Beach town is adopting a new image
Helen Anders | Cox News Service
PANAMA CITY BEACH - -A 15-story condo building called Marina Landing is
rising here alongside a pile of rubble under a sign that reads "Holiday
Lodge."
It's a sign of the times in Panama City, where the sky is filled with
cranes (construction, not whooping) as high-rises take shape amid a sea of
T-shirt shops, seafood restaurants, miniature-golf courses and the occasional
attraction boasting: "Live alligators."
This little strip of the Florida Panhandle's Emerald Coast, famous for its
gleaming white sand and blue-green waters, is working hard to transform itself
from beach town to coastal resort -- and to steer its image from
party-permeated to family-friendly.
The city wants to be ready when, in 2009, its $330 million airport opens.
Many in Panama City are counting on that airport to bring in planeloads of new
tourists.
So along with adding condos, the city is refurbishing the beaches,
improving roads, adding landscaping and planning a trolley system. All are
expected to be done by the time the airport opens.
Then there's the new open-air mall, Pier Park, on U.S. 98, with a
16-theater movie complex, Target store and two restaurants already open.
Eventually it will embrace 900,000 square feet, with such stores as
Dillard's, J.C. Penney, Ann Taylor Loft and Old Navy.
"We're going to be more upscale than we are, but not as upscale as Destin,"
says Wohlford, referring to a tonier destination about 50 miles to the west.
Among those watching all this -- especially the addition of all those
high-rise rooms -- is Jerry Peek, 53, co-owner (with his brother) of Peek's
Motel, a sprawling low-rise property his family founded in 1953.
Peek is concerned about the effect all the new rooms might have on his own.
"I didn't sleep good last winter worrying about it, but actually, our
business is better than last year," Peek says. "Gas prices have helped us.
Everybody within a tankful of gas is coming" to Panama City Beach.
Peek's Motel is increasingly being dwarfed by its massive neighbors.
Typical is the Edgewater Beach Resort, where I spent a night. It has 550
suites of various sizes -- some in high-rise towers, some in golf-course town
houses -- and offers golf, tennis and spa treatments. It's open year-round.
One thing also available year-round is the soft, fine, snow-white sand. It,
after all, is why people drive past all those flattened armadillos to get to
the Florida Panhandle. It's what makes this stretch of coast different from
any other place to play in the waves, eat seafood, hear beachside bands and
play the odd game of mini-golf. (And in my husband's case, eat boiled
peanuts.)
What distinguishes Panama City Beach specifically is its laid-back
attitude. It feels beachy. It's a frayed shorts, T-shirt, $3 flip-flop kind of
place. I get the idea that the city wants to hang onto this part of its
reputation and, for that reason, is unlikely to wholesale bulldoze the mom 'n'
pop places, though those are getting fewer and farther between.
"Some parts of Panama City . . . like Schooners (which bills itself as
the "Last Local Beach Club") and Captain Anderson's (a highly popular seafood
spot) are part of our tradition, and they'll be part of our future," Wohlford
says.
Peek, whose motel is across the street from Fun Land Arcade, says he's sure
the arcade, a longtime tourist favorite, will stay put.
"It's been there since the '50s, and it seems to thrive," he says.
Similarly, the area's mini-golf and go-cart tracks seem to haul 'em in. So
do beachside clubs such as Schooners, Spinnaker and Sharky's.
But at the same time, new restaurants are going up that might just have
dress codes. You never know.
Panama City Beach is evolving, but those who grew up there say it won't
lose its identity.
"In my mind, we've got a lot going for us," Peek says. "Panama City Beach
does have its own personality. It always has, and it always will."
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