Pensacola Makes Top 10
Conde Nast Traveler named Pensacola to its “Top 10 Best Small Cities” for 2023 in the 36th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
Why this matters: In its announcement, Vist Pensacola wrote, “This accolade celebrates what Pensacolians and visitors to the destination have long known, that Pensacola is ‘The Way to Beach™.'”
- Pensacola is #8 on the list that includes Sedona, Annapolis, St. Augustine (dammit, one spot above us), Aspen, Savannah, Greenville (SC),
Alexandria, Santa Fe and Charleston.
Dig Deeper: The Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards are the most important awards in the travel industry, celebrating the ultimate destinations across the world. The annual survey encourages readers to vote on their favorite destinations, hotels, cruises, resorts, and more, celebrating what makes each destination a must-visit, special place. To read more about the winners, visit here.
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Maritime Park Update
On my radio show yesterday, Mayor D.C. Reeves said progress is being made on the development of several parcels at the Community Maritime Park.
Inspire Communities has options on Parcels Four and Five, which include the parking lots used by Blue Wahoos fans. The developer also has options for Parcels Three, Six and Eight that are up for renewal in November.
- “What I’m looking to do is to possibly extend those to match Four and Five,” said the mayor. “Those have never really matched and there’s really no good reasoning behind that.”
About Inspired, Reeves said, “I am encouraged by the progress and that Inspire continues to push this Parcel Five project forward as well as looking at those other lots. We just actually had a conversation with them yesterday that was very encouraging that they continue to be very serious about it and invest lots of money and time into trying to be able to get something done there. So that’s good.”
The proposed luxury hotel for Parcel Seven, which is next to Nick’s Boathouse, is still under consideration. The mayor said, “Valencia remains interested in pushing forward with some kind of negotiation of a term sheet.”
- He added, “So what I’d say is there’s really nothing tangible yet, but there’s a lot of great progress in the headwinds of a pretty hard lending market right now. I think in the next three to six months, we’re going to know really where we stand in terms of whether these projects are going to move forward.”
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Don’t Panic
About 1:20 p.m. this afternoon, FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission will send an alarm to your phone, TV and radio. It’s just a test of the nation’s emergency alert system, and not the deep state taking over the country. Or, at least, that’s what they tell us.
