Pensacola's economic "Fab Four"
- May 18, 2015
- / Carlton Proctor
- / economy
Call them the Fab Four.
They are a quartet of high-profile, big-ticket projects that could shape the Pensacola area economy for decades, and create some 5,000 jobs.
But first they must be built.
And nothing these days comes easy in the tricky and highly competitive field of economic development.
Despite the challenges and pitfalls that lie ahead, local elected officials and economic development gurus are cautiously optimistic these projects are going to happen.
Here's a rundown on the current status of all four:
More than two years in the making, the VT Aerospace project is expected to create 300 high-paying aircraft maintenance jobs.
VT Aerospace, formerly ST Aerospace, is an international company that services and overhauls jetliners for the commercial airline industry.
Plans call for construction of a huge maintenance hangar on a 19-acre site at the north end of the airport, adjacent Langley Avenue. Once completed, the hangar will be able to accommodate under roof two wide-bodied jetliners.
Earlier this spring the project experienced a minor setback when the FAA rejected a $3.5 million grant to the project because the hangar would benefit only one tenant.
However, the Florida Department of Transportation came to the rescue with a grant in the same amount.
[caption id="attachment_5417" align="alignright" width="450"]
The official lease signing for the VT-MAE-ST Aerospace deal at the Pensacola International Airport property.[/caption]
Financing for the project has come from VT Aerospace, the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Pensacola and Escambia County.
Scott Luth, CEO of Community Economic Development Agency, said Pensacola-based Greenhut Construction Co., has been selected as general contractor for the project, and the international firm Atkins has been selected to design and engineer the project.
"It's my understanding that they (Greenhut, Atkins and the City of Pensacola) are now in contract negotiations.
"I don't know when construction will get under way because I don't know how long the design will take," he said. "I hope we're breaking ground sometime this fall. If that happens, I think they still will be able to meet their original projection of being in the building by late 2016."
Progress for tech site is looming, thanks to Space Florida.[/caption]
"We don't have the designs for the building started just yet," Luth said. "The local firm, Caldwell and Associates, has been selected as architects. And they are negotiating a contract that will be presented to Space Florida's board of directors for approval at the end of this month."
Assuming Space Florida’s board approves the contract, Luth said it will be full steam ahead with the design and layout of the building. The Technology Park is located on 9 acres at the corner of Ninth Avenue and Chase Street.
"The financing will be firmed up, and a lot of due diligence will take place," he said.
Luth said he is hopeful construction of the building can get under way later this year or early next.
Space Florida has said on several occasions it has an aerospace-related business lined up as a major tenant in the proposed building. The state-sponsored development organization has yet to name the prospective tenant.
It's estimated that once it is built out, it will house some 4,000 jobs.
The 600-acre site, adjacent the sprawling Navy Federal Credit Union campus, has been used for decades as a helicopter training field for Whiting Field Naval Air Station north of Milton.
For decades local business leaders have been eyeing the property as an ideal site for a major commerce park with easy access to Interstate 10.
Over the past two years local contractor Jim Cronley, civil engineer Freddie Donovan and retired Adm. Bob Kelly have been working on a plan to swap OLF 8 for a similar-sized site in Santa Rosa County, much nearer Whiting Field.
In 2014 the Navy finally agreed in principle to the land swap.
Cronley then began negotiating with owners of a large tract of land a few miles northwest of Whiting Field.
Last year he secured an option on the land and the Escambia County Commission voted to buy the land. The deal closed in early 2014.
Over the past year Navy lawyers have been reviewing the plan and have approved the legality of the proposed land swap.
Cronley said the land swap, and development of the Santa Rosa site to a helicopter training facility, is unprecedented in Navy annals.
So far, Cronley said the proposed deal is "moving along extremely well."
The land swap must be approved by Congress. Dan McFaul, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, confirmed that Miller has gotten the land swap deal inserted in the current Defense Authorization Budget.
"I'm extremely excited about the project this is making," said Cronley. "I think there's a very good chance it will move through both houses of Congress."
Once approved by Congress, Cronley said local representatives will sit down with Navy officials in Jacksonville and craft a contract detailing exactly what will be built on the Santa Rosa site to replace the facilities in use at OLF 8.
"The basic plans have already been approved by the Navy and are 100 percent designed," Cronley said. "Once we get the contract signed with the Navy then Escambia County, which owns the land, can let the contract for construction of the buildings they will need for what we're calling OLF X."
Cronley estimate it will take two years to construct the buildings and prepare the grassy land field for Navy use.
"The easy part is getting the buildings done," he said. "The hard part is getting the grass down and rooted so the helicopter prop-wash won't throw up dirt and grit that can damage rotor blades."
Once developed into a first-class commerce park on the OLF 8 site, Cronley estimates it eventually will produce a minimum of 4,000 jobs and put hundreds of millions of dollars of property on the county tax rolls.
"We've been working on this for 25 years, and we need it so bad," Cronley said.
Despite the sheer size of the proposed 600-acre OLF 8 commerce park, once fully developed, it will fulfill the county’s commerce park needs for only 10 years.
"We will still need to create another large industrial park somewhere in the county," he said. "And we're working on where that will be right now."
- DeepFlex. Of the group, the $55 million DeepFlex manufacturing plant at the Port of Pensacola is furthest along — about two-thirds complete — but its future is in doubt.
