850 Business Magazine • Fall 2023

RECOVERING AND PREPARING FOR STORMS

Hurricane Michael spurred Mexico Beach’s renewal; attorney/contractor duo has advice for homeowners

NEW OWNERS ARE RAISING THE ROOF AT HISTORIC HUNT’S OYSTER BAR

CONTENTS

↑ Living Local

The 2023 Florida Legislature, in nearly unanimous fashion, passed the Live Local Act, a package of appropriations and policy decisions designed to make housing more attainable. Some provisions of the act represent direct investment of state resources in housing programs; for example, it provides $252 million for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program and another $109 million for the State Apartment Incentive Loan program. The Live Local Act also addresses conduct by local governments that have been seen to impose requirements that have limited opportunities for multifamily rental housing.

STORY BY STEVE BORNHOFT

Lifestyle Communities

Mixed-use or live-work-play communities are no longer confined to major metropolitan areas. Their increased popularity is resulting in part from the growing percentage of people who work from or near their homes. Like all-inclusive resorts, these communities are substantially self-contained, offering housing, shopping and entertainment and nearby employment opportunities for people working outside the home. The Millstream at Cascades project in Tallahassee, closely proximate to downtown, and three projects by the mega-developer, The St. Joe Company, in Bay and Walton counties provide examples.

STORY BY EMMA WITMER

ON THE COVER: Oyster reefs throughout the world are struggling due to factors including climate change, salinity levels, pollutants and overharvesting. But nothing has diminished the appetite of Northwest Florida residents and visitors for cold mollusks on the half-shell. In Panama City, Hunt’s Oyster Bar & Seafood restaurant has been a favorite hangout for slurpers for decades. Now, under new ownership, the storied business is getting a second story.

PHOTO BY BOO MEDIA

Pursuits

19 RECOVERY TEAMS In Florida each hurricane season, countless coastal households make last-minute preparations whenever storm warnings are issued. Shelves are emptied of bottled water,

batteries, flashlights, portable radios and more. Attorney Ed Fleming and contractor George Atchison recommend that property owners also have in place a recovery plan that includes a legal/construction team. Given those relationships, they will be in position to navigate the worlds of claims and contracts.

22 BLACK BUSINESS EXPO Vaughn Wilson considers himself fortunate. When the pandemic hit, his business, Mega Ace Media, started crashing. To survive its initial shock waves, Wilson applied for grants from the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality and the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. To his surprise, checks arrived and he bought some time. As a survivor, Wilson was inspired to launch the Black Business Expo Tallahassee, a forum for Black entrepreneurs to network, connect with key community players and learn what resources are available to them.

Periscope

49 MEXICO BEACH When Hurricane Michael made landfall, the small coastal city of Mexico Beach was the bull’s-eye. It was, in a word, flattened. The storm, while devastating for many for whom their cottages were better than castles, triggered a community renewal program, as both the municipal government and the private sector worked to return Mexico Beach to its feet. New construction lines the beach, an iconic resort, the El Governor, has come back, and new dune walkovers and a park are in place. In the midst of everything, longtime incumbent mayor Al Cathey has turned over the reins to Michele Miller.

56 BLENDED COMMUNITIES Since moving from New Orleans into the new Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community, Bill and Janet Niles have made more than a few friends from

BY MIKE FENDER (49,68,56) AND MIKE HAYTACK (19)

more than a few places.

There are Joey and Trina from Tennessee, Cliff and Janice from Texas, Blake and Teri from Canada, and Barb and Ed from Ohio. Jackie across the street moved from Denver but is originally from Switzerland. New communities in Bay and Walton counties are replicating the old melting pot notion at a frenzied pace.

62

HUNT’S OYSTER

BAR Panama City’s favorite slurper’s hangout is undergoing a massive redevelopment project that includes the addition of a second floor. New owners Greg Abrams, who is the owner of the Tarpon Dock Seafood Market and the president of Greg Abrams Seafood, Collins Abrams and Austin Abrams, who is the operations manager at the seafood market, are committed to keeping the original decor. Tables, walls, flooring and most everything else on the first floor will be retained, ensuring that longtime patrons feel at home — but without the two-hour wait.

68 FULL HEART RENTALS

After Hurricane Michael devastated much of Bay County, Britt Matthews Gonzalez’s heart was forever changed. She said she stopped caring about money and just wanted to help her neighbors, friends and people she grew up with find a place to call home after losing everything. Gonzalez founded Full Heart Rentals in 2022. The long-term rental management company connects tenants and landlords and helps people achieve homeownership dreams.

CONTENTS

expanding operations between Tallahassee and Pensacola. The new venture was codenamed “Project Rocket,” an apt metaphor for the way stakeholders quickly came together to make it a reality.

Promotional 34

TECH MANAGERS

Bit-Wizards got its start creating custom software for companies around the world 23 years ago. Since then, the company has expanded to Managed IT and now offers white glove IT support and cloud infrastructure services to businesses of all sizes throughout the Southeastern United States and beyond.

72

FEDEX The Panama City Port Authority’s Intermodal Distribution Center is home to a new $55 million, 251,000-square-foot FedEx Ground regional distribution facility. Recently opened, it is four times the size of a structure the company built at the center in 2013. Within a few years, that building became too small to accommodate FedEx’s rapidly

36

ROOM TO GROW As a product of its rapid growth, Santa Rosa County is moving beyond tourism and agriculture to recruit distribution, logistics and manufacturing industries through the development of industrial parks, including the 192-acre Milton Interchange Park at the intersection of Interstate 10 and State 87.

39 PROFESSIONAL PROFILES In this special section, we introduce you to established professionals who have earned sterling reputations for their reliability, customer service, knowledge and expertise. Collectively, they make important individual contributions to the outstanding quality of life that characterizes our region.

66 CENTER OF FUN

It’s impossible not to get your happy on at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound! The fun just went into high gear with the opening of the community’s new Latitude Town Square amenity center. The opportunities for fabulous fun, delicious food and simply “have-to-dance” live music have expanded greatly.

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER

BRIAN E. ROWLAND

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

MCKENZIE BURLEIGH

EDITORIAL

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Steve Bornhoft

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Emma Witmer

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Raemi Creteur

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mike Fender, Al Krulick, Martha J. LaGuardia-Kotite

CREATIVE

VICE PRESIDENT / PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut

LEAD DESIGNER Scott Schiller

SENIOR PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Sarah Burger, Saige Roberts, Shruti Shah

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sierra Thomas

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Barfield, Boo Media, Mike Fender, Mike Haytack, Mike O'Neill

SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS

SALES MANAGER, WESTERN DIVISION Rhonda Lynn Murray

SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton

DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi

DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WESTERN DIVISION Dan Parker

ADVERTISING SERVICES MANAGER Tracy Mulligan

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Julie Dorr

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Michelle Daugherty, Darla Harrison

MARKETING MANAGER Javis Ogden

SALES AND MARKETING WRITER Rebecca Padgett Frett

ADMINISTRATIVE & CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST Renee Johnson

OPERATIONS

CUSTOM PUBLISHING MANAGER Sara Goldfarb

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE/ AD SERVICE COORDINATOR Sarah Coven

PRODUCTION EDITOR Paige Aigret

PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan

STAFF BOOKKEEPER Amber Ridgeway

DIGITAL SERVICES

DIGITAL EDITOR/MARKETING SPECIALIST Alix Black

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Maintaining Connection

Despite challenges, the RPI team stuck together

It was early March 2020 when the bell rang quite loudly at Rowland Publishing. It was time for everyone to get up from their desk and go home. I will never forget that day, one on which I wondered, “Was this the beginning of the end?”

RPI, like businesses across the country, had to close its shared workspace in which teams of employees gathered each day and combined to keep the company functioning well and profitably. In addition, those workday gatherings made for interaction, communication and all the intangible benefits of interpersonal relationships.

Suddenly, we had been thrust in a new direction that would entail many communication and operational challenges that we would have to figure out while working remotely and without a playbook.

Our first and biggest challenge was to develop a way to move our huge digital magazine files back and forth from one department to another. Our IT pipeline at the office is a 12-inch pipe, and at home, most everyone is working with a garden hose. As a result, our processes had been slowed down significantly.

Fortunately our production director Daniel Vitter, who serves as our IT and systems expert, solved the issue by connecting all team members to a VPN server in Boston.

Still, we had to determine how best to maintain connection and positive social energy among colleagues now separated by a vast, unforeseen circumstance.

Video communication services, including Google Meet, came to the rescue, and our senior leadership team worked overtime to create a workable, virtual collaborative workspace. I salute and applaud this monumental effort.

A year later, I came to the realization that people had adjusted to a new way of working. I believe and have observed that we have a happier team. Its members are creative people, some of whom prefer to

work late into the night while others report to their keyboards at 8 and knock off at 5.

Our transition to remote work has been so successful that I am selling the old RPI headquarters building on Miccosukee Road, and I am leasing space downtown that is just large enough to accommodate our accounting and administrative operations and an office for me.

Company productivity has significantly improved, and just imagine all of the dollars and gas saved by our team working from home. That’s a win-win, and I’ll take that any and every time.

Thirty-eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic dispersed us, we all came together for an in-person team meeting in Tallahassee. Several members flew in, and many drove to the meeting from their homes along the Emerald Coast. We laughed, we played and many employees got to meet colleagues face to face for the first time.

This experience exceeded my hopes and expectations and supplied us with renewed energy as we pursue our mission as the storytellers of Northwest Florida.

Stay in touch,

Brian Rowland

850businessmagazine.com

GIVEAWAY ENTER THE NEW ULTIMATE HILTON SANDESTIN BEACH RESORT GETAWAY

We are again partnering with the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa to give a lucky reader a luxurious weekend getaway. There’s no better way to unplug, relax and unwind than this beachside oasis in Miramar Beach.

Enter to win the escape you’ve been longing for at 850BusinessMagazine.com/ultimate-hilton-getaway.

ENTRECON

Studer Community Institute’s annual business, leadership and entrepreneurship conference is back. With vision, commitment, intentionality and the right resources, EntreCon encourages people to say and embrace what really matters and let go of what’s holding them back. Define and design what success looks like to you and chart a course forward at EntreCon 2023. For additional information and to register, visit bit.ly/3PSuX9T

ITEN WIRED

ITEN WIRED Summit is the Southeast’s premier cybersecurity and technology conference, where participants connect, collaborate and build community with industry leaders, entrepreneurs and educators on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship topics. The threeday event highlights the area’s cybersecurity, information technology, and entrepreneurial communities. For more information and to register, visit bit.ly/44GnLSs.

NEW DOWNTOWN PANAMA CITY HOTEL NOW WELCOMING GUESTS

The latest addition to The St. Joe Company’s hotel portfolio, the 124-room Hotel Indigo Downtown Panama City Marina, is now open. Hotel Indigo complements the marina area and reflects the local culture by offering majestic views of St. Andrew Bay and a walkable location convenient to the many locally owned restaurants, bars and businesses that make up the historic downtown area.

850BusinessMagazine.com/hotel-indigo-welcomes-guests

MANAGING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS, ISSUES

Linn’s Prestige Kitchens & Baths has showrooms located in Destin, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach. As the company has grown and evolved, technology has become embedded in Linn’s day-to-day operations, and the Bit-Wizards Managed IT Services team was brought on to handle their everyday technology issues, provide continuous IT support and serve as a long-term partner to manage their ever-changing needs. Read the result by visiting 850BusinessMagazine.com/ bit-wizards-resolves-thechallenge-of-it-solutions.

