PANAMA CITY — For economic development officials, Port Panama City’s Intermodal Distribution Center on U.S. 231 offers 250 acres of opportunity.
“It gives us another industry sector to target to bring jobs to the area,” said Larry Sassano, president of Florida’s Great Northwest, a regional economic development organization representing the 16-county Panhandle region. “That’s the bottom line, the creation of good jobs.”
The site houses two distribution facilities, a 60,000-square-foot center used by FedEx Ground and a 150,000-square-foot warehouse, half of which has been leased by Panama City logistics company Aadvantage northAmerican.
With a focus on logistics and commerce, Sassano said the site, located 11 miles north of U.S. 98, will be an important asset in diversifying the region’s economy.
“Tourism is a foundation for Bay County, Walton County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa and Escambia. … You don’t want to ever lose that, but you don’t want to rely just on that industry,” said Sassano, also noting a continual risk of federal government cutbacks facing the region’s powerful defense sector. “We need to always have more than those two sectors to rely on for growth and job creation.”
Panama City Port Director Wayne Stubbs said the site also allows for plenty of expansion, with plans already on the books to add 100,000 square feet to the existing warehouse space.
“We’ve got a good plan to keep growing distribution services up there,” Stubbs said.
Through a partnership with Panama City, Stubbs said construction also is underway to ready a 50-acre parcel within the complex for any industries interested in utilizing the space in the future.
The parcel is in the process of being certified by Gulf Power, because many industries looking for sites only will consider those that have been pre-certified for utilities, zoning and environmental permitting, he said.
The port also received a $900,000 matching grant from the Florida Department of Transportation for a bulk transfer facility at the rail-adjacent site.
“We think it’s going to be a very attractive site,” Stubbs said. “We’re hoping to attract some new industry to the community.”
Ideally, Stubbs said officials would like to attract a manufacturing company that would help generate jobs in Bay County.
“We have in our mission statement that (the port has) two roles: one is to promote trade with our seaport development and the other is to promote industry development,” Stubbs said. “We felt the distribution center was really important for us to keep working on both missions.”