By David Adlerstein
An infusion last week of more than $8 million in state monies for Gulf County infrastructure projects boosted hopes that more good paying jobs and affordable housing, two of the region’s most pressing needs, could soon be arriving there.
At a March 3 news conference in Panama City, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly brought two enormous checks that commissioners from Gulf County and Port St. Joe were more than overjoyed to receive.
Gulf County commissioners stand with Gov. Ron DeSantis to receive their giant check. [ Gulf County Economic Development Coalition ]
In the case of Port St. Joe, $2,250,709 in Florida Job Growth Grant Funds were handed down to pay for a two-phase road project that will allow the construction of 177 workforce homes, on 25 acres down 10th Street behind the public works facility. The project includes resurfacing an already existing road along with constructing a new 1,380 linear foot connector road and hardening the utilities underground to protect against potential hurricane winds.
“We feel like this housing will help us take care of workforce employees. We’ve been trying to get it for a long time now. I am ecstatic,” said Mayor Rex Buzzett.
City Commissioner Steve Kerigan traveled to receive the check, as the commissioners were tied up with their regularly scheduled meeting.
“Our city will not reap economic benefits unless we can help attract business and keep folks living and spending more in the city instead of on the road,” said Buzzett. “This offers reasonable places for these folks to live.”
The bigger money, $6 million, came down from the job fund to the county to go towards construction of a floating dry dock, one which Jim McKnight, director of the Gulf County Economic Development Coalition, prefers to refer to as a “shipyard maintenance overhaul repair facility.”
Gulf County commissioners made sure their morning meeting ended with enough time for them to scoot over to Panama City for the presentation.
“It couldn’t be a better day in Gulf County,” said McKnight.
Specifically, the funds will go towards the cost of putting in a set of “mooring dolphins,” which are intricate structures that hold the 425-foot long, 125-foot wide dock in place. They’ll cost about $8.5 million, McKnight said, so the state’s contribution is a significant piece of investment in a facility that will cost about $50 million as part of a $74 million overall project.
“This was the domino that had to fall,” he said.
The county, which recently closed on the acquisition of nearby acreage from the city that will provide space for the overall facility to employ, is busy seeking millions of dollars of assistance from the federal government and from Triumph Gulf Coast to complete the project.
McKnight said the county is banking on a $10 million infusion from the federal government, monies available as part of President Trump’s emphasis on rejuvenating the county’s shipbuilding capabilities.
“I’m optimistic about getting the federal money,” he said, estimating that word from the feds should be forthcoming within the next three months.
The next big chunk is money from Triumph Gulf Coast, where an application has been revamped in order to better conform to Triumph’s metric for job creation. The county had sought $39 million, but that application had to be changed, and so now McKnight estimated the ask will be about $10 million less when it is filed by the end of the year.
In addition, County Commissioner Randy Pridgeon has been championing the inclusion of a maritime academy that will help in the training of both Franklin and Gulf county students for the jobs needed at the repair facility. That academy involves a separate Triumph application, to be filed in conjunction with Tom P Haney Technical College.
The remaining funds needed for the facility will come from the county issuing bonds. “The county will bond the balance on construction costs, and Eastern Shipbuilding will pay the lease payments to retire the bonds,” McKnight said.
Eastern will be a big beneficiary of the new facility, as repair work won’t be diverted to Tampa but completed down the industrial canal.
“There’s a backlog in Tampa and Mobile of over 10 months,” said McKnight. “Demand for repair services is going to be through the roof.”
Currently, Eastern Shipbuilding has 125 outfitting jobs that will be retained, and the project will create an additional 325 jobs.. “We have not outfitted a ship in over a year,” said McKnight. “Outfitting work was kind of cyclical. They have a contract to repair three ships in 2027.”
DeSantis told the news conference that these projects will “Port St. Joe, and Gulf County prosper. Since 2019, the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund has facilitated the creation of more than 42,000 new jobs and 32,000 workforce education opportunities throughout our state.
“Thanks to strategic investments like these, Florida is now the number one state in the nation for workforce education–five years ahead of the goal we had set in 2019,” he said.