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SKATE PARK PARTNERS WIN STATEWIDE AWARD

Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, Leon County Government and the City of Tallahassee earned the statewide 2023 Project of the Year Award from the Florida Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) for the Skateable Art Park, located off of FAMU Way. The project represents a $1.2 million investment in the south side and has expanded recreational opportunities in the Tallahassee-Leon County community. The skate park features artistic elements to provide an optimal riding experience for skaters of all skill levels and a visually stimulating space for spectators. The park’s centerpiece is the 225-foot-long snake run, inspired by Florida A&M University’s mascot.

CAPITAL LOCAL HONORS

» Tallahassee Community College president Jim Murdaugh was awarded the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society. The award was presented at PTK Catalyst 2023, the society’s annual convention in Columbus, Ohio. The award recognizes college presidents who have shown support for student success initiatives leading to stronger pathways to completion, transfer and employment and who have taken an active interest in developing student leaders on campus. Recipients are nominated by students on their campus.

Hall’s 36-year career dedicated to serving the people of Leon County and recognizes his unwavering commitment to public safety and first responders. A native of Jefferson County, Florida, Hall spent four years in the U.S. Army before pursuing a career in the health care profession. After years as a paramedic and nurse, Hall joined Leon County EMS in 2005. In 2015, Hall was promoted to his current role as deputy chief of operations. He oversees the daily operations of LCEMS, including ambulance operations, dispatch, logistics and special operations.

NEW & NOTABLE

» Tallahassee Community College formally announced three new bachelor’s degree programs that started this fall — Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Administration, Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, and Bachelor of Science in Exceptional Student Education. The TCC Foundation also announced donations totaling $150,000 that will provide scholarships for the programs.

» Leon County Emergency Medical Services (LCEMS) deputy chief Darryl Hall was recognized as a recipient of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award during the Tallahassee Community College (TCC) Heroes in Public Safety Banquet. This award celebrates

APPOINTMENTS

» Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Jonathon Manalo to the State Retirement Commission. Manalo, of Tallahassee, is the assistant deputy commissioner for the Florida Department of

Education. Previously, he served as assistant vice chancellor for the Florida Department of Education, the deputy secretary of operations for the Agency for Health Care Administration, and the chief financial officer for the Department of Elder Affairs. Manalo earned his bachelor’s degrees in finance and accounting from Florida State University.

EMERALD COAST LOCAL HAPPENINGS

» More than 1,200 babies have been born prematurely in Walton and Okaloosa counties in the past three years. Families depend on access to critical services close to home.

Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast’s nationally recognized Family Birth Place is home to the only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) serving Walton and Okaloosa county families.

Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has added five new

neonatal specialists to provide 24/7 coverage for sick and well newborns. The hospital has also established a team to care for premature infants born 10 weeks pre-term and who weigh slightly under 3 pounds.

» Emerald Coast Theatre Company (ECTC) has announced the appointment of Heath Carroll as its new education and outreach director. With his extensive experience and passion for arts education, Carroll will lead ECTC’s efforts in enriching the community through innovative educational programs and outreach initiatives. He will oversee ECTC’s diverse educational programs, including classes, workshops, and summer camps and collaborate with local schools, community organizations and artists to expand the reach of ECTC’s educational offerings.

LOCAL HONORS

» HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital received

an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit upholding standards of patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. This national distinction celebrates HCA Florida Fort WaltonDestin Hospital’s achievements in prioritizing patient safety by protecting patients from preventable harm and errors. The new grades reflect performance primarily during the height of the pandemic. This is the third consecutive “A” Hospital Safety Grade awarded to the facility.

» Hotel Effie, a new luxury property at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, has received the AAA FourDiamond designation. This is the first time the property has attained this prestigious honor since its opening in 2021. Hotel Effie is part of a select group representing the top tier of the hospitality industry in North America. To earn the

CAPITAL // LOCAL HONORS

PR EXCELLENCE

Leon County Government recently received three Image Awards from the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Capital Chapter for outstanding public relations efforts. The FPRA’s annual Image Awards recognize the top communication teams in the region and celebrate public relations excellence in Florida. The county’s award-winning projects will advance to the state-level competition later this year. The Leon County Annual Report Video won an Image Award, and its “Tackling Poverty and Inequities in 32304 Neighborhoods and Beyond” campaign won an Award of Distinction and a Judges’ Award in the brochure category.

CAPITAL // LOCAL HONORS

OUTSTANDING PRESENTATION

Leon County Government is proud to announce it has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) This is the 33rd consecutive year Leon County has received this award from GFOA. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting. This year, Leon County also received special recognition in the Strategic Goals and Strategies category, which signifies that all GFOA reviewers rated the County FY 2023 budget as “outstanding.”

impressive AAA

Four-Diamond designation, hotels and restaurants must pass a rigorous evaluation that includes unannounced, in-person evaluations by AAA’s expert inspectors. Only 1,752 hotels and 561 restaurants earned the AAA Four-Diamond designation in 2023. Hotels at this level, which include just 7% of the more than 25,000 AAA Diamond lodgings, are noted for their upscale style and amenities enhanced with outstanding service.

» The Hidden Dunes Tennis and Pickleball Center located in Miramar Beach has earned the title of No. 1 in the United States of America for Best Game Arranging for the second consecutive year. It is part of a resort that has been named a Silver Medal Resort for 11 consecutive years. While maintaining a successful tennis program, the resort also added pickleball, which earned the Silver Medal ranking as well.

FIRM IS RE-ENGINEERED

Anderson Engineering has changed its name to OWN. The rebranding builds upon the firm’s significant growth over the past few years, with staff expanding from 70 to 230 employees across 10 offices in Missouri, Arkansas and Florida, including 33 total employees in its Destin, Milton and Pensacola offices. Other changes include a culture built on 100% employee ownership and its share price doubling twice. OWN serves the commercial, health care, education, residential, industrial, hospitality, sports and entertainment sectors, as well as the federal/military, state, county, municipal, transportation and utility sectors. The Northwest Florida offices have supported numerous projects including the new Destin High School and the Navarre Town Center in Navarre.

NEW & NOTABLE

» The Pensacola Beach Resort opened in the summer of 2023 offering 162 guest

rooms, including 24 executive rooms with wraparound balconies. The hotel overlooks more than 800 feet

of Gulf-front property. An additional 800 feet overlooks the bay. The hotel also features a private restaurant,

full-service bar and a poolside tiki bar, as well as a beach bar and restaurant, which is open to the public.

CELEBRATING GROWTH

RB Oppenheim Associates (RBOA) has announced the appointment of a new leadership team and refreshed branding to signal a new era of growth and excellence for the agency. The new leadership team includes Erica Thaler, chief marketing officer; Catherine Register, chief strategy officer; and Heather Johnson, chief experience officer. Together, they bring extensive experience in leadership, marketing, strategic communications and a digital community-engagement approach.

EMERALD COAST // LOCAL HAPPENINGS

↑ Erica Thaler, chief marketing officer; Catherine Register, chief strategy officer; and Heather Johnson, chief experience officer

LUNG CANCER CANNOT HIDE FROM US.

TMH’s new MONARCHTM Robotic Bronchoscopy Platform detects lung cancer earlier and faster than ever. Our physicians are the first in the region to use this lifesaving imaging technology to detect, biopsy, diagnose and mark lung cancer.

At TMH, we have a relentless dedication to investing in the most advanced technology and building a best-in-class healthcare system for our region.

We are your hospital for .

When Hurricane Sally slammed into the Gulf Coast on Sept. 16, 2020, as a strong Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour, most storm veterans in the affected area assumed the blow would be relatively manageable.

It was sure to be less devastating than Hurricane Michael, which had roared ashore at Mexico Beach two years earlier as a Category 5 event. But for many property owners in Sally’s impact area, the storm would prove to be more consequential than they anticipated.

Sally was blamed for three deaths. First its outer bands and then prolonged hurricane conditions with powerful wind gusts damaged roofs, destroyed docks, left yachts and other vessels stranded on shore and felled trees. A major bridge was out.

By the time Sally blew out of town, water and power were off for residents in Pensacola Beach. Many roads were closed. Flooded properties included the Portofino Island Resort. Its parking area was underwater, and its five condominium towers looked strangely like vertical islands.

The property owners in the best position to deal with Sally’s effects were those who had planned for such an eventuality.

For more than 34 years, attorney Ed Fleming, the founding partner in the Pensacola law firm, McDonald Fleming, has witnessed hurricanes and their effects. He helps people partner with contractors and deal with insurance companies. And he consistently recommends that people establish a disasterrecovery team before a storm hits.

↗ Attorney Ed Fleming and contractor George Atchison know as well as anyone that insurance companies aren’t often predisposed to saying “yes” to damage claims following Florida’s inevitable hurricanes. They encourage property owners to have a disaster recovery team in place long before the next storm hits.

That team, he said, should include vetted general contractors, insurance agents, an experienced construction and first-party insurance attorney, and a homeowners association manager.

Fleming was part of the team that aided Portofino Island Resort’s recovery following Sally, a process that involved water mitigation, building restoration and the filing of insurance claims.

Fleming helped unit owners get back in their homes, secured a contract with a commercial contractor and won a big appraisal award for Portofino Island Resort from its insurance company for damages exceeding $180 million.

Phoenix Coatings in Pensacola was the contractor that oversaw emergency dry-out work and the restoration of water-damaged interiors at 765 units — work that was accomplished in three months.

George and Louise Atchison, owners of Phoenix Coatings, lead the company’s structural restoration efforts.

“We had 250 people on Portofino, including subcontractors,” George Atchison said. “It is important for people to deal with businesses they know. Don’t deal with the storm chasers who are in Texas this week, Florida the next,

people who do not have a commitment to your community. We do; locals do. If a hurricane hits South Carolina, storm chasers are going to head there. Locals are not going to leave. Deal local.”

“We know there are going to be hurricanes in Florida,” Fleming said. “Get your legal and construction team on board before the storm hits.”

He said the conduct of insurance companies has changed since Michael.

“The adjustors once showed up en masse to assess damage and write checks. They are not doing that now. I think it’s more profitable for insurance companies to instead say, ‘No, no, no.’”

Fleming recommends that owners of single-family homes establish a relationship with a general contractor and a roofer.

“It is critical to have a roofer on board,” he said. “If a roof fails, you need to stop the water damage fast.”

“Pick a local attorney and contractor who have availability,” Atchison said. “Have a relationship with those you can count on to be there. Under no circumstances use a public adjuster. They cannot litigate; an attorney can do more. The insurance company is going to deny, deny, deny.” ▪

PAST PROJECTS

Storm recovery work completed by Phoenix Coatings has addressed both building exteriors and interiors.

→ Eden Condominiums

16281 Perdido Key Drive, Pensacola

WORK COMPLETED:

Exterior restoration and dryout following Hurricane Sally

→ Moonspinner Condominiums

4425 Thomas Drive, Panama City Beach

WORK COMPLETED: Exterior restoration and wall reconstruction following Hurricane Michael

→ Tristan Towers

1200 Fort Pickens Road, Pensacola Beach

WORK COMPLETED: Exterior restoration and wall reconstruction following Hurricane Sally

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHOENIX COATINGS (PAST PROJECTS)

Overcoming Presumptions

Expo founder leads Black business owners to resources

story by EMMA WITMER

Especially for Black entrepreneurs in the U.S., the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were catastrophic.

