole, Cantonment, etc and all the other county places that are only there because of the city that should be counted. Not too shabby. And apparently was doing well in GDP up till 2006. It ain't Mobile, but it sure as hell ain't the bs cow town they think it is while explaining to me that Mobile is 50x "awesomer" or whatever. It may be 1.13x awesomer in Mobile...but give me an effing break at all that crap they claim.

2008 Mobile GDP $15.07 Billion, Pcola $13.39 Billion
Also I think Pensacola should incorporate more areas because maybe the
pop. size does play a factor to businesses, I dont know though.

If Mobile would annex some areas here, it could easily be a city of 245-250,000. Areas possible, Tilmans Corner: 16,000, I read on some other forum that Prichard could be, thats 27,000 plus others.

[Muskavon]

Originally Posted by thecapitalbama

2008 Mobile GDP $15.07 Billion, Pcola $13.39 Billion
Also I think Pensacola should incorporate more areas because maybe the
pop. size does play a factor to businesses, I dont know though.

If Mobile would annex some areas here, it could easily be a city of 245-250,000. Areas possible, Tilmans Corner: 16,000, I read on some other forum that Prichard could be, thats 27,000 plus others.

thanks for the new figures. Gonna seperate a lot more once the port and steel plant put down numbers from Mobile.

We can't expand the city limits in Florida. The laws are too strict. I think Jacksonville's grab of the whole county stopped that 40 years ago. A 2/3rds vote is basically impossible when you are asking people to have higher taxes.

So "Pensa" will always contain around 55k unless there is a massive influx of people wanting to go downtown. Maybe it'll happen next time the economy booms. In the meantime, Brent has 40,000 people, West Pensacola has 30,000 people, Myrtle Grove has 30,000 people, Ensley has 30,000 people, etc, etc, etc, etc....there are so many areas around the city that should be city limits...but never will. And as much as it pisses me off that it won't show up in books as a big city...it has the same reality. 450,000 people are relying on Pensacola. I don't know how anyone would deny it if they lived in it.

[fvcrew22]

Originally Posted by Muskavon

I know I'm late on this, but as it might be a nice gain for Gulf Breeze, it is a huge failure for the area, IMO. Avalex is relocating from downtown Pensacola...to basically the suburbs. Not exactly the preferred concept. And certainly not like scoring a new industry for locals. Other than now Avalex found somewhere it can expand (as if the City didn't have plenty of vacant, unused, underused areas to offer). But that is an illustration of the failures of Pensacola (which hopefully will be changing soon...as this announcement, which was made months earlier when both App River and Avalex were going to leave the city for Gulf Breeze...was probably one of the big tipping points that led to the re-doing of the Chamber of Commerce, the new Strong Mayor concept, and ultimately Hayward's win over Wiggins in the Mayor's race)....

I agree with that the fact that Pensacola definitely failed here, but I am glad for the area as a whole that we are keeping this up and coming company. Also, they are finally working on infrastructure the the downtown tech park next to the civic center, so hopefully within a few years a few companies will move into the new facility there. From Avalex's site in Gulf Breeze to downtown is a 10 minute drive or less and Gulf Breeze stills wants to build with Appriver across from the Andrews Institute, which is between those 2 locations. Who knows, maybe several years down the road this will become somewhat of a high tech corridor. It's definitely frustrating to see things like this happen time and time again around here, but I'm staying optimistic for the future, maybe the new mayor and chamber will begin to shake things up for the better. Somewhat related too is that Gulf Breeze is studying how best to replace the 3-mile bridge between the cities, which they plan to do in the next 6 years.

[fvcrew22]

Well maybe this is finally going to happen, not posted in the article but the permit for demolition was submitted to the county today, seems promising.

University Mall changes could be coming soon
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • February 10, 2011

A high-level Escambia County official said he believes Indiana-based Simon Properties is close to announcing a major renovation of University Mall on Davis Highway.

Dale Baker, division manager of the county’s Building Inspections division, said this morning he has had several meetings with Simon executives over the past few months and expects a formal announcement within the next few weeks.

“I do not have an application for a demolition permit from them at this time,” Baker said. “But I think they will submit one in this first quarter and we will see some exciting things take place out there.”

Contacted by phone in Indianapolis today, Simon spokesman Les Morris refused to confirm or deny the company’s plans for University Mall.

“There’s nothing I can say right now,” Morris said. “I’m still working on getting out a statement.”

Simon first announced plans for a multi-million dollar renovation of University Mall in 2007. Those plans were shelved when the economy took a down turn.

Since then the interior mall stores have all been vacated, while the independent anchor stores Penny, Belk and Sears, not a part of Simon’s property holdings, have continued to operate.

Baker said he has seen some recent preliminary draws of plans for the renovation, and most of the preliminary discussions that have taken place involve construction and life safety issues.



link: http://www.pnj.com/article/20110210/...be-coming-soon

[Port_of_Bama]

Originally Posted by tredici

Very true. Though, I wish he would build more stuff in his home state...

I know this is old but man I agree !!