Blog Northwest Florida

Pensacola's Downtown Improvement Board just had their annual meeting and the keynote speaker, Leland R. Speed, told attendees that Pensacola's small town charm and big city amenities position it particularly well to take advantage of the next major demographic trend: movement from large cities to small cities with high quality of life.

Speed, the former executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, pointed out that Pensacola's waterfront is vital to the city's economic success.

"When I look at what you have here, I salivate," said Speed. He told the audience that the opportunities the downtown waterfront and properties afford the area are truly unique in his experience. Speed mentioned the physical assests including historic buildings and waterfront and waterview land that is available for development.  

Some positive growth numbers for downtown businesses were also presented at the meeting. A recent survey showed that downtown Pensacola is home to 578 individual businesses with at least one employee and that the number of workers in downtown Pensacola is just lest than 10,000, a net gain of 831 workers since January of 2005.

Downtown Pensacola - Fiestas, Festivals and French Architecture - Could you have more fun than watching the merriment of costume clad people tossing candy and beads? Every summer Pensacolians line the downtown streets for the Fiesta of Five Flags procession and parade. And every summer I do my  best to be in town to catch the goodies during the Fiesta festivities!

The parade route winds its way through the center of downtown Pensacola, passing bystanders on the street and merry makers lining the balconies of upstairs New Orleans style condos and apartments. The parade usually boasts twenty or more floats, McGuire's bagpipe marching band, twirlers, and more.

This year marks the 59th Fiesta of Five Flags. The event started in the 1940s as a way to promote tourism. It marks the landing on Pensacola Beach of Spanish explorer Don Tristan DeLuna and the history of the five flags that have flown over the city; Spanish, French, English, the Confederacy and the United States. The various activites making up today's year round Festival are truly too numerous to list, but include a sand castle contest, a crawfish festival, a treasure hunt, boat parade and seafood festival.

Pensacola's downtown core has a mix of single family homes and condominiums with numerous neighborhoods featuring historic homes as well as newer homes in a variety of historic styles. Real estate prices in the downtown area have not declined as they have in some other areas as there have been several popular revitalization efforts, like the Aragon neighborhood.

Interested in real estate in a "right sized" town with fabulous weather, affordable housing and plenty to do on a regular basis? I'd love to tell you about Pensacola!

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Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola - This FABULOUS weather is supposed to stick around through the weekend so there will be NO BETTER place to be this Friday evening than Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola.

Never been to Gallery Night? WOW, have you missed out! Not to worry . . . I'll fill you in!

Over 40 artists, performers, and groups of all kinds participate in Gallery Night. And food . . . did I mention food? There'll be GREAT food to munch on as well. Gallery Night actually takes place in 4 Districts - North Palafox, South Palafox, Belmont and the Historic District. Just head downtown and wander around, or for the more organized among us, CLICK HERE to go to the Arts Council of Northwest Florida's site where you can find out EXACTLY WHO will be EXACTLY WHERE doing EXACTLY WHAT.

The festivities begin at 5pm and run until 9pm. Best of all - it's all FREE baby!  See you at the Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola.

Robin Sherman, MA, CRS is a Broker Associate licensed in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. You can contact Roibn at Robin@PensacolaForYou.com

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Jazz it Up in Pensacola! Let's see . . .  how to fill a Thursday night on the beautiful Emerald Coast. Sit home and watch television? No way. Not when we've got such talent walking our streets!

My good friend and well known "Jazz Chanteuse" Kitt Lough has a new gig every Thursday evening at 600 Palafox, New World Landing in downtown Pensacola. Kitt's wowing the Pensacola audiences with her sultry, swinging jazz standards with Dave Shelander at the piano and Jim Ales playing string bass.

Last night's audience was a mix of the downtown after-work crowd and Kitt, Dave and Jim's dedicated fan club. If you haven't been to 600 South you might jott it down on your calendar now. Kitt and the guys are there each Thursday starting at 7pm. The atmosphere is elegant and comfortable and the music is . . . well romantic and glamorous are descriptions that begin to scratch the surface! 

Kitt has her debut CD "Orange Colored View" on sale and it has received rave reviews and plenty of air time on jazz stations across the Southeast.

See you next week as you Jazz Up Your Thursday! 

You'll find the Jazz trio at 600 South which is in the New World Landing complex at 600 South Palafox Street - Downtown Pensacola.