According to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the number of active Black business owners plummeted by 41% between February and April of 2020, versus a 22% decline in business ownership overall.

Vaughn Wilson considers himself fortunate.

He reopened his business, Mega Ace Media, in October 2019 after leaving his job as the sports information director at Florida A&M University

to spend more time with family. In a matter of months, his business started crashing, and Wilson was left sitting on his hands.

Eventually, he regained momentum by providing streaming services to churches throughout Leon and Gadsden counties, but to survive the pandemic’s initial shock waves, Wilson broke one of his grandfather’s rules. He applied for grant funding from the TallahasseeLeon County Office of Economic Vitality and the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce, and to his surprise, checks arrived.

“My grandfather was a ‘don’t take anything from anybody type,’” Wilson said. “That’s good, but when there were resources there, I pivoted.”

Now, business is better than ever.

Wilson’s story of survival inspired him to launch the first annual Black Business Expo Tallahassee in 2022. The BBET is a forum for Black entrepreneurs to network, connect with key community players and learn what resources are available to them. It is also about combatting presumptions that Wilson says hold Black business owners back.

“We sent surveys after the first year asking why (Black business owners) don’t sign up for OEV grants and things,” Wilson said. “They simply think that Black businesses are not considered and that they would never get it. I used to think that way, to be honest.

“We’ve kind of had that drilled into us by our ancestors,” he added. “But it’s not a handout, it’s just a hand up. That’s what I say. These are the resources dedicated to helping us, but so many of these resources nationally that are set aside for minorities and minority businesses go right back into the pot because they are never applied for. That is the cycle we are trying to break.”

Wilson is a member of the Capital City Chamber of Commerce, the Big Bend Minority Chamber and the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and has a close relationship with Sue Dick, the president of the Tallahassee Chamber.

During the first BBET, Dick said she had been moved by the participation and enthusiasm generated by the expo and announced that she would waive membership fees for a year

for any expo attendee who joined the chamber that day. The other two chambers promptly followed suit.

In 2023, Wilson sought to build on this momentum, forming a panel of Tallahassee’s leaders including Dick; Katrina Tuggerson, the president of the Capital City Chamber of Commerce; Nick Maddox, the chairman of the Leon County Commission; Mayor John Dailey; Florida Sen. Corey Simon; Sean Pittman, founder of the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce; Darryl Jones, the deputy director of OEV; and Florida Rep. Gallop Franklin II.

“That was an all-star cast up there,” Wilson said. “Nobody has all of those people in the same room to listen to them. I was so proud that there was absolutely no hesitation from any of them. As soon as it was over,

they said, ‘What do you need us to do next year?’ There are resources and a concerted effort for small businesses. All of those people understand the importance of small business for the economy. That’s why they came, and that’s why it was successful.”

In 2022, 65 registrants attended the BBET; a year later, that number grew to 180. Companies large and small are joining with Wilson to provide additional opportunities for business partnerships, loan financing and grants.

As the BBET grows, so does Wilson’s vision for what is possible.

He believes that Tallahassee offers huge opportunities to Black business people because he has seen it firsthand. After leaving his family newspaper, the Capital Outlook, to work with FAMU years ago, Wilson created Rattler Productions, the athletic department’s first production studio. Resources were limited, and despite his well-rounded multimedia background, Wilson needed guidance.

He made a call to Florida State University and quickly had the support of the Seminole Productions staff. Wilson trained for months with Seminole Productions, which even donated some equipment to Rattler Productions.

“It was an open door,” Wilson said. “Everyone knew me when I would come over, half the time unannounced. To me, that explains Tallahassee. It is open. In a general sense, it is open, it is conducive, it is collaborative in so many ways.”

← Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce president Sue Dick (photo at far left) accepted an award on behalf of the Chamber at the 2023 Black Business Expo of Tallahassee hosted by Thais and Vaughn Wilson. The event featured speakers including state Sen. Corey Simon, a former FSU and NFL football star, who was elected in 2022 to represent Senate District 3, which includes Leon County.

LIVING LOCAL

Policymakers, private sector address housing need

story by STEVE BORNHOFT

illustrations by LINDSEY MASTERSON

The Florida Legislature has demonstrated near unanimous agreement that affordable housing is an issue that needs state-level attention.

As part of its 2023 session, the Legislature, by votes of 40-0 in the Senate and 103-6 in the House, overwhelmingly approved the Live Local Act, the largest investment in housing opportunities in the state’s history. Also often referred to as SB 102, the act is intended to focus Florida’s housing strategy on ways to make housing more attainable.

According to the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the Live Local Act, which became effective on July 1, will implement and assist with several programs that will enable creative approaches to the development of multifamily residential housing and single-family homes.

Some provisions of the act represent direct investment of state resources in housing programs. A summary of the legislation prepared by Senate staff lists appropriations including:

» $252 million in nonrecurring funds from the Local Government Housing Trust Fund for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program for the 2023–24 fiscal year.

» $109 million in nonrecurring funds from the State Housing Trust Fund for the State Apartment Incentive Loan program for the 2023–24 fiscal year,

» $100 million in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to implement a competitive loan program to alleviate inflation-related cost increases for multifamily projects approved by the Florida Housing Finance Corp. that have yet to enter the construction phase.

The Live Local Act also addresses conduct by local governments, who have been seen to impose requirements that have limited opportunities for multifamily rental housing. The act preempts under certain circumstances local standards regarding zoning, density and height to allow for multifamily developments.

Some might argue that the act, with that provision, flies in the spirit of Florida’s Home Rule Powers Act, adopted in 1973, which establishes that “municipalities shall have governmental, corporate and proprietary powers to enable them to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions and render municipal services, and may exercise power for municipal purposes except as otherwise provided by law.”

But for officials including Uriah Matthews, the economic development director for Walton County and a big proponent of enabling people to live where they work, intervention by the state as a facilitator of workforce housing makes sense. The move, he believes, is a response to highly vocal NIMBYs — not in my backyard opponents of proposed projects — who prevail upon local units of government to block projects demanded by the marketplace and needed by communities.

“Housing is the foundation of our economy,” Matthews said. “We need to figure out a way to achieve a kind of homeostasis by aligning housing costs with wage and salary levels. Our quality of life is dramatically at risk when the majority of households are spending more than 30% of their income — and in many cases, most of their income — on housing.”

To the extent that costs for housing, transportation, utilities, taxes and health care lay claim to large chunks of household budgets, people are left with limited discretionary income with which to patronize small businesses.

The scarcity, particularly in tourism corridors, of “workforce housing” — the term has supplanted “affordable housing” as a euphemism seen to be more palatable — means that people often travel large distances from home to work.

“That adds traffic to the roads, reduces the time that wage earners can spend with their families and may eliminate the ability to have a second job,” Matthews said.

He recalls with fondness working as a manager at a Gulf-front resort, making $36,000 a year and living in a condo within walking distance of his workplace.

Matthews described a recent meeting of the TriCounty Community Partnership Initiative, a project of Okaloosa County’s economic development agency that unites public and private entities in efforts to support military installations and their host communities.

“The most critical areas of concern identified by Eglin Air Force Base personnel at the meeting were housing costs and the availability and cost of day care,” Matthews observed.

“If housing costs were more reasonable, more people with a passion for children could afford to work in day care,” Matthews said. “One of the first jobs my mother had when we moved to Walton County from New York was in a day care center. As a single mother, she supported her two kids with the money she made there and enjoyed free day care as a benefit. Today’s realities don’t allow most people to work in child care for $18 an hour.”

Matthews is optimistic that SB 102 will permit housing developments consistent with a community’s greater good to proceed and succeed.

Now, those NIMBYs are going to be paying for services at those developments . I personally hope that this legislation will serve people at the local level as a lesson in what not to do. Someone’s anti-market views should not supersede the best interests of a community as a whole.” — URIAH MATTHEWS, THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR WALTON COUNTY

“Efforts by a small number of people to hijack bureaucratic operations, curtail property rights and fight against market forces is potentially going to backfire,” he said. “In the case of the Live Local Act, they already did. Now, we don’t get to make local decisions. The state will solve the problem for us.”

Noting that SB 102 also provides tax exemptions for workforce housing developments, Matthews noted a resulting irony.

“Now, those NIMBYs are going to be paying for services at those developments,” he said. “I personally hope that this legislation will serve people at the local level as a lesson in what not to do. Someone’s anti-market views should not supersede the best interests of a community as a whole.”

In Tallahassee, Keith Bowers, the executive director of the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality (OEV), noted the passage of SB 102 with interest. Housing is a pivotal factor in economic development and recruitment work, he said.

“The availability of housing and our cost of living are selling points for us when we encourage businesses

to relocate to Tallahassee and Leon County or expand into our community,” Bowers said. “ Depending upon the number of people that an employer is thinking about adding to our workforce, they want to understand the availability of housing, whether it’s rentals or homeownership.”

Bowers said OEV proactively provides prospects with data including the median price of a home in Tallahassee and average rents.

“It’s actually something we tout,” he said.

Bowers noted, too, that before SB 102 was proposed, officials in Leon County and Tallahassee had moved to provide incentives to developers of workforce housing.

“Both the city and the county made it a priority,” he said. “And local leaders had begun rolling out programs that required developers to allocate a certain number of units for workforce housing. The city and county are proactive. They’re taking a holistic approach. They’re providing funding to repurpose dormant hotels as housing.

“We’ve been ahead of the curve.” ▪

THE HOUSING CRUNCH

LIFESTYLE COMMUNITIES

Large-scale developers create places for people to live, work and play

story

by EMMA WITMER // illustrations by LINDSEY

MASTERSON

↑→ The Millstream at Cascades development in Tallahassee (aerial photo) appeals to tenants including students, professors, young professionals and families. Its location as part of a mixeduse area, makes it consistent with tenants of New Urbanism and its emphasis on walkable communities.

Photos at right: The rooftop Charlie Park, a hip watering hole, serves light bites and offers panoramic views of the Capital City. It sits atop the AC Hotel by Marriott at Cascades Park, an area conducive to living and playing where you work.

LIFESTYLE COMMUNITIES

n assessing the Millstream at Cascades development for possible acquisition, Gillian Downham was puzzled.

Downham, the vice president of asset and property management for the Indiana-based Becovic Management Group, recalls thinking, “They cannot possibly be collecting much higher rents than someone a quarter mile down the road, but they are.”

Becovic purchased the Tallahassee housing and commercial development in progress in 2022 shortly after the completion of its first phase. Units quickly leased up. When she became familiar with all that the Millstream project and its location had to offer, Downham understood why students, professors, young professionals and families had been drawn to the property.

“They’re being sold on the fact that they can walk to work,” Downham said. “They can walk across the street to the Marriott and go up to Charlie Park and have a drink at the rooftop bar with their friends. They can walk around the corner and grab a coffee, and right outside their door is this beautiful park and an amphitheater.”

Mixed-use or live-work-play communities are no longer confined to major metropolitan areas. Their increased popularity is resulting in part from the growing percentage of people who work from or near their homes.

Like all-inclusive resorts, these communities are substantially selfcontained, offering housing, shopping and entertainment and nearby employment opportunities for people working outside the home.