- VT-MAE Aerospace. The second major capital project in the works is the proposed $38 million VT Aerospace maintenance hangar at Pensacola International Airport.
More than two years in the making, the VT Aerospace project is expected to create 300 high-paying aircraft maintenance jobs.
VT Aerospace, formerly ST Aerospace, is an international company that services and overhauls jetliners for the commercial airline industry.
Plans call for construction of a huge maintenance hangar on a 19-acre site at the north end of the airport, adjacent Langley Avenue. Once completed, the hangar will be able to accommodate under roof two wide-bodied jetliners.
Earlier this spring the project experienced a minor setback when the FAA rejected a $3.5 million grant to the project because the hangar would benefit only one tenant.
However, the Florida Department of Transportation came to the rescue with a grant in the same amount.
[caption id="attachment_5417" align="alignright" width="450"]
The official lease signing for the VT-MAE-ST Aerospace deal at the Pensacola International Airport property.[/caption]
Financing for the project has come from VT Aerospace, the Florida Department of Transportation, the City of Pensacola and Escambia County.
Scott Luth, CEO of Community Economic Development Agency, said Pensacola-based Greenhut Construction Co., has been selected as general contractor for the project, and the international firm Atkins has been selected to design and engineer the project.
"It's my understanding that they (Greenhut, Atkins and the City of Pensacola) are now in contract negotiations.
"I don't know when construction will get under way because I don't know how long the design will take," he said. "I hope we're breaking ground sometime this fall. If that happens, I think they still will be able to meet their original projection of being in the building by late 2016."
- Pensacola Technology Campus. Space Florida’s proposed $9 million anchor building in the long-vacant Pensacola Technology Campus is inching along, said Luth, a key player in putting that project together.
Progress for tech site is looming, thanks to Space Florida.[/caption]
"We don't have the designs for the building started just yet," Luth said. "The local firm, Caldwell and Associates, has been selected as architects. And they are negotiating a contract that will be presented to Space Florida's board of directors for approval at the end of this month."
Assuming Space Florida’s board approves the contract, Luth said it will be full steam ahead with the design and layout of the building. The Technology Park is located on 9 acres at the corner of Ninth Avenue and Chase Street.
"The financing will be firmed up, and a lot of due diligence will take place," he said.
Luth said he is hopeful construction of the building can get under way later this year or early next.
Space Florida has said on several occasions it has an aerospace-related business lined up as a major tenant in the proposed building. The state-sponsored development organization has yet to name the prospective tenant.
- Outlying Field 8. Of the four major projects, the commercial development of the U.S. Navy’s Outlying Landing Field 8 in Beulah is expected to have perhaps the biggest impact on the Pensacola area economy over the next two decades.
It's estimated that once it is built out, it will house some 4,000 jobs.
The 600-acre site, adjacent the sprawling Navy Federal Credit Union campus, has been used for decades as a helicopter training field for Whiting Field Naval Air Station north of Milton.
For decades local business leaders have been eyeing the property as an ideal site for a major commerce park with easy access to Interstate 10.
Over the past two years local contractor Jim Cronley, civil engineer Freddie Donovan and retired Adm. Bob Kelly have been working on a plan to swap OLF 8 for a similar-sized site in Santa Rosa County, much nearer Whiting Field.
In 2014 the Navy finally agreed in principle to the land swap.
Cronley then began negotiating with owners of a large tract of land a few miles northwest of Whiting Field.
Last year he secured an option on the land and the Escambia County Commission voted to buy the land. The deal closed in early 2014.
Over the past year Navy lawyers have been reviewing the plan and have approved the legality of the proposed land swap.
Cronley said the land swap, and development of the Santa Rosa site to a helicopter training facility, is unprecedented in Navy annals.
So far, Cronley said the proposed deal is "moving along extremely well."
The land swap must be approved by Congress. Dan McFaul, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, confirmed that Miller has gotten the land swap deal inserted in the current Defense Authorization Budget.
"I'm extremely excited about the project this is making," said Cronley. "I think there's a very good chance it will move through both houses of Congress."
Once approved by Congress, Cronley said local representatives will sit down with Navy officials in Jacksonville and craft a contract detailing exactly what will be built on the Santa Rosa site to replace the facilities in use at OLF 8.
"The basic plans have already been approved by the Navy and are 100 percent designed," Cronley said. "Once we get the contract signed with the Navy then Escambia County, which owns the land, can let the contract for construction of the buildings they will need for what we're calling OLF X."
Cronley estimate it will take two years to construct the buildings and prepare the grassy land field for Navy use.
"The easy part is getting the buildings done," he said. "The hard part is getting the grass down and rooted so the helicopter prop-wash won't throw up dirt and grit that can damage rotor blades."
Once developed into a first-class commerce park on the OLF 8 site, Cronley estimates it eventually will produce a minimum of 4,000 jobs and put hundreds of millions of dollars of property on the county tax rolls.
"We've been working on this for 25 years, and we need it so bad," Cronley said.
Despite the sheer size of the proposed 600-acre OLF 8 commerce park, once fully developed, it will fulfill the county’s commerce park needs for only 10 years.
"We will still need to create another large industrial park somewhere in the county," he said. "And we're working on where that will be right now."
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