April 2025 | Carlton Proctor
SPOTLIGHT
The Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park in Fort Walton Beach marks its 70th anniversary.
Fort Walton Beach’s Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park, one of Florida’s oldest, largest and most popular public aquariums, is highlighting its 70th anniversary with the recent opening of its new $30-million Dolphin Oasis.
The investment demonstrates the commitment by the Pensacola-based Merrill family, which owns the Gulfarium, to sustain and ensure the future of the iconic tourist attraction, marine research and animal rehabilitation facility.
The 2.2-acre Dolphin Oasis that opened last year consists of three large, interconnected habitats encompassing over 1 million gallons of gulf-fed salt water designed to enhance animal welfare, heighten the guest experience and promote marine conservation education. It also features three dolphin husbandry habitats connected to the main areas, as well as a medical lift for the animals.
“The new Dolphin Oasis has seating for 480 guests, while still providing the intimate, up-close presentation experience that visitors have come to know and love,” says Patrick Berry, Gulfarium’s senior vice president and COO.
The exhibit habitat, which will serve as a nursery for the birth of new dolphin calves, will also feature split-level viewing through a 27-foot acrylic window where guests will be able to observe the dolphins from above and below the water’s surface.
What’s more, the Gulfarium is taking on a new role: rehabilitating injured and abandoned manatees.
“We recently received two $1-million grants to put in the saltwater tanks and supporting infrastructure to house the manatees that will come to us this year,” says Berry. “We received our first four manatees in January.”
EDUCATION
- The Seaside School in Santa Rosa Beach has received approval for a $9.5-million grant from Triumph Gulf Coast. The grant will be used to support the charter school’s goal of offering its students opportunities to earn undergraduate degrees and certifications in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and drone technology. Founded in 1996 in the Seaside community of South Walton County, the school enrolls 400-plus students and is the oldest tuition-free, public charter school in Florida.
RECREATION
- The State of Florida has purchased 2,483 acres near Eglin Air Force Base Reservation to create a state park offering camping, hiking and biking while protecting water resources. The acquisition is part of a larger conservation initiative in Okaloosa County’s Upper Shoal River area that has been identified as environmentally significant since 2003. The property contains habitats for several protected species, including the Florida black bear and gopher tortoise.
LAW
- Tampa-based GrayRobinson, one of Florida’s largest law firms, has expanded into the Pensacola/Northwest Florida market. Dean Cannon, the firm’s president and CEO and former Florida Speaker of the House, says the Pensacolabased office will be led by attorneys John H. Adams, Robert L. Jones, Joseph A. Passeretti, Carllee J. Godwin and Hannah Blount McDonough.
HOUSING
- Tallahassee-based real estate developer Boulos Corp. has begun site preparation and construction on more than a dozen housing projects that will add some 650 single-family and multifamily homes throughout Leon County over the next few years. In addition to the 12 projects announced late last year, owner Hadi Boulos says he has several other real estate development projects in the pipeline. Among the largest projects underway are Avon Gates, which includes a 146-apartment complex, and Tower Gates, a 154 single-family home development on 45 acres in northwest Tallahassee.
ATHLETICS
- Construction of Florida State University’s $138-million football facility is on track for completion this summer. The Albert J. and Judith A. Dunlap Football Center will offer athletes and staff a 150,000-sq.-ft. indoor practice facility designed and built to function for more than 50 years.
TRANSPORTATION
- Delta Air Lines has added two new nonstop daily flights between Pensacola and Detroit. Pensacola International Airport Director Matt Coughlin says Detroit is among Pensacola’s largest underserved metro markets. The added flights will connect the city with one of Delta’s largest hubs, which offers several international connections.
- Skyborne Technology, based in Wewahitchka, and Atlantic Industrial Group have entered a joint venture that will expand the manufacturing capability at Skyborne’s Gulf County facility. AIG, a manufacturing and holding company that licenses existing and underutilized advanced technologies, will manufacture multiple high-efficiency drone models, known as SVTOLs, at the facility. Plans also call for an in-house design center for airships and drones using largescale three-dimensional printers to manufacture lightweight airframe parts, wing structures and cockpit components. Both companies will utilize Skyborne’s Costin Airport, a few miles south of Port St. Joe in Gulf County, for flight operations.
MANUFACTURING
- Borusan Berg Pipe, manufacturer of large metal pipes for industrial-scale operations in the oil and gas industries, is getting a $68-million upgrade to its manufacturing facilities at Port Panama City. The company employs 290 and is one of the largest heavy industry manufacturers in Bay County. The $68-million project will install advanced technology to more efficiently shape flat metal sheets into steel pipes, says Andrew Hicks, vice president of operations. Once completed, the new metal pipe products will be available in 2027 for the oil and gas and wind power markets.