GEO Group’s prison in Santa Rosa County will employ 470. |
The nation’s economy continues to gasp for air, but Santa Rosa County’s economic development team has been rolling out celebratory press releases in assembly-line fashion, reporting business deals adding up to 800-plus new jobs and nearly $150 million in capital investment.
The accelerating string of successes, which began with GEO Group’s decision last fall to build a $120-million, 470-employee prison in East Milton, was capped this summer when two technology firms, AppRiver and Avalex Technologies, announced plans to
share space and ownership of a new $12-million addition to Quietwater Business Park in Gulf Breeze. AppRiver will add 80 employees; Avalex, 21.
Also announced: Food distributor H.T. Hackney will quadruple its regional operation and add 50 employees; Clearwire is adding 100 to its Milton technical support and customer care operation; and WTEC, which provides cable to wind farms, will create 100 jobs in a $10-million expansion it’s calling Gulf Cable.
AppRiver CEO and President Michael Murdoch, whose company provides web security, credits Gulf Breeze’s proximity to beach and urban amenities, plus bend-over-backward helpfulness of county and municipal governments. He has turned away recruiters from Austin, Texas.
Tad Ihns, president of avionics developer Avalex, considered moving to Atlanta after determining the timeline for a planned technology park near his current Pensacola location wouldn’t work for him. Santa Rosa officials, he says, worked to move things along. “They try to make things happen quickly,’’ Ihns says.
Cindy Anderson, Team Santa Rosa EDC executive director, says the county helps by making sure sites are available — typically at below-market price. |
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