Bay County Airport Board Selects a Winning Bidder 

Reporter: Sabrina Zimring
Email: sabrina.zimring@wjhg.com

After seven months of bidding and re-bidding, the Panama City Bay County Airport authority board has decided who will take over the old airport property once the new airport is completed.

Tuesday morning, board members decided the sell the 715-acres to PCA development out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The sale price will be $75 million.

Last fall four developers offered bids ranging from $30 million to $61 million. With an unexpected $13 million increase in the relocation project's cost, negotiations for a higher sale price picked back up.

Pittsburgh based PCA was the high bidder in the first round at $61 million, and again the second time around with a new offer of $75 million.

PCA plans call for a village style town center, 48 acres of lakes, five acres of canal space and 3 -acres of open spaces and parks.

"We plan to make a wonderful community here for Panama City and Bay County with housing an entertainment facility, affordable housing, and assisted living."

PCA's bid involved $61 million for the airport, and another $14 million based on the sales of the land over the next 30-years.

"The 14 million dollars would be imposed at the sale of each parcel of property, a small percentage of gross sales profit that would be paid back to the airport authority over a period of time that will allow us to obtain 14 million dollars."

In the end, airport board members say money was the overriding factor.

"More money is always better because that's less money we have to bond."

The second place bidder, Community Airport Redevelopment out of Salt Lake City came in at $60 million, and a local group, RMS Investors, headed by former railroad owner Earl Durden's, stuck with it's original 56 and a half million dollar bid.

Airport board members asked representatives from both companies to standby in case negotiations with PCA fall through, but based on Tuesday's reaction, PCA is excited about the future.

"Now we negotiate a contract to purchase the property. We will continue our work while they build a new airport so by the time the airport is ready to come in we'll hit the ground running."

The latest projected cost of the new airport stands at$ 317 million.

Board members say they hope to break ground in June, once they receive final permitting from the Army Corp of Engineers, and hope to open sometime in 2009. Then, PCA will be able to take over the old airport.