The Triumph Gulf Coast Board met in Santa Rosa Beach yesterday and approved four grant award agreements, advanced two projects to grant award negotiations and voted to initiate new term sheet negotiations with three applicants. In total, these projects represent over $45 million in funds to be distributed in Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Walton counties. 545 new high wage jobs at aviation aerospace and manufacturing companies in four counties will be created.
The Triumph Gulf Coast staff continues regular work with grantees on the implementation of 61 active projects, with an additional 15 projects closed, totaling over $689 million in grants executed since 2018 across the eight Triumph eligible counties.
Bay County
The Triumph Board voted to advance to term sheet negotiations on Bay County Board of County Commissioners’ grant request for up to $3,750,000 to support the creation of Project Clear. The grant funds will be used to improve the former Bay County incinerator building and property to house Project Clear, a commercial and residential glass and glazing manufacturer. The company plans to expand manufacturing operations to Bay County, leveraging the Port of Panama City for raw material imports and Bay County’s southeast US location to capitalize on operational and logistical efficiencies. The company will create at least 150 new jobs paying an average of 115% or more of the Bay County’s average wage.
The Triumph Board voted to approve the grant award agreement on a Bay District School District workforce training grant request for up to $8,075,000 to expand in-demand CTE programs across the District’s five traditional high schools, in the fields of Healthcare, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Computer Science, resulting in 2,880 new industry certifications and dual enrollment milestones over a ten-year timeline. The project will maximize collaborative partnerships with FSU Ascent and FSU InSPIRE.
To maximize BDS’s 6-12th grade computer science and AI programs, high-engaging computer science learning spaces will be created and approximately 900 desktop computer stations will be replaced. The District has identified thirty existing labs and classrooms to be updated to increase student interest and provide the necessary computing power for modern and future computer science and AI coursework and industry certifications.
Escambia County
The Triumph Board voted to approve the grant award agreement on IHMC’s grant request for up to $6,720,805 to support the creation of the National Center for Collaborative Autonomy (NCCA.) The grant funds will seed rapid growth of advanced collaboration between autonomous platforms and systems, and to develop methods for human operators to guide the systems and ensure their safe and effective operation. This project will be transformational for the region with additional non-Triumph funding resulting in over $18 million of direct personal income impact over the life of the project. These direct impacts are likely to galvanize additional local activity and roughly triple investment in this business sector within the Triumph region.
Okaloosa County
The Triumph Board voted to advance to term sheet negotiations on Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners’ grant request for up to $16,800,000 to support the creation of Project Opal. The grant funds will be used to support the recruitment of Project Opal, an aviation aerospace manufacturer, in partnership with Florida Commerce, Space Florida, and the University of West Florida’s (UWF) Industry Resilience & Diversification Fund (IRDF). The Triumph grant funds will be used to support design, engineering and site work activities to prepare a 135 acre site at the County’s Shoal River Ranch Gigasite for the company’s construction of up to three facilities totaling an estimated 1,000,000 sq ft, 336 new high wage jobs paying over 115% of current average Okaloosa wages, and over $1,000,000,000 in capital investment.
Santa Rosa County
The Triumph Board voted to advance to final grant award negotiations on Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners’ grant request for up to $2,483,094 to support the creation of Project Turbo. The grant funds will be used to acquire approximately 12.5 acres of prime industrial property off Highway 90 in Santa Rosa County to house two manufacturing centers, of 80,000 and 150,000 square feet. The company will create at least 60 new high wage jobs paying at least 115% of Santa Rosa’s average wage. The project will add capacity to the manufacturing industry cluster, one of the six targeted industries transforming Northwest Florida.
Walton County
The Triumph Board voted to advance to final grant award negotiations on City of DeFuniak Springs’ grant request for up to $4,229,000 to support the improvement of the City of DeFuniak Springs Airport, in partnership with FloridaCommerce and the Governor’s Job Growth Grant Fund, including the addition of three new spec hangars for aviation aerospace job creators and an access road, to enable it to recruit and retain high-wage jobs.
The project will result in the creation and maintenance of 100 new jobs at the airport paying an average of at least 115 percent of the Walton’s average wage, for an average cost per job to Triumph of $42,290. This is a relatively high cost per job to be awarded by the Triumph Board for companies yet to be identified, but the project is expected to result in substantial employment growth in the highly competitive aviation and aerospace target sector.
The Triumph Board voted to approve the grant award agreement on The Seaside School, Inc.’s grant request for up to $9,557,500 for new and expanded industry certification and dual enrollment programs at the Seaside Collegiate High School (SCHS). The proposed programs are aligned to meet current and future regional workforce needs including Business
Administration, AI, Cyber Security, and Engineering. Funds will be used for furnishings and equipment in new STEM and CTE classrooms, curriculum, cert fees, materials and supplies, and personnel resulting in 3820 milestones made up of industry certification and dual enrollment credit milestones.
The full scope of the Dream Big Walton County $29,004,236 project includes construction of an academic building allowing for increased high school enrollment and the construction of a new building for dual enrollment and workforce education on Northwest Florida State College’s (NWFSC’s) South Walton campus.
All Triumph Counties
The Triumph Board voted to advance to term sheet negotiations on Florida’s Great Northwest grant request for up to $4,777,000 to strategically market the Triumph region to high wage job creators in the region’s target industry sectors. The funds will be used to update the existing Northwest Florida FORWARD economic development strategy, develop a marketing plan from the strategy, and increase targeted business development marketing efforts for the eight- county region. With match proposed at $1,863,040, the total five-year marketing effort will cost $6,640,000.
The Triumph Gulf Coast Board of Directors is appointed by the Governor, Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer, and presiding officers of the Legislature. The appointees to the Triumph Board are Jay Trumbull, Sr. (Chair), David Humphreys (Vice-Chair), Leslie Weiss (Treasurer), Bryan Corr, Sr. (Asst. Treasurer), David Bear, Collier Merrill and Charles Rigdon. All meetings of the Board are public.