St. Joe Plans 3,500 More Homes at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound
The St. Joe Company has announced plans to expand the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound residential community in partnership with Minto Communities USA, adding approximately 3,500 homes to the active adult development in Panama City Beach, Florida.
The expansion follows continued sales growth at the community. Home sales increased 27% year to date in 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. The development has now reached 2,635 home sale contracts out of the 3,700 homes originally planned for its first phase.
With demand continuing to support the initial phase, St. Joe and Minto are moving forward with plans for a second phase. The expansion will increase the overall Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community to approximately 7,200 planned homes and will also provide additional resort-style amenities for residents.
The new phase includes updated financial terms for the joint venture, reflecting the increased value of the surrounding region and the residential community.
Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is located in Panama City Beach along State Road 79, close to the Intracoastal Waterway and Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The community is positioned within the Bay-Walton Sector Plan, a large-scale master-planned area entitled for more than 170,000 residential units.
Jorge Gonzalez, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of St. Joe, said the community is an important part of the company’s strategy to provide housing options for consumers with different lifestyles and price points.
“Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is an important part of fulfilling our objective of creating an ecosystem that provides housing opportunities for different price points and lifestyles in order to accommodate a wide cross section of consumers relocating to this area from all over the country,” said Gonzalez.
St. Joe currently has 13 active residential communities under development across Northwest Florida, with additional projects in its pipeline. The company says these developments are intended to respond to population growth and housing demand across the region.
The partnership between St. Joe and Minto began in June 2019, when the companies announced the formation of their joint venture to develop Latitude Margaritaville Watersound. The community’s sales center opened in May 2021, marking the beginning of the sales and marketing program for the development.
Sales have progressed rapidly since the community opened. Latitude Margaritaville Watersound reached its 1,000th home sale only 19 months after the sales center opened. By the end of 2024, the community had reached its 2,000th home sale.
The development has now recorded 2,635 home sale contracts, with buyers representing all 50 states. According to St. Joe, the pace of sales demonstrates the demand for the community and supports the company’s long-term development strategy for Northwest Florida and the State Road 79 corridor.
The expansion is also expected to contribute to broader commercial and infrastructure development in the surrounding area. As more residents move into the community, demand for retail, dining, healthcare, services and other amenities is increasing along the corridor.
“As the community continues to grow, it is helping support the broader economic ecosystem taking shape along the State Road 79 corridor. It’s creating demand for new businesses, services, healthcare and infrastructure that benefit not only residents of the community, but the surrounding region as well,” Gonzalez said.
Several major projects are already underway near Latitude Margaritaville Watersound. Adjacent to the residential community, St. Joe is developing Watersound West Bay Center, a mixed-use commercial town center designed to provide shopping, dining and other services to residents and visitors.
The project includes a Publix Super Market that is currently under construction. Watersound West Bay Center is planned to contain at least approximately 500,000 square feet of commercial space in an open-air, pedestrian-friendly environment.
The company also has plans for a public marina along the Intracoastal Waterway, adding another potential recreational and community amenity to the growing area.
Healthcare infrastructure is also expanding nearby. A growing healthcare campus is developing within the surrounding region, with an FSU Health acute care, teaching and research hospital currently under construction. The facility is expected to expand healthcare services available to residents and the wider Northwest Florida community.
The combination of residential, retail, healthcare and infrastructure projects reflects the broader development taking place along the State Road 79 corridor.
For St. Joe, Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is one component of a broader residential development strategy across Northwest Florida. The company is developing communities aimed at different segments of the housing market while continuing to invest in commercial and community infrastructure.
“Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is one of many residential communities we are developing across Northwest Florida, each contributing to our strategy in a different way,” said Gonzalez.
He added that the community’s performance demonstrates the company’s diversified real estate operating model, which combines current development opportunities with longer-term investment in its land holdings.
The planned second phase will allow Latitude Margaritaville Watersound to continue expanding as the first phase approaches its original target of 3,700 homes. With approximately 3,500 additional homes planned, the overall community is expected to reach about 7,200 homes when fully developed.
The expansion also reinforces the role of Latitude Margaritaville Watersound within the broader growth of Panama City Beach and Northwest Florida. Continued residential construction, alongside planned commercial, healthcare and recreational projects, is contributing to the transformation of the State Road 79 corridor into a larger mixed-use regional destination.
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