SPOTLIGHT
The City of Pensacola recently signed a 10-year lease with the American Magic international yacht racing team that will provide the group with an indoor boat building site at the Port of Pensacola. American Magic is representing the United States in the America’s Cup sailing competition this fall in Barcelona, Spain. The deal is the culmination of several years of negotiations that included providing the team with a winter training site that began in 2018. The lease was made possible by an $8.5-million Triumph Gulf Coast grant last year for the renovation of a large warehouse at the Port of Pensacola where American Magic’s administrative and manufacturing facilities will be headquartered. Mayor D.C. Reeves says the deal will bring a significant number of jobs to the city and also “put Pensacola on the map as one of the best sailing destinations in the United States and one of the best in the world.”
HEALTH CARE
- Florida State University has announced plans to establish an Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases. “This rare disease center will be kicking off FSU’s ability to get into this area to make investments in gene therapy, DNA sequencing and artificial intelligence,” says FSU President Richard McCullough. Funding sources for the institute have yet to be identified.
MANUFACTURING
- Local efforts to find a buyer for the closed Foley Cellulose Paper Mill in Perry have been put on hold for another year while owner Georgia Pacific conducts a study to determine if the plant and property is “suitable for another business opportunity.” More than 500 workers lost their jobs when the plant closed last year, causing what local officials described as a “devastating impact” on Perry and Taylor County’s economy. The mill was Perry and Taylor County’s largest employer.
- After fewer than three years in operation, Southwire closed its Crestview manufacturing plant in Okaloosa County. The closure resulted in the loss of 71 jobs. The Georgia-based company, which manufactures wire and cable, is also closing a plant in China and moving much of its manufacturing operations to Honduras.
HOSPITALITY
- The St. Joe Co. has opened a Residence Inn by Marriott in Panama City Beach. The hotel, located along Panama City Beach Parkway near the Pier Park shopping area, is the sixth hotel the company has opened in Bay County in the past 18 months.
TRANSPORTATION
- The current robust passenger growth of Northwest Florida’s four major airports is attracting nonstop routes by several low-cost airlines. In addition to its long-standing Pensacola-to-Denver nonstop route, Frontier Airlines has added two nonstop flights from Pensacola; one to Cleveland and a second to Philadelphia. Avelo Airlines, headquartered in Houston, has introduced nonstop service between Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport and New Haven Airport in Connecticut. Avelo Airlines flies next-generation 737s and serves 47 destinations in 23 states and Puerto Rico. Fort Lauderdale-based Silver Airways is now servicing Tallahassee with three nonstop flights weekly to West Palm Beach.