Known as the "Balboa Building", due to its location off West 15th Street and Balboa Avenue, this commercial structure was built in 1977 in Panama City within the Florida Panhandle. Panama City is home to the beautiful St. Andrew's Bay, a coastline with blue waters from the Gulf of Mexico. The Balboa Building was formerly used as the call center for the cellular provider AT&T and is now home to U-Haul Moving & Storage of Panama City. Unfortunately, the city faced massive destruction in 2018 from Hurricane Michael, a category five hurricane. The city has since created a robust plan to rebuild with resiliency, innovation, and sustainability in mind. 

U-Haul proudly acquired the site in 2018 for adaptive reuse. Adaptive reuse building conversions allow U-Haul to promote infill development to meet citizens’ needs while preserving the natural resources and land normally required for new construction. Adaptive reuse also allows resources to be focused on integrating environmentally thoughtful features into the existing building rather than creating waste in the form of demolition and using valuable resources for new construction.

Serving U-Haul customers since 2018, this facility was built through adaptive reuse of an abandoned building. Adaptive reuse promotes infill development in an effort to strengthen communities, with the following benefits achieved at this site: 

• 940 tons of metal manufacturing & transportation prevented 
• 4,608 tons of new concrete pours avoided 
• 5,570 tons of construction and demolition debris prevented 

Energy-efficiency and waste-reduction programs at this facility provide the following estimated benefits each year for the Panama City community: 

• 28,922 kWh annual energy savings 
• 5,640,861 lbs greenhouse gas emissions prevented 

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  Steel Production 940 tons (853 tonnes) of steel manufacturing and delivery saved to date

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  Energy 28,922 kWh annual energy savings

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  Concrete 4,608 tons (4,181 tonnes) of new concrete pours avoided to date

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  Emissions 5,640,861 lbs (2,558,678 kgs) of greenhouse gas emissions prevented

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  Landfill Debris 5,570 lbs (2,527 kgs) of construction debris prevented

• U-Haul Moving & Storage of Panama City