Plan devotes 10 acres of port to development
Jamie Page • jepage@pnj.com • August 26, 2009
The Port of Pensacola could have another shot at a new life.
Pensacola City Council is pursuing a proposal by port staff that could transform the northern 10 acres of the port into a mixed-use development for retail, restaurants, a public plaza, light manufacturing and a dinner cruise ship dock.
The remainder of the 51-acre port would remain mostly industrial, considering the port has some long-term leases too expensive to buy out. The longest one ends in 12 years.
The council told port director Clyde Mathis to report back in 60 days with a more definitive proposal, including cost estimates. No price tag was attached to the proposal given at Monday's council meeting.
Councilwoman Diane Mack was set to propose putting the port up for sale Monday, but knew she lacked the support to move the effort forward. Absent that support, she never made the motion.
She wanted to propose advertising the port internationally to see what kind of development proposals the city could get.
She saw Mathis' proposal as a "pie in the sky" plan to use as a "delay tactic," she said, because its staff heard last month she would be bringing forward her proposal.
Mathis said it was not a tactic, that the port had been trying to follow a 2005 council directive to pursue mixed use development there.
The proposal could hike sagging port revenue between $1 million to $2 million, said Port Finance Manager Amy Miller.
The port has consistently lost money in recent years, after depreciation.
It's revenue on cargo operations has been as low as $1.4 million in 2004 and as high as $2.8 million in 2006.
The port is proposing to bump that to $2.3 million on the low end and $4.6 million on the high end.
Councilwoman Maren DeWeese likes the port plan.
"If you put nothing into something, you get nothing out of it," DeWeese said. "It's our fault. We have consistently put capital toward improving our city's other enterprise operations — the airport and (Energy Services of Pensacola) — but the port gets zero. Let's create a real, green marine highway port and make a statement."
DeWeese referred to marine highways — a green initiative in the port's proposal — which is a federal program designed to incentivize movement of domestic freight by water rather than roads.
link:
http://pnj.com/article/20090826/BUSINESS/908260326