Comparing the August and December marina designs

What’s the same:

• The bulk of the marina still is being transformed into an outdoor play area similar to HarborVillage in Destin, with an amphitheater, outdoor marketplace, restaurants, lighthouse and water shuttle.
• There still will be about the same number of places to park a boat.
• Sonnenblick Development still is planning to pay to revamp the Marina Civic Center.
• There still are plans to add up to two parking garages near the entrance.
• The current Bay County government building still will be removed.

What’s changed:

• A plan for dry boat storage has been removed. A boat service and sales area has been added in its place, as well as a potential 100-unit, nine-story apartment complex in Phase II. As part of these changes, the city attorney said there is talk of keeping the boat launch.
• A plan to use the old library building for hotel facilities space and the current City Hall as an arcade has been nixed. Instead, they are proposing two hotels – first, a 150-room Marriott, and then a 150-room Hilton in Phase II – and a movie theater and convention center.
• The “yacht club” has been renamed a “marina club.”
• A fishing pier has been added to the southeast corner of the T-dock.

A crew works on the T-dock at the Panama City Marina earlier this fall. ANDREW WARDLOW/NEWS HERALD FILE PHOTO
Thursday
Posted Dec 15, 2016 at 6:53 PM

Panama City gets financial plans for marina

The financing proposal, delivered late Thursday, outlines what Sonnenblick Development believes is financially feasible for the project and offers to invest a substantial sum in the city, according to City Manager Jeff Brown.

By Katie Landeck | 522-5114 | @PCNHKatieL | klandeck@pcnh.com
PANAMA CITY – The developer for the Panama City Marina project has sent the project’s financing proposal to the city, meeting its deadline on the nose.

The financing proposal, delivered late Thursday, outlines what Sonnenblick Development believes is financially feasible for the project and offers to invest a substantial sum in the city, according to City Manager Jeff Brown. It also marks the beginning of serious negotiations between city leaders and developers about what will be built.

“We’ve been talking in generalities with Sonnenblick about things they want to do,” Brown said. “Now we’re at the point we’re looking at the business side, and the question is, ‘What can they do?'”

In this upcoming phase, it will become clear how much money the city will be expected to pay for the project, what the impact will be on existing infrastructure, what will happen with existing boat slip renters and what actually will be built.

The proposal was not made available to The News Herald late Thursday, as it was submitted after the city’s business hours.

Brown cautioned it will take the city weeks to fully analyze the proposal, emphasizing it’s not a done deal. The analysis will look at how the project could generate growth for the city, how it fits into the long-term vision for the downtown and whether it meets citizens’ needs.

The city commissioners plan to talk about the proposal at upcoming meetings and then hold a separate public workshop once they have a better understanding of the plans.

“Before we make a decision, before we vote on anything, we are going to bring it to the public,” Mayor Greg Brudnicki said. “We are going to say, ‘We think this is good; what do you think.’ ”

The financing proposal also will be made available on the city’s website, www.pcgov.org, under the section for public comments.

“We all feel it is important to get public input,” Commissioner John Kady said.

The original designs, which repeatedly have been called a rough draft, included a lighthouse, carnival area, dry boat storage, two hotels and much more. Many of the items, such as the dry boat storage, have faced scrutiny from commissioners.

Until the financing proposal is released, it’s unclear how the feedback from commissioners might have changed the design.

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A rendering for a Hyatt Place hotel proposed for Sacramento International Airport, which the developer now wants to expand to add more rooms.
– Shimahara Illustration

The Hyatt Place hotel proposed for Sacramento International Airport will get more and larger rooms.

The 135-room project in January won approval from Sacramento County, which operates the airport. Developer Bob Sonnenblick recently won its approval to add 15 luxury suites to the property.

Sonnenblick, principal of Sonnenblick Development LLC of Los Angeles, said feasibility studies showed the hotel will do better with more rooms and the addition of the big suites.

The new design calls for 10 suites of 650 square feet, five junior suites and the original 135 suites, which are on average 450 square feet, he said. The five-story hotel will be wider, but not taller with the extra rooms.

Sonnenblick said he hopes to be under construction in the second quarter next year and then work through about 15 months of construction. That would put the opening of the new hotel in summer or fall of 2018.

Construction was to have started earlier this year, but Sonnenblick and his previous general contractor had a falling out on the project. Sonnenblick plans to name the new contractor later this month. Sonnenblick Development LLC will build, operate and own the hotel, which will be between the airport’s main commercial terminals. He said he has lined up construction financing.

The airport is a demand driver for the hotel. Many flights out of Sacramento leave very early in the morning, so travelers from all over Northern California could use the hotel to arrive the night before traveling. Also, the hotel, like the airport, is right off Interstate 5, which can generate demand from drivers. Another potential business for the hotel is air crew rooms. Many airlines have contracts that require them to house flight crews in nearby hotels.

Hyatt Place is a limited-service property. Locally, there are Hyatt Place properties in Davis, Rancho Cordova and Roseville.

Sacramento County has been seeking a hotel for more than a decade. The previous hotel at the airport, the Host Airport Hotel, was successful, but was demolished for the expansion of the airport’s new terminal and parking garage.

Mark Anderson
Staff Writer
Sacramento Business Journal

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