St. Joe Company
The St. Joe Company is a land development company headquartered in Panama City Beach, Florida. Founded in 1936 and until 1966 known as St. Joe Paper Company, the company still operates a forestry division but is primarily engaged in real estate development and asset management. The company's land holdings are concentrated in Northwest Florida with the vast majority located in Bay and Walton counties. Of the 110,500 acres The St. Joe Company owns that fall within the Bay-Walton Sector Plan, 53,000 acres were placed into conservation by the company. The company develops its land for a variety of uses including residential neighborhoods, hotels, apartment communities, leasable commercial space, office buildings and medical facilities among others.
Company History & Overview
The St. Joe Company was founded in 1936, and at one point was the second largest private landholder in the state of Florida, owning more than a million acres of property in the state. Over time, properties in other parts of the state were sold as the Company began to focus on strategic land holdings in Northwest Florida.The St. Joe Company transitioned from a paper/industrial focus to land development, and in 2010 moved its corporate offices from Jacksonville, FL to the Walton County/Bay County area to be closer to the majority of their future development holdings.
In 2010, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport opened on 4,000 acres of land donated by The St. Joe Company. At the time, the old airport being replaced handled about 300,000 passengers per year. In 2022, approximately 1.5 million passengers flew through ECP.
In 2014 The St. Joe Company sold more than 380,000 acres – to AgReserves for $562 million, retaining strategic land holdings concentrated in Northwest Florida.
Eventually – in 2020 – the company HQ moved into the newly constructed corporate offices in the Beckrich Office Park on R. Jackson Blvd. in Panama City Beach.
Today, the majority of The St. Joe Company's land holdings are in the Bay/Walton County area, 110,500 acres of which are being developed under a 50-year plan, with 53,000 acres being placed into conservation.
The St. Joe Company’s current total land holdings in Northwest Florida is about 171,000 acres.
The 50-year gives legal rights for The St. Joe Company to develop more than 170,000 residential dwelling units, more than 22 million square feet of retail, commercial and industrial space and more than 3,000 hotel rooms on lands it owns within Bay and Walton Counties.
Development Activity
The St. Joe Company's primary activity is development of its land holdings in Northwest Florida. While doing so it also places tens of thousand of acres of land into permanent conservation. The Company divides its development projects into three main segments: residential, commercial and hospitality. In addition to its development activities, the Company operates many assets in its commercial and hospitality segments.Residential Real Estate
The St. Joe Company's residential development activities consist primarily of single family home neighborhoods, active adult communities and workforce housing.Development of the waterfront community of WaterColor was completed in 2022. The WaterColor community features more than 1,000 residences, a 67-room hotel, shops and restaurants and numerous parks spread over 499 acres.
Following the WaterColor community, St. Joe developed the resort communities of Watersound Beach and neighboring Watersound West Beach. Residential communities that the company continues to develop with new phases include Watersound Origins in Walton County Florida, Breakfast Point in Panama City Beach, Ward Creek in Bay County Florida and WindMark Beach - a master-planned community near Port St. Joe, Florida, among others.
With joint venture partner Minto Communities USA, St. Joe broke ground on Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, a Jimmy Buffet-Buffett themed 55 and older community, in 2020. In 2022, the community celebrated its 1,000th home sale. The first phase of the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community is planned for 3,500 homes with additional phases to follow.
In response to the housing shortage created by the destruction from Hurricane Michael in 2018, The St. Joe Company began the development of three new communities in eastern Bay County, Florida: College Station, Park Place and Titus Park. Since that time, each of these communities has seen development of additional phases making way for more homesites.
