Could I-10 industrial park be key to economic growth in Santa Rosa County?


  • July 29, 2015
  • /   Louis Cooper
  • /   economy

Santa Rosa County Commissioner Rob Williamson wants the county to build a "spec building" in the undeveloped Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 to help attract new businesses. Photo Credit: Santa Rosa County

With Santa Rosa’s primary industrial park nearing capacity, County Commissioner Rob Williamson thinks the county needs to make new space for potential companies.

{{business_name}}Santa Rosa County Commissioner Rob Williamson

Santa Rosa County Commissioner Rob Williamson

“Now is the time for us to invest in our I-10 Industrial Park to give (the county’s) economic development team the marketable property they need and that job creators are looking for,” Williamson said in his video newsletter this month.

The Northwest Florida Industrial Park at Interstate 10 is a largely undeveloped 90 acre tract of land on State Road 87 in East Milton that the county purchased from Navarre developer Bill Pullum in 2009 for about $3.1 million.

Nothing has been done to improve the property since then, and no businesses have located there.

Until now, the Santa Rosa County Industrial Park – also located in East Milton – has been the center of industry in for the county, but Shannon Ogletree, the county’s economic development director, agrees that that facility is about filled up.

“The desirable property within the park is basically filled,” Ogletree said. “With the (recent) expansion of Gulf Cable/WTEC and the relocation of GoldRing Gulf Distributing, our large parcels are sold.”

The I-10 Industrial Park is aimed at businesses in the aviation and defense industries – specifically companies that supply the Airbus facility in Mobile – as well transportation and logistics/distribution facilities.

The previous owners supplied construction and plat plans for the property, and the county has since paid Gulf Power about $51,000 to certify that the site is ready for industrial development.

{{business_name}}Shannon Ogletee is the Santa Rosa County director of economic development.

Shannon Ogletee is the Santa Rosa County director of economic development.

“Anything a company/site selector may want to know is in (the Gulf Power) report,” Ogletree said. “The report has been very useful, over the past year several companies have looked at this site, and being able to pull this information quickly was invaluable. For example, one project wanted to know how many pounds per square foot the soil could handle.”

Williamson said getting the Industrial Park at I-10 up and running is essential to continued economic growth.

He thinks the county should build a "spec" — or "speculation" — building at the park to attract a new company, maybe on the fron 10 to 15 acres. The finished building would be designed and constructed to adapt to the needs of a potential business looking to relocate.

"Once completed it would improve marketability of Santa Rosa County and the park itself,” Williamson said. “A spec building program would further differentiate this particular certified site and our county from the competition."

A proper spec building would be 40,000 to 50,000 square feet, with a ceiling height of 30 feet. Such a facility would cost at least $2.8 million, according to Ogletree.

"Most of the prospects we see are asking for existing buildings," Ogletree said. "Even if the company looking at the building does not occupy the spec facility, it gets them to the community where we can further sell our product."

However, he cautioned that a spec building could stand empty for years.

Regardless, there is currently no money for a spec building or any other work at the park in the proposed fiscal 2016 budget, but Williamson thinks that could change.

"The time is now for Santa Rosa County if we wish to capitalize on the recent upswing in the economy and secure a new company to our region," he said. "Which version of the county budget that gets approved will ultimately decide how fast or slow improvements will come to the I-10 Industrial Park."

Otherwise, Ogletree said the lack of improvements there has been deliberate.

“When a company decides to locate there, we can apply for various state and federal grants to help pay those cost,” he said. “If we make improvements now with our own dollars, we cannot be reimbursed from the various entities.”

He also said building roads and installing utilities would limit the parcel sizes available to potential occupants.

Once a company commits to locating in the new park, Ogletree said the county would pursue various grants to fund the infrastructure, potentially including sources like the Enterprise Florida Economic Development Transportation Fund Grant, the EDA Infrastructure Grant and the USDA Grant for Rural Areas.

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