Panama City CRA directs staff to negotiate with Sankofa Group for MLK–15th Street redevelopment

The Panama City Community Redevelopment Agency on April 15 directed staff to negotiate next steps with the Sankofa Group LLC for redevelopment of the southwest corner of East 15th Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard, after a presentation from the developer and an extended public Q&A.

The board’s direction follows a presentation by Pedro Gassant, principal of the Sankofa Group, who described a phased mixed‑use plan centered on a roughly 16,000‑square‑foot grocer supported by about 60 apartments and about 22 townhomes. “We think that really having the grocer is going to be what helps to drive this site,” Gassant told the board. He said the group budgets the project between about $30 million and $60 million and estimated a development timeline of about 24–36 months from start to finish, after entitlements and site investigations.

The issue matters to Glenwood residents because the corner sits in an area community members long described as a food desert. The board and public repeatedly framed the project around securing a grocer while preserving…