Hospitality Operations
The St. Joe Company owns several hospitality assets in Northwest Florida. The popular beach vacation towns of Panama City Beach and South Walton County, Florida are home to several St. Joe hotels including WaterColor Inn, Watersound Inn, The Pearl Hotel, The Lodge 30A, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Camp Creek Inn, Hilton Garden Inn Panama City Airport, Homewood Suites Panama City Beach, Hotel Indigo Panama City Marina and Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City Beach Resort. As of December 31, 2023, the company had an additional hotel that it plans to open in 2024. The company currently has 1,177 hotel rooms in its portfolio. Once the hotel under construction is complete, that total will increase to 1,298.In February 2023, the Company opened The Lodge 30A, an 85-room boutique hotel in Seagrove Beach, Florida. In April 2023, The St. Joe Company opened Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City Beach Resort featuring 255 guest suites, multiple restaurants, meeting and convention space and an outdoor 5th floor reception venue with views of the Gulf of Mexico. A 107-room Home2 Suites by Hilton in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida opened in May 2023. June 2023 saw the opening of Hotel Indigo Panama City Marina with a top floor sky bar and full-service restaurant taking advantage of the hotel's unobstructed views of St. Andrews Bay. The hotel's location in downtown Panama City, Florida is undergoing a rebuilding process after sustaining significant damage during Hurricane Michael in 2018. Camp Creek Inn opened in June 2023. This 75-room boutique inn sits on the grounds of Watersound Club, St. Joe's private membership club. Camp Creek Inn is located adjacent to Camp Creek Golf Course and a new Club amenity project that opened in April 2023 and includes pools, tennis and pickleball courts, a wellness center, dining venues, a playground, sports courts and other amenities available to club member and guests of Camp Creek Inn. In 2023, St. Joe hotels welcomed guests from all 50 states.
Additionally Watersound Club members get access to golf at the club's two golf courses: Shark's Tooth Golf Course and Camp Creek Golf Course. Also available to members is a sprawling Beach Club featuring multiple pools, tennis courts and dining venues as well as more than 1,000 feet of private Gulf of Mexico beachfront. As of December 2023, Watersound Club had members from 40 states.
St. Joe's two marinas were destroyed during Hurricane Michael in 2018. In 2022, the company completed the rebuilding of the two marina and reopened them under the name Point South Marina - Port St. Joe and Point South Marina - Bay Point. Combined, the marinas feature 427 boat slips.
Commercial Real Estate
The St. Joe Company owns and leases a diverse portfolio of commercial space - much of it located adjacent to the company's residential real estate developments and hospitality assets. The company's leasable commercial space includes shopping centers, light industrial space, warehouses and retail space totaling approximately 1 million square feet of space primarily located in Bay and Walton Counties.The Company's VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre, an industrial park near Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport consists of more than 300,000 square feet of space. The Company has developed several commerce parks in Northwest Florida and has historically sold lots to third parties. In some cases, St. Joe builds light industrial and warehouse buildings in its commerce parks and leases the space.
Lifestyle shopping centers make up a significant portion of St. Joe's leasable space portfolio. Pier Park North in Panama City Beach has more than 320,00 square feet of leasable square feet that was 100% leased as of December 31, 2023. The company is actively developing two additional lifestyle centers. Watersound Town Center, located at the entrance to the Watersound Origins community featured approximately 89,000 square feet of leasable space with an additional 50,000 square feet under construction. Development work is underway at Watersound West Bay Center, a planned lifestyle center located at the entrance of the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community. Watersound West Bay Center is planned for up to 500,000 square feet of leasable space at build out.
The Company's first apartment community was Pier Park Crossings, a 360-unit community within walking distance of Panama City Beach's Pier Park shopping and lifestyle center. Additional apartment communities have followed including Watersound Origins Crossings, Sea Sound Apartments and North Bay Landing. As of June 30, 2023, the Company had 1,024 multi-family units complete with an additional 359 under construction. St. Joe also owns a 107-unit assisted living community and has a 148-unit independent living community under construction that is scheduled to open in fall 2023.
In 2022, St. Joe, along with Tallahassee Memorial Health Care and the Florida State University College of Medicine broke ground on a medical campus in Panama City Beach, Florida. The first phase of the project includes an 80,000 square foot medical office building. Future plans include a 100-bed hospital and additional medical office space.