Port Potential a Positive

The economy has soured, but the potential for the Port of Port St. Joe is sweet, said the Port Authority's newest member.

Patrick Jones, owner and operator of North Florida Land and Capital in Port St. Joe, was recently appointed to the Port Authority by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Jones succeeds Warren Yeager, who stepped down as chairman and off the board after being elected to the District 5 county commission seat in November.

Jones brings a particular skill set to the Port Authority board, having worked for several years for Colonial Bank Group in his native Alabama, assessing risk and serving as a portfolio analyst for a company with more than $3 billion in assets.

"My expertise is in the capital-raising side, evaluating underwriting proposals," Jones said of his background working with bonds and reading and creating bond covenants.

He will provide another set of valued eyes as the Port Authority moves ahead with expansion on several fronts. Construction is nearing completion on a dredging and a new bulkhead on a 60-plus acre parcel purchased early last year from The St. Joe Company.

The Port Authority and St. Joe also recently announced agreement on a long-term lease for another 60-plus acre site across U.S. 98 from purchased parcel, allowing for access to the bay as well as Intracoastal Waterway through the Gulf County Canal.

The Port Authority has also secured a short-term lease from St. Joe for access to roughly 20 acres on the old paper mill site, as well as just over half the existing mill site bulkhead, with an option to lease another 20 acres as needed for expansion.

The St. Joe Company also recently entered into an agreement with the Gennessee & Wyoming, Inc., company to operate the Apalachicola Northern Railroad between the port and Chattahoochee, providing a critical rail link.

The port already has a customer lined up to begin moving aggregate through the port facility as early as this month.

The same company is assisting Gulf Asphalt with the reinforcement of the Stump Hole revetment, work along C.R. 30-E.

Jones said these developments only stoked his existing interest in the port and desire to assist in the creation and expansion of a port at the lone deepwater port in the Southeast that has yet to be developed.

The Port at Port St. Joe is one of just 14 deepwater ports in Florida.

"I've been interested in the port and wanted to be involved in it for years," Jones said. "I've always had an interest in the port and its potential."

The reasons are two-fold for the local businessman.

"First and foremost is jobs," Jones said. "That is the great multiplier for a community and its economy. I see jobs as a market generator for the community.

"The other factor is economic diversity," Jones added. "Our community has a history of being dependent on a single industry."

Whether the paper mill of decades past or the real estate boom of the first half of this decade, the local economy has too often been propped by a single leg, Jones said.

But a burgeoning port, a hospital rising from the ground near the Gulf/Franklin Center, a growing tourism niche and a hoped-for uptick in the future in the real estate market could produce the kind of varied economy on which a community's long-term economic foundation can be built.

"The thought of that to me is very exciting," Jones said.

While the global economy has taken a downturn, Jones optimism about the port is not diminished due to a number of factors.

"You have a global economy that is not going into isolationist mode" and therefore the value of a port for export and import figures only to arc upward, Jones said.

The widening of the Panama Canal to accommodate larger cargo ships will mean the Southeast, from Galveston, Texas to Jacksonville, will reap even more benefits from trade, Jones added.

 With access to a rail facility, the Intracoastal Waterway and the gulf, the Port of Port St. Joe has abundant positives, Jones said.

"From a fundamentals perspective, the port is an attractive asset to investors" and the long-term fundamentals point to good chances for a long-term return on any investment, Jones said.

"There is a lot of excitement for this area," Jones continued. "Without question I am very excited about this opportunity. I am also very humbled by the confidence of those who supported me for this and eager to contribute what I can to (grow) a vital asset for this community."

North Florida Land and Capital is a local commercial real estate brokerage that performs buying and leasing services, as well as development consulting. The company also raises capital as part of a group to invest in assets throughout the region.

Jones and his wife, Mandi, a teacher at Faith Christian School, have two sons, Raynes, 5, and Jake, 2.