Northwest Florida

ECONOMIC LIFE

Aviation/Aerospace/Defense

• Northwest Florida’s economy is dominated by a military presence that includes: Eglin Air Force Base, the USAF’s largest by area; Tyndall Air Force Base, responsible for air defense of the continental U.S., U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; Hurlburt Field, supporting special operations; the Pensacola Naval Air Station, home of the legendary Blue Angels; Naval Support Activity Panama City; and Whiting Field. Collectively, these installations account for close to 179,000 military and civilian jobs.
• The Italian firm Aero Sekur, which specializes in helicopter lift-raft and flotation systems, has relocated its U.S. operations from New Jersey to Pensacola, tripling the size of its facility and positioning the company closer to helicopter operators that service the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Aerosync Support, a leader in helicopter repairs, modifications and upgrades, has opened a facility at the Santa Rosa Industrial Park in Milton with the anticipation of 25 jobs. Aerosync provides global on-site labor support for Bell and Sikorsky helicopter products.
• VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering has signed a 30-year lease on an aircraft hangar that will be built by the city of Pensacola on nearly 19 acres at Pensacola International Airport. The planned facility — large enough to accommodate two wide-body aircraft — is expected to create 300 jobs and be operational by mid-2016.

Downtown Developments

• Fort Walton Beach: Construction is expected to begin in late fall 2015 in downtown Fort Walton Beach on the $33-million, 144,000-sq.-ft. Landmark Center. The five-story mixed-use project will include a 112-room hotel, executive offices and 24 loft-style condominiums, plus retail and dining space and a garage.
• Pensacola: Phase one of a $50-million, mixed-used project on the former downtown site of the Pensacola News Journal is expected to get underway in late 2015. Plans call for 48,000 sq. ft. of office space, 33,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space, up to 300 apartments of various sizes and a 500-space parking garage. In October 2014, the city approved plans for construction of a nearby downtown YMCA.
• Inlet Beach: Once a sleepy tourist town along Scenic Highway 30A in Walton County, Inlet Beach and its neighbor Rosemary Beach are hotbeds of development activity. Newly opened are: 30Avenue, 130,000 sq. ft. of retail, restaurants and offices; The Crossings at Inlet Beach with 17,335 sq. ft. of retail space; and the 125-room Inn on the Gulf.

Transportation/Logistics

• More than 100 engineering, administrative and support jobs will be coming to the Port of Pensacola as Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services relocates the majority of its operations to the Florida Panhandle from Mobile, Alabama. OIMO is a value-added service provider supporting offshore oil and gas and marine industries operating in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The Port of Port St. Joe has received approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin dredging its navigational channel to the maximum authorized depth of 37 feet. Meanwhile, Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City has leased 20 acres at the port to expand its shipbuilding, vessel construction and repair and industrial steel fabrication operations in the Gulf Coast region.
• In Bay County, two industrial properties have been certified under Gulf Power’s “Florida First Sites” program, which designates shovel-ready industrial sites: 54 acres at Port Panama City’s intermodal distribution center and 195 acres at Venture Crossings, a commerce park owned by The St. Joe Company and adjacent to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.
• In June 2015, Tallahassee Regional Airport received official FAA designation as an international airport. Companies and commercial air carriers can now fly from overseas directly into Tallahassee without first stopping at another international point of entry.

Technology

• Construction continues on an $8-million expansion at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Slated for completion in early 2016, the three-story, 30,000-sq.-ft. building will substantially increase IHMC’s Pensacola footprint, consolidating research and administrative functions in one campus and allowing for future growth. In addition to offices and research facilities, the new structure will feature a glass-walled observation area where public tour groups and other visitors can observe IHMC’s Robotics Lab safely and without disrupting its work.

Tags: Business Florida