From the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce:
* “Project Deep Blue†Site Visit – The Chamber hosted a manufacturer last week that is considering Escambia County for a manufacturing and possible headquarters location. We have since met with the firm at their out-of-state offices and have formulated an initial incentive offer for the company. This still has a long way to go, but we are aggressively working with the company and have high hopes.
* Meeting w/Senator Gaetz – Senator Gaetz has been tasked with Chairing a Senate Select Committee on Florida’s Economy and the Chamber has already briefed the Senator on specific economic development initiatives that have the potential to make Florida more competitive in economic development. The Chamber is recommending several changes to incentive policy at the state level including adding “advanced manufacturing†as a target industry, lowing project thresholds for the state’s capital investment tax credit program and creating a saleable tax credit program for economic development projects.
* EDA Grant for Tech Park still moving – PEDC, the development authority made up of representatives from the City, County and Chamber has received an official invitation from the Federal Economic Development Administration to apply for $1,000,000 in infrastructure funding for the downtown technology campus. While this is not a guarantee of funding, this is a very good sign of receiving potential funding from the federal government and comes after a lengthy pre-application phase that started in June of this year.