Downtown Panama City

Downtown Panama City is Harrison Avenue, the civic buildings, the marina, and the businesses along the bay. The St. Andrews waterfront district is nearby, and the Gulf is across the Hathaway Bridge.

Harrison Avenue, the civic core, and a walk along the bay.

Downtown Panama City runs up Harrison Avenue from the marina at 1 Harrison Avenue, with City Hall at 501 Harrison. Panama City incorporated in 1909, and downtown is still its civic center: City Hall, the arts center, the Saturday market and the bay at the foot of the street.

Saturdays on Harrison

The Panama City Farmers' Market fills Harrison Avenue every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with more than 100 vendors selling produce, meats, honey, baked goods and crafts. In March 2026 the city made Harrison Avenue its permanent home. Through December 2026 it sets up between 4th and 6th Streets.

Arts, dinner and the waterfront

The Panama City Center for the Arts, in a 1925 building at Harrison Avenue and 4th Street, has free galleries, classes and a gift shop run by Bay Arts Alliance. On the water, St. Joe's 124-room Hotel Indigo opened in June 2023 beside Harrison's Kitchen & Bar at 5 Harrison Avenue. History Class Brewing at 6 East 4th Street and The Place Downtown at 429 Harrison fill out an evening.

What's coming back

The Art Deco Martin Theatre at 409 Harrison opened in 1936 and closed after storm damage in 2018. Its rebuild adds 488 new seats and two neighbors: the Ritz, with a lobby and a 1920s-style speakeasy lounge, and the Tennessee House, with a balcony over Four Points Plaza. The city projects completion in late fall to winter 2027. At the marina, the boat ramp is open, and construction of the first 50 wet slips, in the western basin by Hotel Indigo, is expected to start by December 2026.

Homes

Most people who live downtown live in the older neighborhoods around it, among them the Cove, east along the bay toward Ascension Sacred Heart Bay. Bay High School is at 1200 Harrison Avenue.

Getting around

Ascension Sacred Heart Bay and St. Andrews are each about 5 minutes away, and HCA Florida Gulf Coast Hospital is about 7. Lynn Haven is about 15 minutes north. Pier Park is about 30 minutes across the Hathaway Bridge, St. Andrews State Park about 25 and the airport about 40.

Before you buy

Downtown is inside Panama City, so city zoning and services apply. Zoned schools depend on the street address. Check it with the Bay District Schools zone lookup.

Explore nearby

Neighborhood of Panama City