“The Anatomy of a Major Economic Development Project”

There are two things my father and my grandfather told me at an early age and as I began searching for a career. “First things, first,” and “You must do what you have to do to get where you want to go,” respectively. For some reason, these two statements are literally etched in my mind and I use them in my personal life and my professional life.

In the Economic Development industry, most Economic Development professionals live to land the Big One: five hundred or more new jobs, and $50 to $100 million in investment or more.  My approach is to be comprehensive in the delivery of Economic Development Services such as entrepreneurial and small business development, business retention and expansion, management and technical assistance, business financing, Enterprise Zone administration, incentives, attracting small to medium size companies to the community, and yes -- even the Big One.

After 37 wonderful years in this business and blessed with much success, the one thing I have learned is that you must always guard your optimism for the “win”.  Any win, but especially for the Big One. You must always remind yourself that you win some and you lose some. But winning in this game is not reserved for the Big Ones. Winning means getting a bank to approve a loan for a small business to expand; or assisting a local company to win a procurement contract for a product or service; or winning a relocation of a small to medium size company; or the location of a major company.

Economic Development professionals are always challenged about the sharing of knowledge of activity with regards to projects. In the industry it is akin to a lawyer sharing client information with the press, or a doctor sharing confidential health information of his patient with the press. Even at that, we try to share as much information as we can to satisfy the stakeholders in the community without jeopardizing any project. Prospects are extremely cautious and serious about confidentiality. If they do not feel secure in their efforts to obtain information and keep it confidential, they will not move further with that particular location. I think it’s fair to share a few reasons. Prices on land suddenly increases, equipment prices go up and fear of the unknown cause’s unrest in the community until the company is ready for full disclosure. If the company is looking to relocate, it could wreak havoc at the present location of the company thereby creating employee unrest for a number of reasons and impacting efficiencies.  If that happens, everybody loses. It must be done right. 

Since Sept. 30, 2009, a team of players in Gulf County along with Gulf Coast Workforce Board and Florida’s Great Northwest had been working on an opportunity that could have impacted the entire region and changed Gulf County forever. It was my understanding that Progress Energy was the Project Manager initially with direct contact with the prospect and eFlorida. It was a clean, heavy manufacturing company that would have employed 570-plus with an investment of $100 million. Not to mention the jobs and investment of the second phase of the company’s development. The name of the company and the product will still be, and should be confidential because of a developing local strategy. We went about dividing up the Site Selection Checklist, 11 pages of extremely detailed information requested by the client.  The first pass was getting a call to complete the detailed list by the close of business that day. Doing what we could for the initial pass, we did what we could which bought us some time for a second submission and then a third submission. As in all Economic Development projects, there is so much activity going on at the same time. And, believe me; the size of the client does not make a difference. There is a lot happening constantly and it must be managed well.

We were informed that we would get the next level decision in two weeks.

As part of the team, I went into a “let it all hang out” frame of mind. You know as an athlete, you want to give it your all and leave everything on the field. I also knew, from experience it was going to be a tough fight. I knew that for a company like this well known international organization; competition would be great and aggressive. I was right. Competition included four other sites in Florida, and sites in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Here were the key factors of importance for the company:

1. Rail was critical

2. Availability of engineers

3. The workforce would need special skills

4. Training would be required at the client’s home location (overseas)

5. A port would be beneficial, but rail was absolutely necessary for transportation

6. Distance to the Interstate

7. Time required for permitting

8. Cost of real estate

We got to work.

In approximately 2 weeks, we got the word -- we had made the initial cut. We get to play on Saturday! (Golfers understand this statement!) It simply means we made it to the next phase of their decision!

Then we got the call, unfortunately, we received word that we will not being playing on Sunday (usually the day of the Championship in Golf). The word was that the State of Florida was suspended from competition because other states had a certain experience that Florida did not have in a specific functional area in Economic Development. I know Alabama and Georgia had the experience. However, our competitors in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana survived the cut. So the assumption is that they all had something we in Florida did not have.

As a community, we should be very proud of how we fared in competition. Mayor Mel Magidson and the Port St. Joe City Commissioners and Chairman Nathan Peters and the County Board of Commissioners provided important letters of support.  Kim Bodine of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board provided valuable assistance to show that we indeed had the skilled available workforce and resources that were needed. Tommy Pitts of the Port and Edward Nelson of the EDC worked well together to assemble the information and organized the presentation package. The St. Joe Company was also very supportive in our efforts. There were several other points of competitive advantage that we cannot discuss so we can continue to be competitive for the next project.

There is an important lesson to be learned. Gulf County can compete! And we are satisfied that the information we provided had sufficient answers to their inquiries. We even had a very strong card to play, and we played that card at the presentation. It made them sit up and listen; it was a very significant incentive. I guess we could not get around the State’s lack of experience the prospect felt was so important.

However we have one challenge that we have already begun to address. We desperately need mega shovel-ready sites. That is why the Green Industrial Park is so important. Shovel-ready mega sites means large tracks of buildable acreage with infrastructure such as roads, rail access, all utilities, proper zoning, incentives and permits already in-place. As an example, the project our team worked on had a required development time of one-year. That is unusual for this type of facility and extremely difficult to meet if you do not have sites that are ready to go. We know that our competitors have shovel-ready sites.

Once Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center breaks ground, prospects will come, and soon. We are already receiving inquires. So as a community, we must come together as one and, we must get ready. We must also be aggressive in our marketing efforts. We have got to go get them. We cannot afford to sit back and wait on eFlorida. We must remember that our State has many Economic Development Organizations in their network. But as my father said, “first things first”.  We must get our Energy Park on a fast track for development. The world is going Green. Renewable Energy and Green industry must be our focus. We have the assets but we need to develop our product. We know that the enemy of Economic Development is time and resources; but as my grandfather said, “we must do what we have to do, to get where we need to go”! We must start right now. And we are!