Gulf Cable looks to double its footprint in Santa Rosa County, add hundreds of jobs

Already firmly entrenched as one of Northwest Florida's largest manufacturing companies, Gulf Cable has obtained another 30 acres within the Santa Rosa Industrial Park in Milton with plans to further expand.

In three years, if all goes as anticipated, the company could occupy 1.2 million square feet of building space and employ between 600 and 800 people, according to Kevin Bate, the executive vice president of Gulf Cable's parent company WTEC Energy.

That much growth would nearly double the 650,000 square feet Gulf Cable presently has under roof at the industrial park and significantly increase the number of employees presently working for the company in Santa Rosa County.

Bate recently attended a Board of County Commission Committee of the Whole meeting to update the governing board regarding current operations and future plans.

"We appreciate you making a bunch of Yankees so welcome in Santa Rosa County," he said.

Three days later at their regular meeting commissioners voted without objection to accept a staff recommendation and convey the desired 30 acres of industrial park land to Gulf Cable at no cost.

The $2.5 million price tag for the land marketed for sale by the county was waived because Gulf Cable's capital investment will exceed $20 million, the company will add more than 100 new jobs and pay an anticipated wage of 115% of the county average, county documents show.

Gulf Cable, which has been in Santa Rosa County since 2006, manufactures insulated cable that is shipped all over the country for use at solar and wind energy generation sites. Business is booming, and Bate has estimated that by 2030 the renewable energy markets his company supports will be spending $5 trillion worldwide.

"You'll see those trucks roll down the street and the highway with four green rolls of cable, that's 35,000 volt cable that's being shipped all over the country to support the solar and wind markets," he said. "As that industry continues to grow our market continues to grow."

An on site tower at the industrial park is "integral in the production of our medium voltage cable," Bate said, and future plans call for construction of a second tower. The new tower is expected to come on line in three years and will increase production and drive demand for jobs.

Alongside the new tower, the company will build yet another 150,000-square-foot building to be utilized for storage of cable.

More on Gulf Cable: Gulf Cable plans expansion in Santa Rosa, signaling county's growing industrial footprint

Gulf Cable is also poised to introduce a new product to the market in the first quarter of next year, Bate said. That new product will create a need, he said, for a minimum of 200 new jobs here.

Bate told commissioners the company he represents operates facilities in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Indiana, Minnesota and South Carolina. The Santa Rosa County manufacturing campus remains its largest and "it will continue to be our largest manufacturing campus."

Gulf Cable last expanded its Milton operations in 2021 when it broke ground on a 160,000-square-foot building close to an existing campus. At that time Bate estimated the company would invest about $3 million and add 20 to 30 employees.

County Commission Chairman Sam Parker, in whose First District the Santa Rosa Industrial Park is located, said that Gulf Cable's presence and continued growth has been a visible driver for economic development.

"Gulf Cable is probably the easiest for me to give folks as an example of growing industry and the ripple effects," he said. "We've seen that positive ripple effect."

Parker said he's had Gulf Cable employees reach out to him with concerns about affordable housing and infrastructure, and he said as growth continues issues like the widening of U.S. Highway 90 and getting a waste treatment plant built in Milton have become paramount.

"I think you will see, in the next calendar year, probably some gears really shifting and this board taking some different directions to make sure we can address those infrastructure needs that are needed to be there to support your business," he told Bate. "When your employees come and spend money at other businesses, that's helping other families. Thank you for continuing to invest in our county."

He said he expects to see commercial growth blossom once the county and city of Milton can begin providing sewer service to business owners.

"If we get that sewer treatment plant debacle figured out you will really see the growth take off," Parker said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Gulf Cable expands in Santa Rosa County at Milton industrial park