The Business Alliance of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties last week sent Escambia County Commissioners a request to deed the acreage designated for light-industrial use at OLF-8 to the Pensacola Escambia Development Commission (PEDC), the county’s statutorily created economic development agency. Today, David Bear of the Lewis Bear Company and Bruce Vredenburg of Hancock Whitney Bank appeared on WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” to discuss the proposal.
The Escambia County Commission has discussed the possibility of selling the site to one company to develop the land according to the OLF-8 Master Plan. FloridaWest recently commissioned the University of West Florida Haas Center to analyze the economic impact of its potential prospects on 46 acres.
- The UWF Haas Center found that developing 46 of the 271 acres set aside for light industrial use in the hybrid would generate an economic impact of $1.3 billion over five years for the local economy, local tax revenue of $10.8 million, 1,550 direct, indirect and induced jobs, and $445.5 million in total personal income.
“The study showed the importance and significance of the job growth development on that property, which was the intended use at the beginning of this land swap, and the reasons for maintaining that portion of the master plan and protecting it,” said Bear.
Vrenedenberg said Florida’s Great Northwest recently toured the county with site selectors, who stressed the importance of defending the commerce park portion of OLF-8 to “stay competitive in the economic development world.”
“We are where we are in terms of the mixed-use piece and the light industrial commerce piece,” said the banker. “The concern is really is that piece (light-industrial commerce park) going into private development. We just feel strongly that that needs to stay in public ownership and public hands.”
Bear, who chairs the Triumph Gulf Coast board and the county’s Tourist Development Council, the OLF-8 Master Plan designates 271 acres for light-industrial use.
“The importance of keeping it public is to allow the public to develop it as intended in the master plan without ever having to come back to the commission, change zoning change, use needs, development needs for that property,” he said. “The Business Alliance is recommending to deed or transfer that ownership over to PEDC because PEDC was created by the Florida legislature to be the economic development entity for Escambia County. It is a public organization with a board that operates in the Sunshine.”
The PEDC would lease the land, not sell it. The lease fees would fund the PEDC and make it less dependent on funds from Escambia County and the City of Pensacola. Bear said, “If this property is deeded to PEDC, it gives them the opportunity to have assets to build a revenue source, to be able to self-fund themselves and their programs.”
The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) could sell the remaining portions to developers, but the Business Alliance has asked the BCC to get an appraisal first.
“I mean, it’s just a fundamental business approach,” said Vredenberg. “You know what I do for a living, right? It’s rare that I ever run across anyone who is looking to sell a piece of property—certainly one that is this well-known and positioned—without going out and really assessing what the underlying value of it is.”
The banker suspects the remaining acreage for the mixed-use piece may generate offers of $35 million to $40 million.
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