M I X E D - U S E

C O M M E R C I A L

1750 Peachtree Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30309 404.644.0260 800.699.6412 fax www.commercialrep.net

C E N T E R

O P P O R T U N I T Y

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Freeport Festival is a proposed 800,000 SF retail and entertainment center, bringing unique shopping, lodging and dining to North Walton County and destined to be the premier shopping destination north of the Choctawhatchee Bay and the Emerald Coast. Located in Freeport, Florida, the site is 110 acres with over 1 mile of unparalleled visibility and access on the NEW Highway 331. Highway 331 construction is underway. Set to open in 2007, untold thousands of residents and tourists will pass by the site on the County’s only north/ south bound artery leading south to the Gulf Coast beaches and north to I-10. Freeport Festival is located prominently on Highway 331 and adjacent to Owl’s Head, a traditional New Urban residential development. Owl’s Head, designed by renowned land planner Duany Plater-Zyberk, will feature nearly 5,000 new homes, an Arnold Palmer Signature golf course and an endless list of additional amenities. Owl’s Head is the most anticipated large scale project in the county. Since January, 2006 over $10M in lot sales have been closed in Phase I. The golf course and other amenities are slated to start in early 2007. Development and growth is surging north along the Hwy 331 corridor, creating expansive growth in Freeport. Freeport has approved over 4,000 housing units within corporate city limits and another 2,500 to 3,500 are in the planning stages within 8 miles radius of the site. The commercial opportunities will capitalize on its location at the enviable “Gateway” to the City of Freeport and the Gulf Coast beaches, the highest concentration of traffic in the entire area and the staggering growth expected as ‘roof tops’ are completed and absorbed. The bifurcation of existing 331 and the new by-pass will see all traffic north and south on Highway 331 passing through the main Owl’s Head intersection and this mixed-use site. The triangle created as the two roads diverge seems the most natural space in the area for viable big box and mixed-use retail, out parcels, restaurants, lodging, and multi-family residential.

MASTER PLAN

PHASE II 567,550 SF

RELOCATED HW Y 331

PHASE I 299,000 SF

FREEPORT FESTIVAL PHASE I & PHASE II

Freeport Festival is situated within a 500 acre tract of land on the west side of the new Highway 331 bypass that will include a mix of uses including retail, institutional, office, lodging and high density residential including condo, active adult, senior housing, and multi-family apartments. Freeport Festival is approximately 110 acres largely planned as mixed-use retail. Current concept plans split the project into 2 phases. Phase I is planned as primarily a grocery anchored retail center. Phase II, touted as the Family Entertainment District, is sited on the southern portion of the mixed-use project and will integrate retail and residential into a pedestrianoriented development integrating work/live/play. The overall site (500 Acres) may include an elementary school located adjacent to the existing Freeport High School, a post office, a hospital, and professional office park. This mix of uses is set to capitalize on its location at the “Gateway” into Freeport, the highest concentration of traffic in the entire area and the staggering growth north of the Bay. To date, the response has been positive with regard to the commercial opportunities. Freeport growth is staggering and the area north of the bay is void or any retail to speak of. This site is the only place with significant contiguous land zoned for a mixed-use development. The site is zoned appropriately and contains almost no wetlands to speak of.

PHASE I

PHASE II

PHASE II: 567,550 SF 2,500 LF of Hwy 331 frontage

L O C AT I O N & T R A N S P O RTAT I O N

Freeport Festival is located 10 miles south of Interstate 10, midway between Tallahassee and Pensacola, and 15 miles north of the Gulf Coast beaches. The site for Panama City’s new International Airport is 20 miles to the southeast. Virtually all new development in Freeport will use Hwy 331 as the only north and south bound artery in Walton County. The site is located at the intersection of the existing US Highway 331 and the new US 331 by-pass within Freeport, Florida in North Walton County. To the west, the site is bordered by the 464,000-acre Eglin AFB preserve and wildlife management area. Currently the Florida Department of Transportation is realigning the existing US Highway 331 by building the US 331 by-pass. The new by-pass bifurcates Freeport Festival and the adjacent Owl’s Head development opening up over 1 mile of contiguous frontage for this retail and mixed-use development. The road improvements are significantly underway and will be completed in 2007. The FDOT has secured the right of way to extend this section to a 4 lane highway at a later date. With unparallel access to the Gulf Coast and I-10 the average daily trip count along Hwy 331 is 11,000, according to the FDOT and will increase when the road improvement are complete.

PHASE I Existing Hwy 331

PHASE II New Hwy 331 Bypass

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

Untapped Market & Unparalleled Access Freeport Festival is the literal crossroads between North and South Walton County in an area almost void of retail/commercial services north of the Choctawhatchee Bay. The nearest major retail is located 30 miles SE in Panama City, 30 miles SW in Destin or 30 miles NW in Crestview; leaving a significant retail/commercial trade-area north, east, south and west of the site. The closest full service grocery store is 22 miles away from the site. What more, Freeport Festival is the only sizable, contiguous acreage zoned for large-scale retail in North Walton County. Publicly owned lands, un-developable wetlands, the expansive Eglin Air Force Base, and protected Florida Greenway lands has created a scarcity of developable land in the area. Walton County Today Walton County incorporates just over a thousand square miles and more than 45,000 people. With significant development in pockets along the coast, it has been one of the fastest growing counties in Florida (a 46.26 percent increase from the 1990 to the 2000 census). The county has three municipalities, each clustered along the Highway 331 corridor: Freeport; DeFuniak Springs, at Interstate 10; and Paxton, near the Alabama border. This site is located in the fastest growing municipality of Freeport. Until recently, the average real estate values in the Panhandle had increased in excess of 35 percent a year for five years. Despite the recent market correction south of the bay from the effects of the 2004-2005 storm seasons, prices north of the bay and in the Freeport area have remained relatively stable. If beach erosion from the recent hurricanes has softened the residential market Gulfside, this areas claim to “Coastal Inland Heights” location plays to the possibility of that old adage: having one’s cake and enjoying it, too. Being close to the beach but on higher, safer ground is now not at all a bad place to be. This plays to the area’s stable residential market which also provides long term commercial and retail viability.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

Freeport, Florida With soaring property values and scarce developable land south of the Bay, inland growth is apparent. Now new business complexes and subdivisions are under construction east and west of Freeport on SR 20 and north and south of Freeport on US Hwy 331. Offices, stores and houses are going up everywhere. The Freeport business community is growing rapidly. New warehouses, heavy equipment sales, distributors, construction contractors, engineering, and medical and dental offices are opening along the SR 20 and US 331 corridors. The primary housing market in the Freeport environs is strengthened by the increasing need for more affordable housing for the enormous service industry required to provide beach-area amenities – those who work beachside but can’t afford to live there. (Unemployment is almost unheard of in the area – 2.3 percent for both Walton and neighboring Okaloosa counties) Then, too, Eglin Air Force Base – already the area’s largest employer, with 8,500 military and 4,500 civilian personnel – will be adding thousands new jobs as a result of the BRAC changes. All told, the base changes are expected to bring upwards of 12,000 people to the area over the next 10 years. Many of whom will make significant government wages.

REGIONAL MAP

Destin 30 MILES

PANAMA CITY 30 MILES

Average Elevation 100 feet above sea level

Getting Here 15 miles

30 minutes

to The Beaches of South Walton

to Okaloosa County Regional Airport

9 miles

45 minutes

to I-10

to Panama City Bay County Airport

7 miles

20 minutes

to the Choctawhatchee Bay

to new Panama City International Airport

AREA MAP

ILES 30 M

30 MI LES 10 MILES

30 M IL ES

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