PANAMA CITY — After about a decade of living in the heart of downtown Panama City in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gayle Paynter and Brian Humboldt are eager to get back to where they feel most at home.
“It’s a modest home, not huge … but very industrial,” Humboldt said Wednesday, pointing out the couple’s plans for the two-bedroom, 2½-bath home now under construction at 201 Harrison Ave., smack in the middle of the downtown district. “We like walking out the front door and walking to the marina, to restaurants.”
Paynter and Humboldt are not alone.
Across the United States, people are abandoning the suburbs for a more urban style of living in downtown areas. It’s a trend Panama City officials hope will catch on locally to help breathe life back into the downtown area.