Big Plans for Port of Pensacola

Huge ships dock at the Port of Pensacola waiting for their next job servicing oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

"They're the worlds newest, greatest, most sophisticated vessels." Buddy McCormick helped get them here. "These are all real high-tech offshore support vessels. They go in the sub-sea market. They do deep diving stuff."

It's the kind of industry the Port of Pensacola lacks. "The ports lingered forever. Since I grew up in the city of Pensacola we've been kicking the can down the street. We can't do that any longer," says Mayor Ashton Hayward.

Fifty acres of prime waterfront real estate Hayward says could be an economic engine for the re-developed downtown area. "We're selling a lifestyle, a quality of life. We have assets that people would kill for in the United States and we need to start leveraging those assets."

At the east end of the port property is what the mayor calls an "eyesore" and the first thing he wants to see changed. "I can tell you ten acres and ten jobs is not the highest and best use on the waterfront in the state of Florida in a historical city where it's a walkable downtown." Hayward says his administration would re-examine leases with Cemex and other firms storing aggregate material on that part of port property.

Other ideas on the table: a possible cruise ship terminal, a shipping company and opening part of the port up to private development.

"We think we can attract more customers which would mean more jobs downtown. It would be a boom for everybody," says McCormick.

It's not a new idea, doing more to capitalize on the port, but this time it may actually happen.