“People are looking at it now as this isn’t just an apartment where I’m going to come home and lay my head down,” Downham said. “This is where I’m going to live and interact. I’m going to work here, meet friends here and entertain here. The ability for people to have flexibility on a work

schedule, I think, has made this whole shift more appealing to so many different types of people.”

Yardi Matrix, which compiles real estate data and research, has found that mixed-use developments have more than quadrupled in number in the U.S. between 2012 and 2022. Northwest Florida is seeing developments that align with that trend and offer more than a nod to the walkable communities contemplated by New Urbanism.

Millstream welcomed its first tenants in May 2021. Its initial phase included 162 multifamily units, a rooftop pool, a twostory fitness center and retail space in and around the highrise. Construction of phase two, including an additional 100 multifamily units, will begin in 2024.

↑ Amenities at the Millstream at Cascades development include a clubhouse and fitness center. For residents of the project, which has entered its second phase, life can resemble an all-inclusive (working) vacation.

PHOTO BY MIKE O’NEILL (CASCADES PARK), DAVE BARFIELD (CHARLIE PARK (EXTERIOR BAR) AND COURTESY OF CHARLIE PARK (GROUP INTERIOR) AND RENDERINGS COURTESY OF NORTH AMERICAN PROPERTIES (MILLSTREAM INTERIORS)

↑→ The Watersound Origins development in South Walton County, a project

The St. Joe Company, includes apartments, townhomes and single-family residences along with a town center that offers everything from professional services to daily essentials. Its nearness to the Gulf of Mexico and a network of trails add to its appeal. People from around the country now make Watersound Origins their home.

Meanwhile, The St. Joe Company, headquartered in Panama City Beach, has been creating mixed-use lifestyle communities, such as Watersound Origins in South Walton County, that adjoin a latter-day equivalent of a village square, populated by retailers and providers of professional services.

Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, a 55-plus community that offers a host of dining, recreational amenities and event spaces, has sold more than 1,000 homes in its 3,500-unit first phase. Located in Bay County off State 79 immediately north of the Intracoastal Waterway, the development is projected at build-out to far exceed even the 71,000 homes at The Villages in Central Florida.

St. Joe is currently developing a town center next to Margaritaville that will make available 350,000 square feet for retail shops, restaurants and offices. And, St. Joe is a partner, along with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine, in the development of Panama City Beach’s first hospital, also in close proximity to Margaritaville.

of

The FSU Health-Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Medical Campus is located on an 87-acre parcel that will allow for medical campus expansion for decades. Currently under construction is an 80,000-square-foot medical office building scheduled to be complete in 2024. Plans also include a full-service hospital (100 beds for starters) with an emergency center and other inpatient services, including surgery, cardiology procedures and imaging, to be complete by the end of 2027.

The medical campus figures to be a major employer, and St. Joe is at work on a housing development, Bayside at Ward Creek, just north of the soon-to-be hospital. Once completed, the development will comprise 1,600 homesites including townhomes and detached, single-family homes, spread among three distinct neighborhoods.

Rhea Goff, senior vice president and chief administrative officer for St. Joe, said the company’s extensive landholdings permit it to build complete communities rather than specializing in a single type of development.

“We have the ability to really create a whole ecosystem for people who are buying in our communities,” Goff said. “They’ve got a great home product, but it’s sitting where there are all these green spaces and trails, but then they can also walk or take a golf cart to commercial spaces and social

hubs. We’ve got pavilions that host music or movie nights or farmers markets. We’re really creating a whole ecosystem that basically supports the lifestyle of what people are looking for.”

We have the ability to really create a whole ecosystem for people who are buying in our communities. They’ve got a great home product, but it’s sitting where there are all these green spaces and trails, but then they can also walk or take a golf cart to commercial spaces and social hubs.”

— RHEA GOFF, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, ST. JOE COMPANY

FSU Health-Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Medical Campus

Watersound West Bay Town Center

↑ Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, a lifestyle community resulting from a partnership between The St. Joe Company and Minto Communities USA, is reserved for residents aged 55 or better and is rich in amenities, including an amphitheater and a restaurant overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway. Given pent-up demand for the product, lots in the project’s initial, 3,500-unit phase were sold using a lottery system. It is projected to total 170,000 units at build-out.

Advice from the Bit-Wizards Team

Things to consider when purchasing software and hardware

From law firms, lumber distributors and hospitals to your friendly realtor or favorite local restaurant, there isn’t a company today that doesn’t rely on technology to get the job done. That could be as simple as an iPad and a spreadsheet or as complex as a multi-server setup running custom software. No matter where your company falls on the spectrum, Bit-Wizards can help you identify ideal software and hardware investments.

In many cases, identifying the right software begins with questions like: What does my company need this for, and is it a scalable solution? It’s important to establish what you need your software

to do for you, in both the short and long term, before you start comparing options and features.

Often, Bit-Wizards sees companies using software that’s inappropriate for the business — either far too simplistic for what they need to accomplish, or on the other hand, a less advanced option may be suitable. Samuel Blowes, Bit-Wizards’ Director of IT, noted that companies may need to adjust their software as they grow — you may start out tracking expenses in Excel but later move up to QuickBooks. If the organization continues to grow, it may eventually need enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to replace QuickBooks.

Bit-Wizards frequently recommends and helps businesses employ enterprisegrade software because it integrates more easily into a company’s existing network while providing elevated security, scalability and cloud options. Enterprisegrade software can help organizations maintain a high level of adaptability and productivity no matter their size or needs.

Of the software options, custom software is the most expensive, as it is a singular design used by a sole company and must be created by a technology company that specializes in software engineering. While Bit-Wizards will guide prospective clients in the direction of off-the-shelf software if it already exists,

there are some instances where custom software is the optimal choice.

No matter the software you purchase, you must ensure that it’s being regularly backed up, updated, and managed and that it comes from a reputable company that can help you address issues. Relying on outdated, unmanaged software can leave your business susceptible to security vulnerabilities and downtime, amounting to significant costs.

Hardware recommendations become a bit more complex as the technology industry is constantly introducing the latest and greatest of products.

“Where businesses often mess up is assuming that a home computer is

the same as a work computer, when they are very much not the same,” Blowes said. “There’s a very clear distinction between consumer-grade hardware and professional.” Blowes pointed out that you wouldn’t buy the “doorbuster” Black Friday laptop deals for office use because they don’t contain the necessary hardware durability and software security, and they will end up costing you more to keep running.

Conversely, there is some hesitancy to hop on every latest tech trend, as it might not be capable of supporting all the functions needed in your business when it is first released. Blowes points to when iPads were first introduced and how many businesses tried to utilize them without success. Now, 13 years later, iPads have broader capabilities for businesses, yet they still prioritize consumer friendliness over business functionality.

When budgeting for new hardware, Bit-Wizards encourages companies to

consider the three- to four-year lifespan typical of most hardware. While your PC doesn’t necessarily stop working after three or four years, it will have gradually slowed down to a crawl, causing office productivity to decrease and employee frustrations to grow.

Just like with software, redundancy also needs to be a priority with hardware. Redundancy ensures that there will be a backup in place to resume operations should your hardware or internet provider fail.

Bit-Wizards got its start creating custom software for companies around the world 23 years ago. Since then, the company has expanded to Managed IT, now offering white glove IT support and cloud infrastructure services to businesses of all sizes throughout the Southeastern United States and beyond. Whether you need software or hardware solutions, Bit-Wizards intends to help your business work like magic.

Santa Rosa County: Milton Interchange Park

The region continues to expand into distribution and manufacturing endeavors

Santa Rosa County has a lengthy history of specializing in military, tourism and agriculture sectors. Being recently recognized as the seventh fastest-growing county in Florida, Santa Rosa County has expanded its interests into the distribution, logistics and manufacturing industries through the development of industrial parks, including the recent Milton Interchange Park.

A 192-acre parcel, Milton Interchange Park is located at the southeast corner where Interstate 10 and State Road 87 intersect at exit 31. This location is optimal for distribution companies because of its proximity to an interstate that cuts through many major cities in the Southeast region.

The project is made largely possible by the Triumph Gulf Coast board, which utilized settlement money from the BP oil spill to contribute funding to the industrial park. The Triumph Gulf

Coast board provided $16 million to fund the acquisition.

“Almost three years ago, we began working on this project — if not for the money that came from Triumph Gulf Coast, this wouldn’t be feasible,” said Shannon Ogletree, executive director of the Santa Rosa County Economic Development office.

Triumph Gulf Coast has further worked alongside Santa Rosa Economic Development to plan the infrastructure. Milton Interchange Park is currently under design and engineering planning with construction anticipated to begin by the fall of 2023.

Alongside seeking transportation and distribution companies as tenants, a package plant, used to treat wastewater, will be built on-site to accommodate the growth needs of nearby companies.

One hopeful tenant is Project Runner, a warehouse distribution facility that operates throughout the Southeast. This company would

occupy a sizable 50 acres inside the industrial park.

As a rapidly growing county, Santa Rosa seeks to keep up with the rest of the state and country because of the increased attention on manufacturing and supply chain issues brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea behind Milton Interchange Park and others, such as the Northwest Florida Industrial Park and Santa Rosa Industrial Park East, is that distribution and manufacturing provide a diverse economy, economic stability and job creation.

The addition of Milton Interchange Park will create jobs for Santa Rosa county residents but could also reach neighboring Northwest Florida counties such as Okaloosa and Escambia.

“Milton Interchange Park has the potential to contribute thousands of new jobs to the area,” said Ogletree. “Milton Interchange Park can accommodate large facilities that will supply an abundance of job opportunities.”

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PROFESSIONAL PROFILES

Successful relationships between business professionals and their clients rely upon trust. But trust, as is often said, must be earned. We expect professionals in fields including health care, banking, insurance, real estate and even travel to be competent and to extend toward us active goodwill. As evidence of their trustworthiness, we look for professionals who are courteous, experienced, reliable and passionate about what they do. In this special advertising section of 850 Business Magazine, we present Northwest Florida professionals who are prepared to meet and exceed your expectations.

Coldwell Banker Hartung

At Coldwell Banker Hartung, one generation of Realtors has given rise to another. Established in 1979, the firm is focused on real estate in Leon and surrounding counties. “It speaks to the sustainability and reputation of this company to have Realtors who are following in their family members’ footsteps, enabling us to continue serving what are now second generations of clients,” said Chip Hartung, owner of Coldwell Banker Hartung. Below, five second-generation Realtors provide some insight into why they entered the industry.

SHERRIE CARTEE, 40 YEARS IN REAL ESTATE

As a child, Sherrie Cartee and her siblings named the streets in Killearn Acres. Her father is Bill Cartee, a developer of some of Tallahassee’s most influential neighborhoods including Killearn Acres, Lafayette Oaks, Winewood Office Complex, Meridian Hills and Northshire.

“As a little girl, I got to see Killearn go from dairy farms to what it is today,” Cartee said. “Watching much of this city being built from the ground up had an impact on me.”

Her work in real estate began when her father died, and she and her brother Gray Cartee, inherited the Northshire subdivision. She was a partner and owner at Killearn Brokers Realty before dissolving it in 2010 and worked with another real estate company before joining Coldwell Banker Hartung

LISA MONTGOMERYCALVERT, 31 YEARS IN REAL ESTATE

Upon graduating from Florida State University, Lisa Montgomery-Calvert wasn’t sure what direction to head in professionally. Her father Ron Montgomery, a Realtor, suggested that she give real estate a try. At first, she thought that idea was crazy. Who would want to live off commissions for the rest of her life? But, for 31 years, that’s exactly what’s she’s happily been doing.

