Pensacola Mayor DC Reeves joined Rick Outzen on We Don’t Color On the Dog this week for a wide-ranging conversation about the city’s most significant ongoing stories. From a potential resolution in the Joe Patti’s lawsuit to blockbuster news at the Port of Pensacola, the mayor painted an optimistic—and busy—picture of where the city is headed.
Joe Patti’s Lawsuit: A Resolution in Sight?
One of the city’s more contentious legal battles may be nearing a turning point. The dispute over a stormwater easement involving the beloved Joe Patti’s Seafood has frustrated residents and business advocates alike, but Mayor Reeves signaled cautious optimism.
- “There might be some daylight in trying to come to some agreement before we have to get into bickering back and forth legal proceedings,” Reeves said. He credited ongoing conversations between both legal teams for the progress, noting the complexity of the situation. The mayor made clear his preference has never changed — a resolution that works for both sides.
Pensacola’s Sailing Ecosystem Expands
The biggest buzz surrounds SailGP’s purchase of the Danish race team, ROCKWOOL, and what that means for American Magic’s footprint at the Port of Pensacola. Reeves explained that the physical infrastructure — Warehouse 10 and the already-retained Warehouse 9 — remains largely unchanged in the short term.
- Enormous Economic Implications: With 13 teams, each bringing roughly 20 crew members for week-long training stints, Reeves laid out the math: “You do 13 teams times 20 people times seven days in our community, staying at hotels, eating at restaurants—just even that part is valuable.”
The mayor also pointed to a broader ecosystem taking shape, citing Andrews Institute and IHMC as assets that could make Pensacola a one-stop shop for elite sailor performance training. “We can be your one-stop shop for human performance and your performance on the water,” Reeves said of the pitch American Magic can now make to global teams.
The business importance of the move for American Magic’s bottom line. Sailing for the America’s Cup was essentially a loss leader. Reeves agreed bluntly: “The worst return on investment in professional sports might be running an America’s Cup team.”
- With SailGP creating reliable revenue, the business model gets dramatically stronger, and Reeves hinted there’s more news to come. “I don’t think we’re done with sailing surprises and monumental things that will continue to happen within this industry in the coming weeks.”
Downtown Hotels: The Boom Is Coming
With four new hotel properties — the Tristan, Tempo Hilton, Reverb by Hard Rock, and Homewood Suites on Gregory — Reeves noted the city is about to “quite literally double our hotel capacity downtown.” That kind of infrastructure doesn’t just serve leisure travelers. It serves the wave of sailing teams, event attendees, and Bay Center visitors that Pensacola is actively courting.
Bay Center: Collaboration Is the Key
Reeves offered the clearest public update yet on the Bay Center redevelopment process. The city’s independent study — with 2,000 survey responses — is expected to be delivered around March 2, with a joint city-county meeting targeted for late March.
- The mayor acknowledged the biggest question isn’t whether to renovate — that, he said, enjoys broad consensus — but whether to sequence a renovation independently or tie it to whatever new facilities are ultimately approved. “I don’t think I have heard from anybody that said renovating the Bay Center is contingent upon what buildings we pick in the other place,” he said, suggesting that consensus may be enough to push initial action forward.
Reeves framed the entire effort as a genuine partnership between city and county. “This is the definition of a collaborative thing,” he said. “And if we all can be in alignment, I’m sure not everybody’s going to get a hundred percent of what they want — but what we know is that place has to be renovated.”
