The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition opened its new Pensacola headquarters, Levin Center for IHMC Research, on the edge of Aragon. The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building substantially increased IHMC’s Pensacola footprint. The $8 million expansion was funded with a loan secured through Escambia County.
The Levin Center for IHMC Research is the first of a series of new major buildings that will be springing up in downtown Pensacola over the next 12-15 months.
The new, $16 million downtown YMCA is set to open on Intendencia Street in November. The Levin, Bear and Studer families have helped to make that dream a reality.
The 106-room Holiday Inn Express on Main Street is progressing and should open by the end of the year.
Next year, we will see the Studers’ $50-million apartment and retail complex on Jefferson Street completed. Its nearby $14-million office building should be completed no long after the apartments.
The $98 million investment in downtown Pensacola is the first wave of even more revitalization.
The next waves will be tied to infrastructure, City of Pensacola regulations and the credit market. The West Florida Regional Planning Council delivered its parking study, titled “Parking Strategies as a Catalyst to Economic Development,” to Mayor Ashton Hayward in July.
How Mayor Hayward recommends the city implements those parking strategies will be critical in how determining how long the downtown renaissance lasts.