St. Joe's development of the West Bay Sector, the 71,000 acres it owns surrounding the airport, begins with a three-phase plan totaling 1,000 acres. The first phase consists of 100 acres on the road leading to the airport that will be used for office space plus potential retail uses, such as an airport hotel and restaurants.
So far, the only project that's actually been announced for the site is
the office building St. Joe will construct for its headquarters. But Johnson expects interest to pick up as the airport opens.
"We're at a stage now where we can really see that this is happening. There's no mystery to this event any longer," he said.
The plan includes 600 acres immediately accessible to the airport runway that can accommodate aerospace businesses.
But Johnson said the company is not limiting the type of businesses that can move into West Bay.
"We define it as a place where you can create virtually any type of opportunity that fits into our model," he said.
The Panhandle region is already an aerospace center with a navy base and six aviation-related military bases, and 1,900 aerospace and defense-related businesses, according to Florida's Great Northwest, an economic development organization for the region. So bringing in more aerospace companies is a natural fit for the airport.
"The low-hanging fruit is the aerospace industry," said Wilson of St. Joe.
But Al Wenstrand, president of Florida's Great Northwest, expects to see the region open to businesses such as health services, medical technologies and logistics and distribution.
Wenstrand sees the potential to create a new metropolitan area on the now vacant land around the airport.
"It has the opportunity to be done correctly," he said. "This is an opportunity I didn't see anywhere else."
Walters of the Economic Development Alliance said it's up to the community to take advantage of the opportunity.
"We have to make a great first impression. We have to continually market ourselves," she said.
"Shame on us if we don't take advantage of that opportunity."
'Aerotropolis' concept
The notion of a new "city" sprouting from the Panama City airport is not far-fetched, according to John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina.
Kasarda has developed the concept of an "aerotropolis" to describe new development of business and entertainment venues within a 15-minute drive of an airport.
"The key to the aerotropolis is time-cost accessibility," said Kasarda. "What the aerotropolis does is lay out a plan for intelligent growth."
He sees the Panama City airport as "the ideal proof of concept" for his theory.
"It's basically a blank canvas," he said. "There are so few greenfield airports."
Kasarda thinks St. Joe has done a good job with its plans for the airport area.
"The West Bay Sector plan is an excellent aerotropolis plan," he said.
But St. Joe is not getting unanimous support. John Hedrick, chairman of the Panhandle Citizens Coalition, a group that opposed the airport, is concerned about the pace of development in the region.
"Short of no airport, probably having as little development as possible" is his hope for the region.
Hedrick's group is now trying to drum up support for Amendment 4, the Florida ballot measure that would allow the public to vote on comprehensive land-use changes.
"We're hoping to minimize [the airport's] impact and we hope that things like Amendment 4 will help us do that. The citizens did not want this in the first place," he said, referring to the 2004 vote.
But Greene said St. Joe acts responsibly in developing its properties, including environmental concerns.
"We believe there's inherent value in protecting the environment around development. All our projects are environmentally tuned to the land," he said.
Greene points specifically to the West Bay plan, which sets aside 39,000 of St. Joe's 71,000 acres to be preserved for nature.
"It's very rare for a company to set aside 39,000 acres around a new airport for environmental protection. I think that's extraordinary," he said.