Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Navy Federal Credit Union Makes a Formal Offer of $4.2 Million for 100 Acres of OLF 8

NFCU has offered the Escambia BCC $4.2 Million for 100 acres of OLF 8.  Not mentioned are the 300 jobs and the offer to Master Plan the site....


UPDATE--12:00-  I just received a call from NFCU leadership;  although the 300 additional jobs issue does not appear in the written offer to purchase the land from the BCC--that pledge of an additional 300 jobs as additional consideration for the 100 acres still stands, and language to this effect will be worked into any finalized deal made with the county to purchase this land, according to NFCU's interim President of Greater Pensacola Operations Kara Cardona.

ORIGINAL POST below:

Navy Credit Union has made a formal, written offer to purchase 100 acres of the County's soon-to-be acquired 636 acre site in Beulah known as OLF 8.  The offer was made on December 19th, just as everyone (myself included) was focusing on holiday plans, travel, and family.

This offer was not entirely surprising, though.

Two months back-- NFCU sent a letter expressing interest in 100 acres for the purpose of providing additional parking for their employees, a recreation field, and other amenities which would allow them to also add an additional 300 jobs (over and above the 10,000 they are already slated to add under previous agreements).

I responded directly to NFCU when that offer was made.  I reiterated the importance of the jobs creation aspect of this land and our Triumph Gulf Coast application.

As I read through the newest offer, I see the 300 jobs created language is not present in the terms.

This is problematic.

The 300 jobs are of CRITICAL importance.

In order to receive as much as $30 Million dollars from Triumph Gulf Coast (which will help fund regional stormwater infrastructure and offset the county's $17.5 Million dollar acquisition costs associated with OLF 8)--a minimum of at least 1,000 good wage-paying jobs must be created with


 this land.

So the 300 jobs for 100 acres was a great start toward this goal.

I also did not see any mention of NFCU's  previously stated willingness to pay for a master plan for the whole OLF 8 property.  So there are some points that will need to be addressed on this offer.

The BCC will be discussing this offer at our next Committee of the Whole meeting.

I'll be asking about the jobs.  See the written offer below:






2 comments:

Michael McCormack said...

Commissioner, please hold them to their stated promise on this deal. The 300 jobs is of utmost importance as you have stated. The price on the 100 acres seems to be a nice return on part of our investment thus far.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for keeping us informed. We really appreciate you.