Sherrie Cartee

Lisa Montgomery-Calvert

Christie Perkins

When transitioning from a family-owned company after 23 years, Montgomery-Calvert was drawn to Coldwell Banker Hartung given its proven track record, highly regarded leaders and knowledgeable team.

CHRISTIE PERKINS, 20 YEARS IN REAL ESTATE

At the urging of her Realtor father Chip Perkins, Christie Perkins has entered many crawl spaces dressed in a pencil skirt and heels. He advised her to always learn the ins and outs of a home. Doing so would help her thoroughly introduce clients to homes via showings or an inspection report.

“I believe generational agents bring a lot of history to the table,” Montgomery-Calvert said. “We bring the history of how and why things have been done, and we bring a style of professionalism that is not being taught anymore.”

JIM BROCKETT, 19 YEARS IN REAL ESTATE

Upon graduating from Florida State University in 1988, Jim Brockett worked in California and Orlando before realizing that he missed Tallahassee. Upon returning home in 2004, he knew he wanted to work at Coldwell Banker Hartung where his mother Ann Brockett was once a managing broker.

He had witnessed firsthand how the agency garnered respect by hiring full-time Realtors and catering to the client.

“This is a company that’s always willing to change and learn new things about the industry,” Brockett said. “In general, this role has taught me that I’m a people person. I’ll always be there for other’s needs first.”

CAROLINE WEISS, 18 YEARS IN REAL ESTATE

With such vast knowledge, it only made sense for her to pursue a position with a real estate agency that hires the most experienced Realtors.

“My dad laid the groundwork that made me realize it was possible to have a career in this diffi cult industry,” Perkins said. “He taught me how to be ethical in real estate — to think about the people more than the property or the commission.”

As a Realtor, Caroline Weiss has followed in the footsteps of her mother, Priscilla Tharpe, and grandmother, Jolene Strickland. In many ways, Weiss’s mother, who is currently a Realtor at Coldwell Banker Hartung, has served her as a role model. She seeks to follow her example as a Realtor, community servant, wife and mom.

Weiss often consults her mother when she needs to put things in perspective or is dealing with a particularly hard sale. Mom always reminds her what matters most.

“While real estate has changed a lot in the past 50 years, it is fundamentally still about building relationships and finding customers their next home,” Weiss said.

HARTUNG

Additional generational Realtors include: Angelo Cicatello (son) / Chris Cicatello (mother), Brandon Chason (son) / Karen Chason (mother) and Joy Blomeley (daughter) / Anna Gallagher (late mother).

Jim Brockett Caroline Weiss and Priscilla Tharpe

SimpleHR

In a world of AI and chatbots, SimpleHR sets itself apart by connecting human to human. When faced with a human resource issue, not every problem or solution is cookie cutter, which is why SimpleHR enlists professionals to help people and their unique business inquiries.

SimpleHR opened its doors 20 years ago in Destin, Florida, with three employees. Throughout the past two decades, the company has remained committed to delivering cost-effective human resource outsourcing while managing employee risk for small- to medium-size business owners.

As a professional employer organization (PEO), SimpleHR provides comprehensive services including

human resource solutions, payroll management, benefit administration, workers’ compensation, safety consulting, payroll taxes, corporate filings and more.

“We are a high-touch customer service company geared toward finding creative solutions as a one-stop shop for all employer needs,” said Erin Sarria, Director of Human Resources and Client Engagement with SimpleHR. “We take time to understand the inner workings of your business and tailor our services to you, much like a concierge.”

Each team member makes it their goal to continually enhance client engagement and stay on the forefront of ever-changing laws, regulations and technologies that can make an impact on their clients. At its core, SimpleHR

eliminates the stress and risk from the client’s business plate, giving them back their time, talent and peace of mind.

How well SimpleHR serves its clients is a direct reflection of how the company treats its employees. As a six-time earner of a Best Company to Work For in Florida, awarded by Florida Trend magazine, SimpleHR promotes a healthy company culture that embodies support, employee value and camaraderie.

“We are an HR company, therefore it would be a problem if we weren’t putting the care for our own people and employees first,” said Sarria.

SimpleHR honors every employee milestone, celebrates each holiday as a team and involves the staff’s families in company events.

“No matter what your business is, if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed we encourage you to call us or visit our ever-expanding campus,” said Sarria. “We pride ourselves on being the leading PEO in the area dedicated to serving our clients and committed to turning complex situations into simple solutions.”

James Moore & Company

NADIA BATEY, CPA AND PARTNER

Nadia Batey is a selfproclaimed people person with a heart for serving others. These are common character traits that unite the employees of James Moore & Company.

Although CPA firms are often thought of as businesses consisting of employees crunching and calculating numbers, James Moore does the math to know investing in client relationships is their biggest asset.

For over 50 years, James Moore has operated both as a fullservice CPA and as a consulting firm. The typical CPA services of taxes, audits and bookkeeping are available alongside a wealth of advisory services such as human resources (HR) consulting, business consulting, technology solutions, wealth management, data analytics and more.

“We become more than just accountants. We become a member of your team, as an integral part of your decision-making process, to help you navigate the world of business,” said Batey, a CPA and partner at James Moore. “We add value to your business by becoming your accountant, advisor, colleague, friend or whoever you may need.”

Batey and the James Moore team work with a variety of businesses; some are well-versed in the language of finances and analysis, while others who have very little knowledge. No matter where your company is on the spectrum, they create a safe space where

no question is turned away, and communication is always clear. Communication and understanding is important internally as well, as employees are listened to and encouraged through mentorship and leadership programs.

In 2022, the company was voted a Best Accounting Firm to Work for by Accounting Today; ranked on the list of Best CPA Firms for Women by the Accounting MOVE Project; and Best CPA Firm for Equity Leadership for the fourth consecutive year by the Accounting MOVE Project.

These awards are further testaments to the company culture

shared by colleagues and clients that puts an organization’s total health first. Even when achieving optimal success, James Moore is always looking toward the future.

“There’s a lot in store as we traverse the ever-changing atmosphere of automation and AI,” said Batey. “We remain positive and embrace the changes, knowing that no matter what, consulting and personal advice are an integral part of a business’ decision-making process that can’t be replaced.”

When working alongside James Moore, you’ll know you’re more than just a number.

Loyalty Credit Union

LISA BROWN, PRESIDENT AND CEO

Aname is a defining feature. Often, it establishes a reputation and equates to an understanding before business proceedings even begin. Loyalty Credit Union is a company whose intentions and expectations are understood from its name.

In August of 2023, Central Credit Union of Florida officially announced their new name as Loyalty Credit Union. This decision came after much deliberation and consideration from the credit union’s board, leadership, staff and members.

“As we discussed who we are and what we do, the word loyal kept coming up,” said Lisa Brown, president and CEO of Loyalty Credit Union. “It’s a reciprocal relationship where we are loyal to our members and they are loyal to us.”

This member and community loyalty dates back to 1936 for Tallahassee Leon Credit Union and 1962 for Central Credit Union of Florida. Eventually, the name evolved to Central Credit Union of Florida

serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Washington, Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Liberty, Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla, Jefferson, Franklin and Duval counties for over 60 years.

In January of 2022, Brown, who had been CEO of Tallahassee Leon Credit Union, merged the two credit unions, bringing together two entities that held long histories. The merging of the two credit unions brought an awareness of employee loyalty, as many employees had been with the company for 20 to 50 years.

Being a community-minded credit union, they strive to help those who are most loyal to their communities — first responders. Loyalty Credit Union is a proud financial partner to the Florida Sheriffs Association, providing services to deputies across the state.

As a full-service financial institution that is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), they provide services that include checking, savings, retirement planning, investment

services, loans, credit cards and more. With the merger and a new name, Brown is looking forward to being able to expand their business-lending services, especially to small businesses.

Whether you are a couple seeking out a small business loan to begin your first bakery or a longtime business owner beginning your transition into retirement, Loyalty Credit Union desires to set you up for financial success.

Helping members achieve their financial goals has been the mission and vision that Brown has advocated for ever since obtaining her first credit union job at the age of 17. In her 30 years since, she has traveled worldwide, from conferences in Belfast to speaking as the first female commencement speaker at the African Credit Union Development Educators Program in Nairobi, promoting the fundamental importance of credit unions.

“My travels have changed my life giving me a deep awareness and appreciation of the power that having access to savings, to capital, to starting your own business can have to fundamentally change communities,” said Brown. “It inspires me to make change within my own community. Those are the kinds of things this credit union is passionate about.”

Warren Averett JASON ALVES, CPA

Jason Alves is a numbers man. Numbers are predictable, steady, trusted. He likes the black and white that numbers present. But as a certified public accountant (CPA), Alves enjoys helping clients tackle the gray areas of business.

When entering college and considering what career path to take, he relied on numbers to make a decision. Noting that, statistically, there was a 97% hire rate for those who studied accounting, Alves’ trajectory became evident.

A master’s degree in accounting served him well, and he began a career in audit practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Moving up to director in PwC’s transaction advisory group, Alves served clients domestically and abroad, spending two years living in Sydney, Australia.

In 2016, Alves relocated to Panama City where he became a member in Warren Averett’s audit and transaction advisory divisions. Alves entered the company at an opportune time, as Jinks & Moody, a trusted name serving the community since 1996, merged with the national name Warren Averett.

Since 1972, Warren Averett has been recognized as a top accounting firm, providing traditional accounting, tax services, auditing, consulting, risk, security and IT consulting, human resources solutions and more to help companies throughout the Southeast optimize their businesses.

“The Panama City office of Warren Averett is able to provide a blending of local roots with the talented resources a national firm can provide,” said Alves.

Alves brings to the company extensive knowledge of financial

accounting, advisory and consulting, which he provides to a diverse range of clients, specializing in manufacturing, distribution, construction and private equity.

“My purpose is to help clients navigate any situation so they can focus on what’s important — running their business,” said Alves. “We bring all the resources you could possibly need to the table to help you achieve your goals.”

Where Alves enjoys talking numbers and advising strategies, his favorite part of the role is getting to know each business on a personal level. The trust built through meetings often transcends into lasting friendships.

This personalized service comes naturally influenced by a company

that hires good people — people who care about their clients, coworkers and community.

Alves reflects on the outpouring of compassion he received from his Warren Averett home office and others after his Northwest Florida home suffered damages from Hurricane Michael.

“It’s no shock that the people are the best part of this company,” said Alves. “The guidance and support my mentors provided inspire me to pay it forward by mentoring our team so they can grow, flourish and reach their full potential.”

Alves’ happiness stems from being able to provide for his wife of 11 years, two sons and lab retriever, all while getting to help businesses accomplish their goals.

Emerald Coast Compounding Pharmacy

REGINA K. JAQUESS, PHARM.D.

Regina Jaquess leads two professional lives, one as the owner of Emerald Coast Compounding Pharmacy and another as a member of the elite USA water ski team. For her, there are strong connections between those roles.

Donning water skis for the first time at age 5, Jaquess learned that she liked standing up to a challenge. Later, as a scholarship athlete, she joined a water ski team at the University of Louisiana-Monroe that won two national championships.

As an athlete, she pursued optimal health and conditioning. As a student, she was drawn to pharmacy school and the mind-body-spirit connection central to healing through pharmaceuticals.

