DESTIN —
» Developer Jay Odom has opened Destin Jet, a 6,000-sq.-ft. fixed-base operator at Destin Airport general aviation center. Residents’ concern over noise and air quality and a subsequent lawsuit in 2005 slowed its development. Controversy erupted again last year when a $6-million legislative appropriation was made to Northwest Florida State College, ostensibly for an emergency operations center for college use at the aviation center but later believed to be intended as a Destin Jet hangar.
GONZALEZ —
» The former Solutia nylon plant is now Ascend Performance Materials. New York-based SK Capital Partners bought five nylon and chemical plants from Solutia for $50 million, including others in Foley and Decatur, Ala.; Texas; and South Carolina.
PORT ST. JOE —
» Jacksonville-based Arizona Chemical is transferring production from its Port St. Joe plant to refineries in Panama City and Savannah, Ga., following the closure of the 52-year-old plant, which had about 77 employees.
PANAMA CITY —
» Peoples First Community Bank will close four of its 33 branches by Oct. 1, one each in Panama City, Tallahassee, Altamonte Springs and Pensacola. The Panama City-based bank lost nearly $11 million in 2008 and reported $167 million in past-due loans, representing more than 10% of bank loans. First-quarter 2009 losses were $8.7 million.
PENSACOLA —
» The U.S. Economic Development Administration will provide $2 million of the $4.5-million public infrastructure cost for a 9.2-acre downtown technology park planned by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce industrial development board. Work could begin later this year.
» The University of West Florida will eliminate the jobs of 26 employees and raise tuition by 15% to conform to a $6.3-million budget cut for the coming year. Another 40 vacant positions are also being eliminated.
» The Interfaith Housing Coalition of Escambia County has suspended its 250-unit, 26-acre, mixed-income housing project, Journey, after nearly four years of planning and design.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY —
» The Florida Cabinet has approved the $5.1-million acquisition of 1,400 acres from the Nature Conservancy to prevent further encroachment on Whiting Field Naval Air Station. It also will provide woodland and waterways recreation, to include the first off-road vehicle trails in Florida west of the Apalachicola River. The Navy may pay $1.3 million of the purchase price.
TALLAHASSEE —
» Construction of a $220-million Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility at T.P. Smith
» Water Reclamation Facility is under way to help protect regional water resources, for completion around 2015. A U.S. Geological Survey study showed a link between city wastewater operations and regional water bodies, including at Wakulla Springs, a state park.
» Florida State University psychology professor Christopher Lonigan has received a $2.8-million federal grant to study ways to increase school readiness skills and academic achievement of Spanish-speaking students. Lonigan, associate director of the Florida Center for Reading Research, along with a team of researchers, will evaluate the benefits of a preschool curriculum they developed versus more traditional early childhood programs.
WEST BAY —
» Residents of seven crumbling homes in Port St. Joe have filed a lawsuit against St. Joe Co. (NYSE-JOE), blaming their collapsing homes on the wood chips and bark — now turning to mush — that the one-time paper mill operator dumped as fill beneath home sites sold to them in the late 1980s. The case will go to jury, Gulf County Circuit Court Judge Hentz McClellan ruled, denying St. Joe’s motion to dismiss it.
» In other news, St. Joe Co. has entered into agreements with Haskell Co., a design-build company, and TranSystems, a transportation planning and engineering firm, to design plans for St. Joe land adjacent to the Panama City-Bay County International Airport, opening in May 2010. Initial parcels, some 1,000 acres, are being planned for office, retail and industrial use. St. Joe owns 71,000 acres in the West Bay Sector, anchored by the airport.