Panama City north is growing with development

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP)--City Manager Mark McQueen said it’s been like the tale of two cities between the original part of Panama City and the northern part. That is until now, as the area is growing with development.

“Panama City north is somewhat undeveloped and what we are seeing is a whole lot of activity up there and a lot of interest in developing new residential and commercial spaces,” McQueen said.

The proof for that is shown in the map below as you can see residential commercial and industrial businesses are moving into the area.

One of the commercial spaces under construction is a grocery store.

“Certainly we are very fortunate that Publix is going to be opening up off of 231 and is annexed into the city,” McQueen said.

Other industrial businesses are also located right off Highway 231 as well.

“Up Highway 231 is one of our major industrial parks its the distribution center that the Port Authority owns and we just put a FedEx ground expansion there,” Becca Hardin, Bay County Economic Development Alliance said.

Hardin also said that they have more room to grow in that area as well.

“We got 70 acres of marketable property and we got several companies looking at that property,” Hardin said.

With commercial development comes a need for housing. This is why more than a thousand homes have been built and several apartments are under construction.

“We have Nehi apartments going in with 600 units. We have St. Joe apartments going in with I think 240. That is a lot of residential just inside of the city limits of Panama City,” McQueen said.

McQueen hopes the growth continues for years to come. He said the goal is to get Panama City’s population up to more than 50,000 people by 2030.

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