PORT ST. JOE, Fla. (WMBB) — Like many parts of the Panhandle, Port St. Joe has had a housing shortage since Hurricane Michael.
But a new project may finally help alleviate some of the issues.
The construction of “The Overlook” townhouses began on Monday.
“This is a whole new look for this entire area here. This whole area has been left for a while and it hasn’t been utilized to its maximum potential and this still has beautiful beachfront, gulf front views with the most incredible sunsets,” Monolith Construction President Chris Karagiannis said.
The townhouses will have 49 units on three acres of land in the Highland View community. The water-front townhouses will include amenities like a pool, a gym, and a business center. It will also be dog-friendly.
Rish Real Estate Partner Grant Rish said he hopes it will be an asset for locals and tourists.
“We have several different folks coming into the market, whether they’ve been here their whole life, or whether they are moving down here full time or that they love the area and wanna just come down and be here during a part of the year and enjoy this,” Rish said. “And so I think that’ll give an opportunity to a lot of folks to be able to come and stay here and then also be able to rent it out and come use it.”
Developers have spent the last two years putting together the plans for “The Overlook.” The project will also bring more than 60 local construction jobs.
“Since the hurricane, this property has been left untouched and wasn’t used and was a unique area that we can build something on and really maximize what we had here,” Karagiannis said. “It’s been a lot of planning and a lot of work for almost two years now. We’ve had a lot of great support from our county and city officials and we thank them for that. We’ve got an incredible team that’s unique to this project because they are all local.”
“The Overlook” will also meet FEMA’s new flood requirements which makes them unique.
Monolith Construction expects to complete the townhouses by 2023.
