Building along the Florida Panhandle’s picturesque seaside slowed when financing dried up and the economy soured. Fences with architects’ renderings of developments hide the unfinished eyesores dotting the beaches.
But the St. Joe Co.’s construction cranes and earth movers never stopped and its high-end vacation retreats and shopping centers are being built along with taxpayer-funded roads and an international airport, the nation’s first since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Southwest Airlines recently agreed to service the airport, an announcement St. Joe CEO Britton Greene touted as a milestone in the company’s 80-year history.