In 2010, she opened her business, Emerald Coast Compounding Pharmacy, in her hometown of Santa Rosa Beach.

“Compounding pharmacy is really the origin of pharmacy in general because you’re making adjustments and modifications to fit the needs of each patient,” Jaquess said. “I love the challenge of compounding pharmacy because there are so many avenues you can take in order to find the medicine that will most benefit the patient with the least side effects.”

Her pharmacy addresses prescription compounding, bio-identical hormones, thyroid replacement, veterinary pharmacy, dermatology, dental, pain management, pediatric care and more.

She is a 10-time world champion and has set 13 world records. She has won more than 300 medals in international competitions. Last year, Regina swept the competition at the World Games in Birmingham. This year, she will be competing in the World Championships in Clermont, Florida. She will wrap up the year defending her slalom, jump and overall titles at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, representing the USA under the United States Olympic Committee.

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←

The small Bay County community of Mexico Beach sustained a direct hit in October 2018 from Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 behemoth with sustained winds that reached 160 miles per hour. The devastating storm crippled the city’s infrastructure and decimated the vast majority of its homes and businesses, forcing the once serene beach town down a long road to recovery, one it is still navigating four years later.

The day after Michael’s wrath, Al Cathey, who grew up in Mexico Beach, and was then serving as its mayor, surveyed the ruins of the hardware store his family had owned since 1974.

“Our store was lost,” he said. “But we lost very little downtime; the community needed a hardware store, and we had to make a living. So we made the best of it.”

Cathey’s youngest son, who lost his home in the storm, figured out a way to make a makeshift store out of a 2,500-square-foot warehouse in back of what had been the store.

“So, we stayed open,” Cathey said. “During that time, we started the rebuild process; we opened the new store in the same location in February 2021. That’s how long it took us to get going.”

While Cathey was rebuilding his business, as mayor, he was also charged with rebuilding the city.

Eighty-five percent of Mexico Beach’s homes were damaged by the storm, with the vast majority of them

Our store was lost. But we lost very little downtime; the community needed a hardware store, and we had to make a living. So we made the best of it.”

— AL CATHEY, FORMER MEXICO BEACH MAYOR

↘ The sounds of new construction and rebuilding have filled Mexico Beach in the years since Hurricane Michael hit. The storm, while devastating for hundreds of property owners, has resulted in a community renewal project.

↑ Former Mexico Beach mayor Al Cathey was instrumental in seeing to it that Mexico Beach was not overtaken by wholesale development following Hurricane Michael.

MEXICO BEACH

destroyed. In addition to the hardware store, the town lost its grocery store, two gas stations, the civic center, the police and fire stations, and the public pier.

Cathey knew that Mexico Beach would never be the same, but he hoped that in its new incarnation it would still retain its laid-back, smalltown character even as its physical

appearance and demographics would necessarily undergo radical and longlasting transformations.

“Mexico Beach was Old Florida,” Cathey said. “We’re not a cookie-cutter type coastal town. It’s not overcommercialized; it’s not a nightlife place with bumper car rides and Ferris wheels. It was founded, basically,

as a fishing community. And we’ve maintained that identity, as we had so many houses that were passed down through families.”

Unfortunately, the houses that Cathey referred to were small block cottages, built mostly in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, slab on grade, making them no match for Michael. Also, because they

often served as rentals or second homes, many weren’t insured.

“Now the storm comes, and all of those are gone,” Cathey said. “And with the level of devastation of the storm, many of those family owners sold their properties because they weren’t in a position to rebuild.”

Cathey was saddened by the number of people who moved away.

“In a retail business, you get to know the people,” he said. “The old people that left — and so many did — they want to start over but not in a place that’s not near family. They want to move to where their daughter or son lives. So, our demographics have definitely changed, and COVID

escalated that change. So many people now can work from home, and they found Mexico Beach.”

Atlanta traffic has a hard time competing with a Gulf sunset and white sand beaches.

“So, we’ve moved toward working families but with higher incomes,” Cathey noted. “And they like who we are, and they love the laid-back style. They’re not looking for hustle and bustle. I hate losing what we did, but I enjoy the new ones and they’re so happy to have a place in Mexico Beach.”

New construction codes also have changed the city’s housing picture. In order to qualify for the $100 million in FEMA grants it applied for, the city had

to require that new structures be able to withstand 140 mph winds. The city also slightly raised its elevation limits, allowing houses to be built on stilts, while still restricting the construction of high-rise buildings that might erode Mexico Beach’s small-town character.

Mexico Beach has entered into a relationship with the Panama City Beach-based St. Joe Company, which has plans to develop a 554-acre master

↑ Mexico Beach Crossings is a gated apartment community that is being developed by The St. Joe Company. The developer anticipates that many of the units will be occupied by personnel from Tyndall Air Force Base, which is being built back as the Air Force’s “base of the future.”

photography by MIKE FENDER

planned community on the town’s west end, just 12 miles from Tyndall Air Force Base. It’s the first large-scale residential development in the city’s history. Site work on the first townhomes began in 2021, and plans include the construction of more townhomes, single-family homes, rental apartments and a walkable commercial village.

Cathey said many long-established Mexico Beach businesses, including the El Governor Hotel and Toucan’s restaurant, are rebuilding.

“Right now, we don’t have but one sitdown restaurant; everything else is food trucks,” Cathey said. “And we still don’t have a grocery store. And we cannot fully recover without those basic needs — grocery store, motel and restaurants. However, these are businesses that are in the pipeline. The process is slow, but it’s what we need. Once we get them, our town will feel more whole.”

Michele Miller is Mexico Beach’s current mayor, having narrowly defeated Cathey in a close contest in April.

“We moved here in 2015,” she said. “We were just finishing up our renovations and getting ready to move in full time. We left when the storm came, and when we came back, our house was gone.”

Miller gives credit to Cathey for producing a well-thought-out resilience plan over the last several years.

“The previous administration has done a great job in preparing Mexico Beach for coming back,” she said. “Our recovery is over 60%, and we still have a lot to do. We’re moving forward to make sure that if anything like Michael ever happens again, we will be prepared.”

Miller noted that the city is working to rebuild its stormwater infrastructure with a $1.4 million grant from FEMA. Still unfunded projects include a police/ fire facility, the community center, and the town’s pier and jetty. But Miller is optimistic about Mexico Beach’s future.

“We’re coming back strong, and our tourists are coming back strong, too,”

she said. “Up until last season, there weren’t a lot of places to stay. Now, the Driftwood is open, our Gulf View Motel is open and El Governor was partly open in June. We have a couple of new restaurants coming on board within the next couple of months. And with all the building we have had, there are more rental units here than there were two years ago.”

Cathey is optimistic, too.

“One thing you do every morning is choose your attitude. You’ve got to have some heart; you’ve got to have some

stamina to outlive what happened,” he said. “I was mayor for 16 years. I have invested a tremendous amount of my energy and my time in helping our city get back. I wanted to ensure that the city got what it deserved.”

Cathey said he wishes the best for Miller and does not lack for things to do.

“I’m moving on,” he said. “ I’m a busy guy. I’ve got four grandchildren who all live close by. I’m helping my son with the store. I’m still active. I’ve got things to do.” ▪

↑ Ravaged by Hurricane Michael, the El Governor Beach Resort, long a fixture in Mexico Beach, has come back better than ever and with new amenities. Mexico Beach Crossings apartments, lower photo, are part of a development that will also include townhomes and single-family residences.

Burch Speaks

Blended Communities

St. Joe developments are attracting buyers from across the country

story by MIKE FENDER

Since moving from New Orleans into the new Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community, Bill and Janet Niles have made more than a few friends from more than a few places.

There are Joey and Trina from Tennessee, Cliff and Janice from

Texas, Blake and Teri from Canada, and Barb and Ed from Ohio. And don’t forget Jackie from England and Leo who lives across the street. Leo moved from Denver but is originally from Switzerland.

Welcome to the new “Melting Pot,” or maybe in this new tech-driven world, we should call it “Melting Pot 2.0.”

↑ Rhea Goff, photographed poolside at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, is the senior vice president and chief administrative officer at The St. Joe Company.

BAY

History remembers the melting pot theory with affection. Immigrants from all over the world came to America to settle. Their food, music, religion and distinct cultures would slowly merge to form the American culture we have today.

New communities in Bay and Walton counties are replicating the melting pot at a frenzied pace. Neighborhoods like Watersound Origins and Latitude Margaritaville are attracting new residents from just about everywhere.

The Latitudes community has attracted buyers from 49 states so far, according to Rhea Goff, senior vice president and chief administrative officer for The St. Joe Company. “The Origins community has brought in new residents from 26 states through May.”

Who’s missing from Latitudes you might wonder? “We’re only missing Oregon,” Goff said.

The St. Joe Company is the developer for the Origins project and a partner with Minto Communities USA and Margaritaville Holdings for Latitudes. Goff says that Origins started sales in 2007 and is planned for over 1,500 units in the first phase. The Latitudes community has sold over 1,000 homes since sales started in 2021 with plans for 3,500 homes in the first phase. Both communities have plans for even more homes in the future.

Historically, Goff notes that most people moving into new Northwest Florida communities were primarily from the Southeast. She first noticed people moving to the area from all corners of the country as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Goff also credits other factors like the weather and beautiful natural surroundings.

“With these communities in particular, we really create a whole ecosystem that supports the lifestyle that these people are looking for,” Goff said.

These ecosystems offer miles of trails, abundant green spaces, entertainment venues and activities like movie nights. The new Town

Center opened in June at Latitude with indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center and restaurants all overlooking the Intracoastal waterway. The Beach Club is one of the popular attractions at Origins.

The new communities are designed so that pretty much everything you need is within walking or golf cart distance.

photography by MIKE FENDER

→ Bill and Janet Niles, photo at top, moved to Latitude Margaritaville Watersound from New Orleans, as attested to by a wall decoration at their new home. In the lower photo, they speak with their neighbors Trina and Joey Jackson, who moved to the community from Tennessee.

We all came here to do things, not just sit on the couch and watch television all the time.” — BILL NILES

When Cameron Hemphill moved his family of four from Utah last year, his arrival at Origins was partly COVID-inflicted and partly a lucky left turn.

Hemphill, 38, was looking for a beach vacation destination with his wife and two young daughters. He said COVID-19 restrictions in California and Hawaii, his usual choices, caused him to consider the Florida Panhandle as an alternative.

“We started Googling ‘best beaches in the United States,’ and this area kept popping up,” he said.

“We came down to check it out, and when we found (Scenic Highway) 30A, we were like, wow!” Hemphill

said the beaches, the restaurants and the people were nothing like they had experienced before.

“It might be cool to live here,” he thought.

So Hemphill, who played golf in college, said he took a left onto Watersound Parkway and passed the Camp Creek golf course. His next stop was the Origins sales office where they bought a lot.

“If I didn’t take that left, I probably wouldn’t be here,” he laughed.

Hemphill said his first year in the community has been special. “This is a different world,” he said, noting that in Salt Lake City, they were surrounded by people they had known their entire lives.

↑↘ Portable chairs, top, are an indispensable part of living at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound where residents gather outside the Latitude Bar and Chill to listen to bands and DJs perform on Friday and Saturday nights. A resort-style pool on the property serves residents as a spot for relaxed conversation.

