OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday held a news conference in downtown Crestview, handing over a check for $3,217,188 to Okaloosa County to fund infrastructure improvements at the Shoal River Ranch Gigasite.
During the event at Hub City Smokehouse & Grill, DeSantis said the funding would attract businesses and foster tens of thousands of jobs in the area.
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“This build-out of this industrial site will create unprecedented opportunities in Okaloosa County consisting of as much as 11,000 new jobs, but we believe that this will include 4,000 new jobs in manufacturing with an economic impact of almost $50 million by the next decade,” DeSantis said.
Located largely between Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 90, about six miles from Crestview, the Shoal River Ranch Gigasite is a highly accessible 10,500 acre collection of land parcels, approximately 2,043 acres of which is set aside for industrial development.
DeSantis said the state awarded the money to Okaloosa County to fund the installation of road, rail, water, sewer and broadband infrastructure for businesses at the site.
“Right now, there are 2,900 manufacturing jobs in all of Okaloosa County, and so this project will more than double manufacturing jobs in this area, so this is big,” DeSantis said. “I know the county is working with a lot of companies right now, and I know there’s a number of them that are on the verge of making announcements and signing on the dotted line to come here. This commitment to the services at the industrial park is going to be huge.”