Bay County- Board members from Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport can breathe a sigh of relief after taking the finishing steps towards closing the deal on the old Panama City airport property.

Airport board members looked over the final selling documents Friday morning in a special meeting.

“We did the contract for the sale of the old airport property in October 2007. It’s been a long process and I’m pleased to finally see it come to fruition,” said the Chairman of the airport board, Andie McKenzie.

Saint Andrew Bay Land Company is the buyer of the 700 acre property.
The price tag is over 56.5 million dollars. The idea is to use the land to build neighborhoods, parks, and commercial property.

Airport officials say they needed to close to deal soon because of the cost it takes to maintain the land, roughly 130,000 dollars per month.

“It’s paying interest on the loan, you know, security and mowing the grass and all of the things that you’ve got to do to keep it up so it stays in good shape,” says the board Attorney, Franklin Harrison.

The closing date on the old airport property is expected to be within the next five business days.