“Here, it’s different,” he said. “Everyone has moved here and most very recently.”

He said the cool thing is that it’s very easy to get injected into the community because people are trying to meet people, find kids for their kids to play with and people with whom they have hobbies in common.

“It was really easy to find likeminded people who are fun to hang out with,” Hemphill said. “If you move to Utah and try to break in, good luck. The cliques are already established.”

For Bill and Janet Niles, the sense of community sprung up fast. Theirs was the 14th home built in Latitude, and Janet said they made friends quickly. They had the third golf cart in the community. Everywhere you drive, people wave at each other. Their golf cart is champagne colored.

“I tell everyone I have a champagne golf cart on a beer budget,” Bill said.

Fifty people attended the first party that the Niles threw at their new home. They play euchre with their Canadian neighbor.

“ When he comes to our house, we play American rules, and at his house we play Canadian,” he said with a chuckle.

Bill said Latitude residents share an outlook.

“We all came here to do things, not just sit on the couch and watch television all the time.” Janet was quick to add, “It’s a bunch of old people here acting like they are 15.”

And yes, Janet and Bill are Parrotheads.

The devoted followers of performer Jimmy Buffet, whose song Margaritaville is the inspiration behind Latitude Margaritaville, are everywhere.

“ I’ve been a Parrothead since Day 1,” Janet said. When she moved from New Orleans to Latitude, she brought along signed posters of Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino. But her prized possession is one

signed by Buffet. It now hangs in her living room.

Count Joey and Linda Guillot, both 66, as Parrothead Club members, too. The couple moved to Latitude in December from Mauriceville, Texas,

and they are proud to be Buffet fans.

“We go way back to the ’70s,” Joey said. Linda recalls first seeing Buffet in a concert with the Eagles in Houston. The couple named their new Latitude cottage “Stars on the Water” after a

photography by MIKE FENDER

↑ Top: Joey and Linda Guillot, both 66, sold their home in Texas and moved to a cottage at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound last December. Lower photo: The couple joins newfound friends at the community concert venue for Friday night dancing.

song recorded by both Buffet and George Strait, a popular Texas performer.

The Guillots first vacationed along Panama City Beach in 1986. Joey said when they saw the Latitude community being built, they decided to make a move after living 43 years in Texas.

“No one seemed to come around the house anymore, and the kids had moved out so we decided to go to where we loved being all time,” Joey said.

At their first neighborhood party, Joey made up a boudin dip from Texas to go along with Linda’s Texas accent. The couple counts people from California, Tennessee, Chicago and of course, Texas as new friends.

“You just go outside, and you are going to see someone you haven’t met yet,” Joey said. “All it takes is a wave, and next thing you know you are carrying on a conversation.”

At the opening of the new Town Center, the Guillots and their new friends kept repeating the same words in describing their new resort-style lives. Next to the new Texas-sized, zero-entry pool with Tiki huts and waterfalls, Linda kept saying over and over in disbelief, “We live here.”

“We live here.” ▪

BAY COUNTY COMMUNITY

179,168

PROFILE

BAY COUNTY

METRICS

8/22–8/23

JOBS ADDED

3,466 CHILDREN IN POVERTY 18.1%

3RD GRADERS READING AT GRADE LEVEL 47% HOUSING PERMITS ISSUED

1,520

SALES TAX REVENUE $56.86 Million

POVERTY RATE 12.9%

LAND IN CONSERVATION 15%

↑ Janet Niles penciled in neighbor Leo Eilinger on her dance card on a recent Friday night at the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound Town Center. Eilinger is originally from Switzerland.

Respecting Tradition

New owners of iconic oyster bar will leave its flavor unchanged

story by RAEMI CRETEUR

Asummertime visit to Hunt’s Oyster Bar & Seafood restaurant will prove, at a glance, that there are lots of people who do not feel bound by the rule dictating that wild oysters only be eaten during months containing an “R.”

The popular dive attracts standing-room-only crowds that fill its patio and spill onto the sidewalk at any time of day, any time of year.

Today, Hunt’s is closely surrounded by construction that will enlarge and add a second floor to the restaurant. Still, the people come, most of them unaware that ownership of the business has changed.

The Abrams family of Panama City — think Greg Abrams Seafood and the Tarpon Dock Seafood Market — acquired Hunt’s following the retirement of Randy Hunt, the business’s founder. Greg Abrams et al. know him from seafood. They supply fresh catches to restaurants from Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant in Panama City Beach to the top fine-dining establishments in Philadelphia and New York City.

“If you’re looking for fun, fresh and domestic seafood, Hunt’s Oyster Bar is it,” said Collins Abrams, who recognizes that Hunt’s, given its longevity, figures in a lot of family traditions.

“Randy Hunt built a brand and did a great job here, and we stepped in and have been able to maintain it with some improvements,” Abrams said. “In large part, our staff is the same — people like to see known faces. We’ve never considered changing the name or anything; we knew what we had here.”

The restaurant is a modest, bright yellow-sided building that would appear to be no match for even

BAY COUNTY HUNT’S OYSTER BAR & SEAFOOD

a Category 2 hurricane, but that is about to change. A new steel framework sits atop Old Yeller and outlines the future of Hunt’s. The project in progress will include a second-story deck with open-air dining, a move designed to expand seating and reduce wait times.

“The whole key to doing this is to make sure we preserve what Hunt’s Oyster Bar is all about,” Abrams said. “When the

construction is complete, you’ll come in the door and it will look like it did 10 years ago. We know what works, so we’re going to try to stay as close to that as possible and spice it up a bit.”

New owners Greg Abrams, who is the owner of the Tarpon Dock Seafood Market and the president of Greg Abrams Seafood, Collins Abrams and Austin Abrams, who is the operations manager at the seafood market, are committed to keeping the original decor at Hunt’s. Tables, walls, flooring and everything else on the first floor will be preserved to ensure that longtime patrons feel at home — but without the two-hour wait.

However, one unintentional change, brought about by the new owners, has already proven to be a crowd-pleaser.

The Miss Adley, a boat named after Austin Abrams’ daughter, took on water and hit bottom just six months after it was placed into service. The bow and hull were salvaged and now serve as an outside bar at Hunt’s.

↙ Collins Abrams and Austin Abrams, pictured across Panama City’s Beck Avenue from Hunt’s Oyster Bar, are among the restaurant’s new owners. In the lower photo, they lean on the transom of the Miss Adley, a boat named after Austin Abrams’ daughter. The hull was salvaged after the boat sank six months after being placed into service.

↑ Baked oysters, top left, are served with house butter sauce. Whole vermilion snapper is joined by a fresh vegetable medley and corn on the cob. Premium raw oysters at right are from Panacea.

Visitors often ask if the boat is real.

“We like to joke that it’s the most expensive bar in Bay County,” Collins Abrams said with a laugh.

The new owners anticipate that there will be longtime customers who will choose to wait for a particular table that they have favored for years, knowing that they will be waited on by their favorite server.

“There’re going to be groups who have been coming in here for 40 years, and they have their spot,” Collins Abrams said. “We had all of this in mind when we started the construction. That’s why we took the extra time — it’s a relationship business.”

Indeed, servers regard familiar customers as friends. A sense of community permeates the business.

“It’s just a down-to-earth family restaurant,” Austin Abrams said.

“You can come with your family and they can be loud, and you don’t have to worry about bothering anyone — it’s not for everybody every time, but it’s a fun place to eat.

“We’re doing our best to listen to the community and to run a successful business.”

The expansion is expected to be complete by December 2023. The business remains open during construction. ▪

It’s just a down-to-earth family restaurant. You can come with your family and they can be loud, and you don’t have to worry about bothering anyone — it’s not for everybody every time, but it’s a fun place to eat.”

— AUSTIN ABRAMS , CO-OWNER

Gulf Fried Shrimp

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LATITUDE MARGARITAVILLE WATERSOUND TOWN SQUARE NOW OPEN FOR FUN!

Residents are livin’ life like a song

It’s impossible not to get your happy on at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound! And the fun factor just went into high gear with the grand opening of the community’s new Latitude Town Square amenity center. Now that this dynamic playground in paradise has opened its doors to residents, the opportunities for fabulous fun, delicious food and simply “have-to-dance” live music have expanded exponentially. It gets even better — the Town Square has views that can’t be beat with all of the colorful and inviting resort-style Town Square amenities overlooking the beautiful Intracoastal Waterway. Located on Northwest Florida’s gorgeous Emerald Coast, near Panama City Beach and the Scenic Highway 30A corridor, Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is the third of the wildly popular, award-winning Latitude Margaritaville communities — for those 55 and better who are growing older … but not up.

Latitude Margaritaville communities are inspired by the lyrics of legendary singer-songwriter and best-selling author

Jimmy Buffett, whose songs evoke a passion for tropical escape and relaxation.

Latitude Margaritaville’s all-new approach to active adult living has captured the imagination of today’s vibrant 55-and-better homebuyers, with home sales exceeding all expectations.

The Town Square features a two-story Latitude Bar & Chill restaurant and second-story Overlook Bar that serve an enticing array of Margaritavilleinspired beverage concoctions and menu selections. There is a terraced amphitheater where residents can settle in and view a movie or listen

to a concert while also watching a spectacular sunset over the Intracoastal Waterway. A thatched-roof bandshell has a full-size concert stage and jumbo screen, and the adjacent dance area even has a special recessed floor that provides a little give and spring for dancer comfort.

The huge lagoon-style Paradise Pool has a beach-like gradual entry and its own Tiki Island. The state-of-the-art Fins Up! Fitness Center includes an indoor pool and whirlpool spa. Tennis and pickleball courts and sports courts for bocce ball and corn hole have lighting for night play. There is even a Barkaritaville Dog Park where canine residents can get their happy on, too.

Latitude Margaritaville Watersound offers four distinct island-style home collections that capture the “no worries” tropical vibe that defines Latitude Margaritaville communities. Home collections include the Conch Cottage Collection, Caribbean Villas Collection, and Beach and Island Collections of single-family homes. Floor plans range from 1,210 to 2,568 square feet under air, with pricing from the $300,000s. Thirteen fully furnished, award-winning model homes are open daily.

Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is being developed in partnership with master developer Minto Communities USA; global lifestyle brand Margaritaville Holdings; and The St. Joe Company, one of Northwest Florida’s largest real estate development companies.

For more information on Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, call (866) 223-6780, visit LatitudeMargaritaville. com or stop by the Sales Center at 9201 Highway 79, Panama City Beach, Florida. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST.

→ Britt Matthews Gonzalez and her mother, Karen Smith, at the offices of Beachy Beach Real Estate in Panama City Beach. The women co-own Full Heart Rentals, a long-term rental management company founded by Gonzalez in 2022.

The High Cost of Living Spaces

Broker approaches renters with compassion

story by RAEMI CRETEUR

The U.S. government, since the ’70s, has considered households that spend more than 30% of their income on rent to be cost-burdened.

This isn’t a nail in the coffin but rather a warning sign. Such renters could be up against a lifetime of living paycheck to paycheck with little to no savings to cover expensive car repairs and no hope of becoming homeowners.

One Bay County real estate broker hopes to become a change agent in making housing affordable.

“We have to deal with frankly breaking people’s hearts,” said Britt Matthews Gonzalez, broker and manager of Beachy Beach Real Estate (BBRE). “The median household income is about $60,000. If affordable housing is supposed to be no more than 30% of your income, you shouldn’t be paying more than $1,500. That’s impossible.”

