Panama City Commission works out more details on partnership to restore St. Andrews Marina
PANAMA CITY − Local officials took huge strides toward an agreement to restore the St. Andrews Marina.
Panama City commissioners held a special meeting Tuesday to work out more details in a public-private partnership with St. Andrews Marina Partners LLC to restore and oversee the marina, which was heavily damaged in October 2018 by Category 5 Hurricane Michael.
"From where we were to where we are today, it's a diametrically different agreement," Commissioner Josh Street said Wednesday. "It's structured very differently than any of the previous agreements that the city has done, and it's really focused on keeping the main thing the main thing, which is rebuilding the marina."
In past conversations with the city, St. Andrews Marina Partners proposed a 60-year lease agreement that included the possibility of building a hotel upland from the marina.
Officials, however, have said they have no interest in approving that long of a lease, and residents have expressed they do not like the idea of a hotel.
"Today, they sit with a 30-year lease agreement with specific performance (measures) to be met," Street said. "There's (also) a very strongly worded component for public access that's now placed into the contract, as well as additional protections against any kind of future development being done without commission consent.
"I can say with 100% certainty no hotel."
While these pieces of the agreement are squared away, Street said officials still are finalizing the financial portions of the contract.
He said it is expected to cost approximately $24 million to restore the marina. This includes about $12.9 million needed to replace outdated bulkheads. The rest is for additional needed improvements, including those to boat docks and boat slips.
"There's really two components of the financing," Street said. "There's the financing that the city is doing for the bulkheads, but the private partner is also responsible for financing a portion of it themselves. That comes through an equity cash contribution, as well as some type of finance debt on future marina operations. It's basically a split between some public and private funding.
"The private entity is responsible to bring money to the table, and the city is responsible to bring money to the table."
Past meeting: Panama City rethinks terms of St. Andrews Marina partnership. New special meeting planned
Street said he hopes for the agreement to be finalized and approved by commissioners during their next meeting on May 14. It will be held at 8 a.m. in the Bay County Government Center, 840 W. 11th St. in Panama City.
"The goal right now is Tuesday," he said. "We've gotten through a lot of the terminology. ... I think both parties are very comfortable with the way the language reads now. I think the community feedback has been put in and implemented into the contract.
"There's a few smaller components (left), and as long as those can be hammered out, I believe that we can get there."
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City getting closer on deal to restore St. Andrews Marina
