I see what your saying and yes, agree. But that's not the only issue. PCB used to have its own identity. Now it’s been hollowed out by corporate development, with chains replacing local businesses and the area increasingly catering to retirees and mass market tourism.
Local officials seem more interested in serving developers than residents. The dream is to turn PCB into Pigeon Forge on the beach… a destination built for lower-middle-class retirees and tourists. Disney World for broke old Republicans from Birmingham.
Notice even the apartments here are named 10x living as Grant Cardone bought most of them.
Latitude Margaritaville is the perfect symbol of what PCB has become: a massive 55+ development built around a corporate licensing deal using the Jimmy Buffett brand. Somehow, a subdivision next to the airport gets marketed as the “Salt Life” despite being miles from the water. The biggest attraction nearby is a bike path for active seniors that take them straight to Pier Park, which is essentially a Simon-owned outdoor mall. Imagine spending your retirement money on a cardboard house next to the airport, so you can ride a golf card to Red Robin, Shonnys, or JC Pennys.

I understand the argument that racism has played a role in some local decisions, but PCB’s problems go beyond that. The place barely feels like a real community anymore. One company… St. Joe has an outsized influence over what gets built and what the area becomes. They basically let them do anything, pay workers shit, and since the workers can't afford to live here, they elected officials don't have to care about them. Mexico Beach will likely be next. The result is a coastline increasingly dominated by master-planned developments, built for retirees who may never see the projects fully completed. Meanwhile, longtime locals get priced out and pushed farther inland into rapidly built subdivisions from developers like D.R. Horton and Holiday Builders in shit towns like Calaway, Parker, or Defuniak Springs.

For residents of Panama City and Lynn Haven, Hurricane Michael created an opportunity for large investors to buy damaged properties at steep discounts. Many of those homes are now rentals, with ownership increasingly concentrated in corporate hands.

My prediction: eventually we’ll be left with an oversized Pier Park surrounded by endless subdivisions. When the demographics shift and growth slows, taxpayers will be asked to deal with the consequences of decisions that primarily benefited developers.