Gov. DeSantis announces $3.2M grant to develop Crestview's Shoal River Ranch

CRESTVIEW — The state of Florida has announced a grant of $3.2 million to Okaloosa County that will allow the county to prepare an approximately 750-acre site for business development.

Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the Hub City Wednesday to announce the award. It will be matched with $1.7 million from county coffers to provide nearly $5 million for expansion of roads, rail lines, water and sewer infrastructure and broadband connectivity at the Shoal River Ranch property.

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The funds were provided through the Governor's Job Growth Grant Fund.

“Today’s grant will lay the foundation for a dramatic expansion of manufacturing in Okaloosa County,” DeSantis said. “Florida is committed to expanding our industrial base, and investments like this, as well as our strong support for skilled trades and workforce education, will help us achieve this goal.”

The Shoal River Ranch property, primarily owned by the Holland M. Ware Charitable Foundation of Idaho, totals 10,500 acres. It extends both north and south of Interstate 10, with approximately 6,850 acres lying north of the interstate and 3,650 south of the interstate.

"There is nothing else this size with this much acreage with access to a major interstate in all of Florida," said Okaloosa County Commission Chairman Mel Ponder.

Too big to be even a megasite, the property has become known as Florida's Gigasite, he said.

The site is “total modal,” Ponder told the 100 or so assembled to hear the governor's announcement. It has access to all modes of transportation, including the interstate and U.S. Highway 90, rail that runs adjacent to the Shoal River Ranch northern boundary and the Bob Sikes Airport, which lies just a few miles north of the ranch property.

Ponder said that in just the past six months, One Okaloosa EDC has had in-depth discussions and hosted site visits with nine companies and site selectors expressing interest in the property.

"Without exception, these companies and site selectors have all encouraged us to do everything possible to continue to prepare the Shoal River Ranch Gigasite for large scale economic development opportunities," Ponder said.

If all nine companies were to locate at the Shoal River Ranch property, opportunities would be created to bring nearly 5,600 direct jobs to the area, and in sectors as diverse as clean energy, forest products and advanced manufacturing, Ponder said.

He called the award announced Wednesday "a difference maker.”

With the funding, the county will be able to extend infrastructure 2,500 feet along presently unpaved Jericho Road to tie it into an 88-acre parcel and a 662-acre parcel the county owns within the ranch property, said Nathan Sparks, director of One Okaloosa economic development council.

Infrastructure had been run up to the entrance of the Shoal River Ranch with funds obtained through a 2017 grant provided by Triumph Gulf Coast.

The grant from the state will allow the county to work with the Florida Gulf Atlantic (FGA) Railroad  to improve a railroad crossing and the Florida Department of Transportation to undertake improvements to US 90 at the site’s entrance, Ponder said. Utility infrastructure will be installed with the improvements.

Okaloosa's talented workforce will serve as another inducement to businesses eying the gigasite for development opportunities, Ponder said.

“Future tenants will have access to people trained and led by our education system, our college system, and our transitioning military who are technically trained," he said. "Opportunities at this site will create thousands of jobs in multiple sectors, another great win as we diversify our local economy. This opportunity will be transformational for our area.”

DeSantis said the gigasite is expected to attract 11,000 overall jobs to the area and could conceivably double the number of manufacturing jobs by bringing in an additional 4,000 jobs.

Development of the county's Shoal River Ranch parcel has the potential to pump $450 million into the region's economy, DeSantis said.

An additional amenity to be paid for with the state funding, according to Sparks, is a monument sign identifying the developable space as "The Shoal River Ranch Gigasite."

Sparks said representatives of the Holland Ware Charitable Foundation have informed the county they are willing to sell more land as expansion of the county industrial park is needed.   One Okaloosa has estimated that about 2,043 acres of the ranch are available for industrial developmenty.

Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle also attended the Wednesday event, which was held at the Hub City Smokehouse in Crestview.

“DEO is proud to assist the governor in his mission to stimulate job and business growth in Florida,” Eagle said. “This funding will support economic development in Okaloosa County by creating available, ready-to-access sites for industrial development, which will have lasting impacts throughout the region.”

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Okaloosa gets $3.2 million for economic development in Crestview