What's Up with the Sign? What's Happening at OLF 8?

This sign is posted at OLF 8 Currently

Several folks have asked about the sign up at Escambia County's OLF 8 site in Beulah.  Many have expressed interest in what is being built out there.

We have owned the property since early 2019, and the master plan for this parcel was completed and submitted in 2021.

But with the economic slowdown that has occurred since then, with COVID's resurgence--the property has not received a whole lot of attention from the development community.  According to staff, when the recent meeting at the county was held for interested developers--only three (3) showed up.

So I spoke with Debbie Bowers about this situation a while back, as many of us are surprised that there has not been more interest in this property given all the attributes of this growing area and given the master plan is ready to go.

We have reached out independently and sent packages out to dozens and dozens of firms and yet the property sits and nobody has made an offer.  I'm told via web traffic and word of mouth to include our in-house efforts at marketing this property--we've been contacted about 4 dozen times.

Anecdotally it was reported to me that several initially interested developers passed on the parcel because of the master plan requirements.  But the master plan does represent the compromise that the board agreed to, so for my vote (I'm one of five) I am supporting development that comports with the master plan.

With this as the backdrop at our meeting in August---a commonsense question was put to staff:  Why is there not a sign up at the property announcing it for sale?  It was a question without a good answer so the board directed staff to put a sign up and staff did that.  I am told the sign itself has generated numerous calls and leads---including from a motivated out of state developer that I am told flew in this past Friday to tour the property and meet with staff about this opportunity--specifically on the jobs creating portion.

Additionally--I am aware of two different (2) firms that are also looking at building on the site in the designated commerce portion (phase I).  Each company is looking at 20-30 acres for their buildings and the jobs they intend to bring.

In addition to this--I am aware that there may be interest from the school board in purchasing a portion of the site for Beulah High School--more to come on that I am sure.

And we are all aware of the value of the frontage parcels on 9-Mile Road adjacent to the NFCU properties and the opportunities these parcels present for recapturing the county's investment in OLF-8.

So while things are not moving as swiftly as many had hoped, there is movement and incremental progress.  I still believe that we will more than recoup the taxpayers' investment in this property once we have sold the final parcel, and I also am confident we can all get a win from this field once it is eventually built--with ammenities for nearby residents AND jobs creation for the whole county.

We worked hard to acquire this property, we went through a challenging set of circumstances to get it master planned (and the final master plan product from DPZ is very, very nice),--so now it is time to move to the next step and get it sold and developed.