Following the approval of a program to encourage speculative building development, the Office of Business Development received a request to use the speculative building incentive program to build two industrial facilities planned for the Brooksville – Tampa Bay Regional Airport & Technology Center.
The Hernando County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-0 on February 23rd to approve plans for Successful Acquisitions, LLC to construct two 11,000 square foot facilities. One building on Flight Path Drive, Lot 48, and the other on Aviation Loop Drive, Lot 7. The Flight path facility will be built on 1.86 acres and the Aviation facility will be built on 1.24 acres. The total estimated cost of the project for the county will be $37,638.
Funds are currently available in the Business Development Industrial/Economic Incentive Fund, and Successful Acquisitions will be eligible for over $22,000 in incentives that include reimbursement of site preparation costs and no land lease payments during construction. According to County Administrator Len Sossamon, due to the War Powers act, the airport property cannot be sold, and any proceeds resulting in the lease of the property must be used for future development. The general fund will actually reimburse the Aviation fund, so the project is not ‘shortchanging the airport at all.’
The original approval by the Office of Business Development was for three buildings, and there is room in other phases of the Industrial Park for future construction. This will complete the buildout of the first phase of the Industrial Park. The buildings will support manufacturing, distribution, light industrial, with room for about 15 -20 employees each. The 11,000 square foot buildings could be subdivided for two tenants. According to Valerie Pianta at the Office of Business Development, there is already interest in leasing these two buildings that are scheduled to be completed later this year.
Commissioners Dukes and Holcomb suggested that the minimum operating standards could be reduced to allow for the buildings to be further divided into four offices per building, allowing for the space to be used by general commerce.