Military & Economic Development
The Florida Defense Support Commission has awarded the Pensacola-Escambia Promotion & Development Commission (PEDC) $200,000 to advance a long-planned overhaul of the Center for Information Warfare Training at Corry Station.
- I sat down with Chris Platè, CEO and President of FloridaWest, on this week’s episode of We Don’t Color on the Dog to unpack what the money means and how close Pensacola is to breaking ground.
What the grant funds: Per the state, the award will let PEDC engage Navy stakeholders, develop project authority agreements, identify prospective tenants, assess military value enhancement opportunities, and build a comprehensive implementation and investment roadmap for Corry Station.
This is the third of three grants PEDC has secured for the project. The first two came from the Defense Reinvestment Grant program and covered a feasibility study and architectural planning. This round shifts to financing strategy and identifying the government contractors and base tenants who would eventually fill the space.
The scope is big. Platè says the planned facility runs roughly 260,000 square feet across three sections — an auditorium, classrooms, and office space. Because much of the building will function as a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) — a secured, signal-proof space where no phones or outside communication are permitted — construction costs run steep: SCIFs typically cost $750 to $1,000 per square foot, and Florida West is projecting roughly $780 per square foot for this build. That puts the total project cost north of $200 million.
- Two of the three floors would be built out immediately for base needs
- The third floor would be programmed later, based on which contractors sign on
- PEDC is evaluating multiple financing paths, including a full federal appropriation and an intergovernmental service agreement (IGSA)
- Under an IGSA, PEDC could own the building on a Navy land lease and lease it back to the government
- Triumph Gulf Coast funding remains a possibility alongside other sources
$200,000 — new state grant
~260,000 sq ft — planned facility
$750–$1,000/sq ft — typical SCIF construction cost
$200M+ — projected total project cost
May 2027 — target completion for this planning phase
Why it matters: Plate framed the project as much a defensive move as a growth move. Other installations, he said, would welcome the chance to take over the Center for Information Warfare Training’s mission if Pensacola doesn’t keep its facilities competitive. This phase will also produce the first real estimate of how many jobs the rebuilt facility could bring to the region, a number Florida West doesn’t have yet but is actively working to determine.
- FloridaWest expects this phase of work to wrap by May 2027, building on the feasibility and design work already completed under the two earlier grants.
