ST JOE COMPANY TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS TO BAY COUNTY

Okay folks, one of the largest land owners/developers in the State of Florida, has decided to move their headquarters to Bay County, just east of Freeport, FL. If this doesn't say anything about their committment to our area, I don't know what does. Keep you eyes and ears open, St. Joe has some other great news to follow.


St. Joe Co. headquarters to transfer to Bay County
By WILL HOBSON Florida Freedom Newspapers

WEST BAY — The St. Joe Co. is moving its corporate headquarters — and most of the jobs associated with it — to Bay County.
The company announced plans Wednesday to move its executive offices from Jacksonville to West Bay, where St. Joe will be one of the first tenants of its own industrial park next to the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, which is slated to open May 23.
St. Joe also will vacate offices in Tallahassee, Port St. Joe and South Walton County, consolidating operations in a 50,000-square-foot office building near the entrance to the airport. Construction will start this summer and should be done by the summer of 2011.
St. Joe President and CEO Britt Greene delivered the news to his Jacksonville employees Wednesday morning and then flew to Panama City to meet with local employees and to talk to the media.
Greene said the move will not mean scores of immediate jobs but that it signals a commitment to the growth of the region.
“People should see it as a sign of confidence and a signal that we believe in all that we’ve been saying,” Greene said in an afternoon interview at Water-Sound, one of the company’s four major developments in the area. The other three are WaterColor, Wild Heron and RiverCamps.
St. Joe is not cutting jobs, Greene said, but he does anticipate some employees will elect not to make the move. He would not commit to an exact number of employees working in West Bay but said the majority of St. Joe employees — currently about 140 — will be working in the new headquarters when it opens.
“It indicates that St. Joe considers Bay County to be the epicenter of their operation and probably the most appropriate place to coordinate the growth of development of their properties,” said Bill Cramer, vice chairman of the Airport Authority board. “I think it’ll be a good complement to the new airport.”
Local elected officials were thrilled with Wednesday ’s announcement.
“It’s a heck of a show of faith and trust in the region that the corporate executive team of St. Joe wants to go to our churches, dine in our restaurants, send their children to our schools and make that commitment to Northwest Florida,” said State Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City.
U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd released a statement echoing Patronis’ enthusiasm. “This is great news for the Bay County community. The St. Joe Co.’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters to West Bay will bring new local jobs to the area and help expand our area’s appeal to tourists and entrepreneurs alike,” Boyd wrote.
Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst and Bay County Commissioner Mike Thomas praised St. Joe’s move.
“It will also bring in some people who will be buying houses and going shopping at a time when we all need it,” Oberst said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this.”
“There are a lot of people who do business with St. Joe who will be coming through here,” Thomas said. “I think it’s a great thing for the area.”
The move from Jacksonville is an end of an era for St. Joe, which started there in 1936 as St. Joe Paper Co., with swaths of land owned across the Panhandle, much bought by Alfred I. duPont and Ed Ball in the 1920s and early 1930s.
St. Joe invested in land across the state and later into Georgia and the Carolinas. Its focus shifted from paper to land development in the latter part of the last century. In the past few years, St. Joe sold off most of its holdings except those in Northwest Florida and now owns about 580,000 acres of land, including 350,000 in Bay, Gulf and Walton counties.
The company put its financial weight behind the new airport, donating the 4,000 acres in West Bay for the airport and securing the deal for Southwest Airlines to fly there by guaranteeing the discount airline won’t lose money in the first two years. St. Joe owns 71,000 acres of land in West Bay, and its long-term plans for the region allow for 27,000 residential units and 37 million square feet of commercial space.
In short, there is a lot of money to be made by the company if things go right. St. Joe posted a net loss of $130 million in 2009 after losing $35.9 million in 2008.
“I think it shows a commitment of their future tied to our future, and I think that’s good for all of us,” said Joe Tannehill, Airport Authority board chairman.
Greene did not entirely agree with the assessment, saying St. Joe can succeed even if West Bay does not develop to its full potential. He also spoke highly of the company’s financial position, pointing out that St. Joe has $300 million in liquid assets and no debt.
“I don’t think it’s entirely tied to it, but I think it’s an immediate opportunity to drive economic development and growth,” Greene said.
St. Joe management began seriously considering a move in the last year, Greene said.
“For other major corporations to get interested in moving here, we have to lead by example,” he said.
The development Greene and St. Joe hope to see in this region will take time, he cautioned, using a timetable of decades. But Wednesday’s move signals St. Joe’s bet on where the future of growth in Northwest Florida will build around.
“Fifty years from now, this will feel like the core and heart of Northwest Florida,” Greene said. “Tallahassee and Pensacola are great communities, but I think Panama City and Bay County will start to feel like the third large component of the Northwest Florida region.”