Gonzalez is excited about all of the growth that Northwest Florida has seen in the past few years, but she worries that some people, whose contributions to the local economy are essential, are unable to afford housing near the coast.

She has met people who live in Enterprise, Alabama, and commute two hours to work in Bay County.

“That’s insane,” Gonzalez said. “At the end of the day, my job is to put people in homes. You can’t have a secure, productive society when the majority of people are worried about where they will lay their head at night.”

After Hurricane Michael devastated much of Bay County, Gonzalez’s “heart was forever changed.” She said she stopped caring about money and just wanted to help her neighbors, friends and people she grew up with find a place to call home after losing everything.

“You’re making people feel safe in this world,” she said. “Life is about service, and real estate is the vehicle with which we serve people. If I look around and see the need, I have to ask myself how I can be a part of meeting it?”

Gonzalez founded Full Heart Rentals (FHR) in 2022. The long-term rental management company is co-owned by Karen Smith, who is Gonzalez’s mother and a broker and co-owner at BBRE.

FHR rents space in the BBRE building, has access to facilities including a training room and is in a position to make referrals to real estate agents if long-term renters are interested in buying a home.

“It’s a win-win situation,” Gonzalez said. While FHR manages properties and places renters into available units, Gonzalez also takes the time to educate both landlords and renters.

She believes that many landlords are poorly informed about laws that govern renting property. Renters, she said, often don’t understand their rights and responsibilities.

Life is about service, and real estate is the vehicle with which we serve people.”

— BRITT MATTHEWS

“I personally believe that renters are one of the most taken-advantage-of demographics, which I don’t believe is on purpose,” Gonzalez said. “You can be productive, efficient and do a good job for your owners while still being compassionate to your renters — the two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Gonzalez hosts workshops on renting versus buying and helps home seekers determine their best options. She plans to bring in a lawyer a few times a year to educate homeowners and renters about long-term rentals at condominiums and communities with homeowner’s associations.

Lessors and lessees “both need to get educated to understand the other’s side,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not the responsibility

of someone who is struggling to make ends meet to explain why life is so hard.”

While some people may demean others with modest incomes as irresponsible, Gonzalez finds that such a characterization rarely applies.

“Affordable is not a dirty word,” she said. “I think part of this is not just recognizing that housing is a problem, but getting away from the idea that people experiencing financial hardship is a character flaw like laziness or unwillingness to work hard. They aren’t irresponsible.”

She sees waitresses, pharmacy technicians and even teachers as some of the hardest working people in their communities and asks, “Would you believe your teacher, the person

in charge of your child’s welfare, is undeserving of a livable income and affordable home?”

Increasing the inventory of affordable housing will require a multifaceted approach that lowers costs, speeds up construction, revises zoning restrictions and promotes understanding.

“It’s a real problem when I’m trying to promote homeownership, and there’s no inventory that the people in my town can afford,” Gonzalez said.

“The whole industry of housing has to be turned upside down — we have to do things differently.” ▪

↑ Britt Matthews Gonzalez of Full Heart Rentals shows a home to a prospective buyer. Frequently, she is in a position to help people transition from renting to homeownership.

Expedited Shipping Team effort made Bay County FedEx facility a reality

story by AL KRULICK

The Panama City Port Authority’s Intermodal Distribution Center is home to a new $55 million, 251,000-square-foot FedEx Ground regional distribution facility. Recently opened, it is four times the size of a structure the company built at the center in 2013.

Within a few years, that building became too small to accommodate FedEx’s rapidly expanding operations in the busy corridor between Tallahassee and Pensacola.

The venture was code-named “Project Rocket,” an apt metaphor for the way

stakeholders quickly came together to draft plans, sign papers and begin construction. A key player in this fastmoving dynamic was the Bay County Economic Development Alliance (EDA), a public-private partnership whose mission is to support existing Bay County businesses, recruit new ones, and work to grow and diversify the local economy.

EDA president Becca Harding said her office fielded a request from a consultant who was trying to find a site suitable for one of its clients.

“We didn’t know what the company was,” she said, “but they needed a 33-

acre site, and they needed to move very, very quickly.”

The company turned out to be FedEx, whose timeline was indeed ambitious.

“They needed to have it built within a one-year time frame because they needed these distribution services from Pensacola to Tallahassee, and we’re right in the middle,” Hardin said. “So, logistically, it made a lot of sense for them to be in Bay County.”

“Logistics and distribution is a target market for us, and the park where it’s situated, just north of Panama City between Panama City and I-10, was the perfect spot for FedEx,” said Ben

↘ A new FedEx Ground regional distribution center is located in Bay County at Port Panama City’s Intermodal Distribution Center, located north of Panama City on U.S. 231.

Moorman, the Bay County EDA’s vice president. “It allows them easy access to multiple locations out of that one centralized place.”

In addition to being adjacent to fourlane U.S. Highway 231, the Intermodal Distribution Center is served by the Bay Line Railroad and is within reasonably close proximity to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and Port Panama City.

Fortunately for all concerned, 54 acres of the 240-acre, city-owned Intermodal Distribution Center was certified for industrial development, and land was available.

“Certified means shovel-ready,” Harding explained. “All the trees are gone, the pad is ready, the property is zoned appropriately and all utilities are on the property. So, a company can start construction very quickly and not have to wait for the site to be cleared, utilities to get there, or for permitting or zoning.”

FedEx considered alternatives to Bay County.

“They could have gone out of state; they were even looking at sites in Alabama,” Hardin said. “The No. 1 edge that we had was that this was a certified, shovel-ready site. We worked closely with Gulf Power at the time, which is now Florida Power & Light, to get the site certified. And the city was intimately involved as was the Port Authority. The city agreed to build a road in the park to the facility to make sure that all the infrastructure was there; the Port Authority negotiated a very fair price per acre.”

The quick and successful completion of the FedEx project was a boon for the local economy and a feather in the cap of the EDA, which Harding said made a good impression with the FedEx consultant (McCallum/Sweeney), the building’s developer (Westmoreland Company Inc.) and the tenant.

“The developer does a lot of deals with FedEx, and that’s opened the door to more discussions with FedEx and some other prospects that he deals with,” Hardin said. “So, it’s a winwin. It’s a high-tech, state-of-the-art distribution center and a showplace for us to show off to other prospects.”

It’s a win for the projected 200–250 employees that the new FedEx center plans to hire. Plus, the entire project — the way it came about, the way it was put together and the way all of the parties worked to make it possible — is a reflection of the area’s growing economic vitality.

“If you’ve been in the 850 area lately, you’ve seen that this area is just exploding,” Hardin said. “We have had some difficult times in Bay County; we suffered through a Category 5 hurricane and then two years of the pandemic. But we came out on the other side

of the pandemic just exploding with construction projects and growth. Everywhere, you see cranes up.”

Hardin noted that The St. Joe Company, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Florida State University are combining to develop a new hospital in Panama City Beach. In 2022, the EDA announced four projects involving companies that the EDA successfully wooed.

“We have a lot of interest in growing advanced manufacturing at our airport,” Hardin enthused. “The federal government committed $5.2 billion to build the Tyndall Air Force Base of the Future. We’re getting three F-35 squadrons, which equates to about 72 aircraft and almost 4,000 servicemen and women. So, there’s just a lot going on, and it’s a great time to be in this area because there’s a lot of energy and excitement in our community. We’re on fire.”

↑ Pickup and delivery manager Steven Lankford and senior manager Marina Boeira in the offices at the new, 251,000-square-foot FedEx Ground regional distribution center in Bay County. When Bay County Economic Development Alliance president Becca Hardin fielded a call from a consultant representing a client that needed a 33-acre site in a hurry, she initially had no idea who that client was. It would prove to be FedEx.

The Business of News

An industry failed to keep its head up

Bill Needham, who was Tallahassee Magazine's first editor, recently encouraged me to contact a promising high school student. Ellie, he said, wanted to speak with someone who might offer her advice on how to prepare for a career in journalism.

We spoke for a while, and it became clear to me that elders in her life had reservations about journalism as a career. But if that were to be her field of endeavor, they advised, identify right now a particular type of journalistic pursuit sure to lead to a job with a decent salary.

I advised her differently.

Don’t limit yourself, I said. Take on as many experiences as you can. Go to concerts, attend lectures, travel, earn a wage, volunteer at a nonprofit. Fail forward. Write haikus, write limericks, write a Shakespearean sonnet one time. Attend an event sure to be covered by local news media, write it up and then compare what you have written to media accounts. And above all, read. Learn from other writers’ techniques that you might want to employ.

We don’t want to live in a place that does not reserve a meaningful place for Ellie. She thinks well, communicates well and has a sincere desire to interpret the world and bring issues of consequence to big audiences of readers. I will be curious to discover where her instincts and talents land her.

Meanwhile, the traditional media franchise is shrinking. Newsroom jobs are vanishing, and experience levels are in precipitous decline. Small-market TV reporters all look like high school interns; maybe they are. The corporatization of newspapers has had a devastating impact on the quality and quantity of coverage. It’s as if a DEFUND THE MEDIA campaign took hold and wildly succeeded.

It may not be a good time to rob a bank, but it’s a pretty good time to be a crooked contractor colluding with a corrupt commission. (Just look out for the likes of independent investigators like Tallahassee’s Ervin Jackson.)

The New York Times announced in early July that it was disbanding its 35-employee sports department. Going forward, it will rely on a website it purchased last year for daily sports coverage. Might as well. The other day, I read an NYT story on unseeded Marketa Vondrousova’s stunning title run at Wimbledon. There wasn’t a line or observation in there that could not have been gleaned from watching the coverage on television.

In the Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay’s write-up of the men’s final was better. “It had to happen one day,” Gay began. “Novak Dkojovic would meet his Novak Dkojovic.” Nice.

Later, he noted VIPs in attendance: “the Prince and Princess of Wales, the King of Spain and Brad Pitt, the Duke of Handsome.” Such gems are hard to find.

How do we account for the near death of traditional reportage? No single factor is to blame.

People don’t read or write as they once did any more than they lick stamps. Walt Whitman was right when he opined, “To have great poets, there must be great audiences.” I will add that to have great public officials, you need a great electorate. Instead, we have seen voters fall for politicians who blame the media for all of society’s ills and whatever will go wrong tomorrow.

Fundamentally, though, the collapse of traditional media must be seen as a business failure and a failure to heed the oft-cited Gretzky rule: Success results not from knowing where the puck is, but where it’s going to be.

I was the editor of the Panama City News Herald decades ago when a member of the sales team approached me with a handheld device. It was a PalmPilot, a pocket-sized

computer that people used to record notes and keep track of contacts, to-dos and events.

“This is the future of news delivery,” the salesman said.

“Get out of here,” I’m sure I told him. The salesman may as well have said, “One day soon, anyone with two thumbs will become a publisher.”

Ah, Ellie, it’s enough to drive me to poetry. Add the writings of Ed Skoog to the reading list I gave you. In Tomato Poem, he offers us this about the approaching winter.

This tomato follows its own thoughts into the frost. Leaves fade first, like faces of preschool friends. There is a simile rich and full, Ellie. A Better Boy, a Brandywine, a Beefsteak.

Stay calm and read on,

STEVE BORNHOFT, EDITOR, 850 MAGAZINE sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO BY BOO MEDIA / ROWLAND FILE PHOTO

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