‘Seeding' the Region for Economic Development

Britt Greene had a message – The St. Joe Company was going to be a partner in job creation in Northwest Florida.

Greene, president and CEO of St. Joe the past two years, gave presentations to the Economic Development Council and the Northwest Florida League of Cities during a recent visit.

He talked about the investments the company has made in the region – from aiding in the birth of a new international airport in western Bay County to helping bring a new hospital to Gulf County – and the transformation of the company.

Greene spoke abount the hundreds of millions of dollars the company has invested in infrastructure throughout Northwest Florida, be it providing right-of-way land to the Florida Department of Transportation for current and future road projects or backing, in land, dollars, lobbying or any combination, for green energy initiatives, such as a green energy park or port expansion to bolster that park.

And Greene spoke about a different focus for the company, one that will change the company in the coming years much the way the transformation from paper company to land developer did more than a decade ago.

“It’s about jobs,” Greene told the Economic Development Council during its semi-annual members meeting. “The dominant strategies we have going forward are different than we’ve had. We have to do something to create jobs in this community and other communities we serve.

“We need jobs, folks. The state of Florida is terrible at incentives. But Florida has what every other state has and we have quality of life on top of that. We can win. This state can create jobs and lead the nation.”

An emphasis for that job creation, as detailed by Greene, will take place in the West Bay sector surrounding the new Bay County-Panama City International Airport. The sector plan area, 14.5 miles by 14.5 miles, would completely cover Manhattan, and includes homes and vast commercial and office square footage.

The arrival of Southwest Airlines and continued service for international flights by Delta will, Greene said, greatly aid in luring businesses and homeowners to the entire region. The realigned Highway 98 in Gulf County will eventually be part of a connector highway system that will link Gulf County and the airport.

The company will also focus on the more than 140 miles of contiguous coastal land the company owns between Walton, Bay and Gulf counties.

“It does not take a rocket scientist to understand where the focus of the company is going to be,” Greene said, noting the importance of “seeding” a stable rural area with a diversified economic base that is more than just tourism.

Pier Park in Panama City Beach, with over a million square feet of commercial space, represents one example of what the company hopes to achieve through an assortment of partnerships.

The company has also made $600 million in land and other donations in the region, an example being the monetary and land assistance the company provided to make the Sacred Heart Hospital of the Gulf Coast a reality. The hospital will open next month.

Further, Greene noted the company’s 180 degree turn from adversary to partner in creating an operational port in Port St. Joe. Port St. Joe and Panama City are the closest, distance-wise, of Florida’s 14 deepwater ports to Latin and South America, Greene noted.

With the expansion of the Panama Canal to be finished in 2014, the fire is hot and the company is trying to help partners strike while the flame burns, Greene noting that the “opportunity here is huge” and improved by the presence of a rail line ready to serve the port and its customers.

“These are just the start of what has to go on to improve the region,” Greene said. “Florida is a great plan. Don’t lost sight of the vision. It will take time, it doesn’t happen overnight. But it will happen.

“It takes time. You need to ramp up. But you have to be ready. We are helping to make the region ready.”

EDC Business

Time and patience were frequent mantras throughout the EDC meeting, which was informational about several projects going on in the county and also demonstrated that the newly-reconstituted organization has plenty of irons in the fire as well as fuel in the bellies of key members of the organization.

“We have the ability to win,” said Ed Nelson, EDC executive director, as he described how Gulf County made the second cut on a significant economic development project before falling out of the running. “We have to work together to make our product better.”

The Enterprise Zone has created 50 new jobs this year through efforts by the county and EDC and the EDC is working closely on securing a prospect known under the code word “Project Alaska” which could mean 60-70 new jobs.

“Hopefully in a week or so we will deliver a baby,” Nelson chuckled while noting that the top official of the company in question had said he was eight months and three weeks pregnant on a move.

Al Weistrand, executive director of Florida’s Great Northwest, was a guest and spoke of the progress the Gulf County EDC was making.

“I see that balanced economic development program taking shape,” Weistrand said. “The burden is on us more than it is the state. We must take care of existing businesses; most of the jobs created come from business expansion.”

Renewable Energy Park

Weistrand and Nelson talked at some length regarding the progress toward creating a renewable energy industrial park in the county.

Gulf is one of two counties, the other Santa Rosa, to be selected by Florida’s Great Northwest as potential sites for a pilot green energy park.

“We see it as a true opportunity for the region and Gulf County,” Weistrand said. “You guys are doing great stuff and we are glad to be a partner in this.

“Be patient, but it will happen.”

Nelson noted that The St. Joe Company, St. Joe Land and Florida’s Great Northwest had invested “significant dollars” toward the project and that a 1,000 acre tract along the Intracoastal Canal had been identified as a potential site.

St. Joe, which owns the land, must undertake some wetlands delineation and also determine a price per acre for the land before the project can move forward but Weistrand said he did not expect that to be a delay.

“It just makes sense for us to develop this park … What we’ve got to have is several ready (tracts of land),” Nelson said.

“When the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center (NWFREC) pops up, the phone is going to ring off the hook.”

Nelson noted that the top 50 companies in the world in renewable energy were based in Europe, meaning the picking was ripe for American companies.

Biomass Plant

Peter Chanin of Biomass Gas and Electric (BG&E), informed the EDC gathering that the NWFREC was in the final comments portion of its application for an air emissions permit for the plant. He said the hope is to have the permit in hand by the end of this month.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has issued a preliminary notice of intent to issue a stormwater management permit, triggering a public comment period prior to issuing the permit.

Chanin said the company is in the second of two parts of an application with the U.S. Department of Energy to secure a grant/loan package of funding.

The center has also been permitted for a two-acre test tract to examine what fast-growing grasses may be used at the plant and a permit to expand that test tract to 100 acres should be issued this month, Chanin said.

“We are ready to go,” Chanin said. “Hopefully we will be breaking ground here in June and 16 or 17 months later hopefully we are going to be popping champagne out there.”

The NWFEC is to be constructed on the former Material Transfer Industries coal transfer site along the Intracoastal Canal. An estimated 200 jobs will be created during the construction phase of the $160 million plant with 25-30 permanent jobs created once the plant is operational.