'Largest single property development' - and jobs - in Santa Rosa history on 2024 docket
The pace of development won't be tapering off in Santa Rosa County in 2024, and Shannon Ogletree, the county's economic development guru, intends to open the year with a big reveal.
In January or February, he said, he'll be releasing the name of a major food distribution company, presently traveling under the moniker of Project Runner, that at some future date will be occupying about 50 acres inside the Milton Interchange Park, the county's newest industrial park.
"It's going to be a huge facility, probably the largest single property developed here in at least recent history," Ogletree said. "We're going to be adding 400 to 500 jobs at one time."
A 50-acre development will occupy approximately a quarter of the entire Milton Interchange Park, a site of just under 200 acres that being equipped with infrastructure courtesy of a $15.9 million infusion from Triumph Gulf Coast, an organization created following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to distribute more than a billion dollars in legal settlement funds to Panhandle counties.
Milton Interchange Park sits right off the State Road 87 intersection with Interstate 10, just north of the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10. The smaller Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 is close to capacity, having welcomed Buffalo Rock, the nation's largest family-owned bottler of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper products, in January of this year. A Buffalo Rock distribution center, when constructed, will bring in 350 to 400 employees.
Project Cruise Control
Ogletree's efforts to lure business to Santa Rosa County won't be limited to the commercial corridor of SR 87. At the county's Dec. 11 Committee of the Whole meeting he presented a request to seek $7.5 million from Triumph Gulf Coast to purchase 40 acres on Garcon Point Road and equip it with infrastructure.
Project Cruise Control, he told county commissioners, involves a development partner and an agreement to put in a building of about 400,000 square feet. He said he is working with former state Rep. Jayer Williamson on the project. Williamson is employed with a couple other former state legislators by a company called Oak Strategies, a lobbying and consulting firm.
The building will be constructed next to a Stuckey's establishment close to Interstate 10. Ogletree told commissioners the intent of the development deal was to "bring in more jobs and more opportunities.
"I commend you on the work you do," Commissioner Kerry Smith told the economic development director. "It's very creative."
Gulf Cable expansion continues
At the same Committee of the Whole meeting, Ogletree introduced Kevin Bate, representing Gulf Cable. Bate outlined plans to expand what is already the county's largest manufacturing company on 30 acres inside the Santa Rosa Industrial Park in Milton.
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, Bate said. 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.
Whiting Field Aviation Park
Ogletree said he also expects to see increased interest in 2024 from aviation-related businesses. He said a full design plan to construct an apron and taxiway linking the county's Whiting Field Aviation Park to Naval Air Station Whiting Field is underway.
He said he expects actual construction of the apron and taxiway to get underway by the spring or summer.
"Without the apron and taxiway," he said. "You're just a park adjacent to a military base."
The county has $12.1 million with which to build the crucial 2,800-foot link to Whiting Field. In October of this year it received grants of $4.2 million and $6.4 million to go with a $1.5 million state appropriation announced in June. The $4.2 million came from the state's Job Growth Grant Fund. A $6.4 million Defense Community Infrastructure Partnership was obtained through a federal grant program.
Presently the county has just one tenant locked into development at Whiting Field Aviation Park. Leonardo Helicopters, which has committed to investing over $65 million in the construction of a 113,000-square-foot facility at the site, broke ground at the park in July.
Leonardo, which builds the TH-73 "Alpha Thrasher" military helicopters utilized at Whiting Field, will provide provide major component repair and overhaul and transmission testing and repair at the plant.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa growth and development to remain fast paced in 2024
