Panama City to issue 60-day RFP for operator of Martin Theater, Ritz and Tennessee House

Panama City commissioners reviewed a draft request for proposals on plans to hire a private operator for the Martin Theater and two adjacent venues, the Ritz and the Tennessee House, and directed staff to finalize a 60-day solicitation and a short procurement schedule.

The mayor told the commission the city plans to bring a professional management firm to operate the venues and expects the RFP to be released in the next two to three weeks with a 60-day response window so a successful operator can be in place for next summer. "We will have it out for 60 days," the mayor said.

Keith, the parks, culture and recreation director, told commissioners the RFP seeks a "full-service operator" that will handle staffing, programming, maintenance, security, ticketing, marketing and food and beverage operations. "They're going to manage staff, operate programming, maintenance, security, back office operations, as well as marketing, ticketing and customer service," Keith said, describing the evaluation as a scored matrix that will weight guaranteed compensation to the city, revenue share, financial projections, a plan of service and past performance.

Commissioners spent substantial time balancing financial expectations with community access. Several members urged that the evaluation give weight to community impact so local nonprofit and school groups can regularly use the facility, and Commissioner Street proposed reserving a modest number of city host dates so the city can still hold local events. "The operator has exclusivity for booking except for up to 10 city host events per year," Commissioner Street said, describing a draft license clause designed to guarantee civic access.

Commissioner Hughes and others urged the commission to expect the operator to provide startup capital rather than rely on city subsidies. Citing a Pensacola example, one commissioner said an operator there returned "roughly 400 some odd thousand dollars annually back to the city," and recommended requiring proposers to show they have the financial capacity to begin operations and cover initial costs.

On facilities and outfitting, commissioners and local business owners urged leaving back-of-house build-outs flexible so a selected operator can propose a kitchen or bar layout that matches its menu and operations. "You should slow down final decisions on bar and warming-kitchen fixtures so an operator can help design those spaces," the mayor said; several commissioners recommended delaying equipment purchases to reduce later change orders.

Staff outlined outreach and process details: the city will post the RFP on the Bonfire procurement portal, the city website and the state supplier portal; it will host pre-proposal site visits during the 60-day window and publish addenda and meeting minutes so all plan-holders receive the same information. "Bonfire itself is our main portal that we post our bids on," Sean Self, logistics director, said, noting the platform reaches a nationwide vendor base and that pre-proposal minutes and addenda will be posted publicly.

Timeline and next steps provided by staff included a pre-proposal meeting in April, a question cut-off around May 1, a June 1 close for proposals and a follow-up evaluation period. Staff also said they will circulate the draft RFP documents and facility plans to the commission before finalizing the notice.

The commission made no formal award or motion at the meeting; members agreed to incorporate commissioners' edits to the draft RFP, to preserve city-hosted event days, to weight community engagement in evaluation criteria and to allow site visits for proposers during the solicitation period. The RFP timeline remains subject to final edits from staff and the city's purchasing office.

Next procedural steps: staff will re-circulate the draft RFP and attachments to commissioners, post the final solicitation on Bonfire and schedule the announced pre-proposal site visits. The commission did not vote on any contract at the meeting.