What began as a
company save has become a thriving, growing industrial complex
What began
with a need to find a suitable location in which to relocate
Piedmont Plastics and its 28 local workers, has become a series of
new capital investments and business development projects that have
created more than $45 million in new tax base and hundreds of new
jobs in Daytona Beach.
“Our approach
was to solve the threat of losing Piedmont’s workers by building a
partnership between the company, the city and Consolidated Tomoka
Land Development Company the owner of the property,” said Volusia
County Economic Development Director Rick Michael. “In less than a
few days we were able to reach an
agreement to fund the construction of a new road and water and sewer
lines that allowed us to open more than 30 acres of new industrial
land for development.”
Michael
credits Bill McNunn, president of Consolidated Tomoka, for quickly
understanding the need to retain the Piedmont jobs and for seeing
the benefits of opening this new industrial area on the west side of
Daytona Beach.
The impact of
the decisions made in 2004 has produced several other projects along
the Mason Avenue extension that is now known as the Gateway Business
Park South.
Since Piedmont’s estimated $4 million investment in the construction
of a 60,000-square- foot distribution center, additional
developments have been attracted to what was only a few years ago a
wooded tract of land between Williamson Boulevard and I-95.
Shortly after
the announcement that Piedmont Plastics would remain in Daytona
Beach, the county’s Department of Economic Development began
negotiations with an
Illinois-based manufacturer of automotive components with the
promise to build another 50,000 square feet and add another 30 - 40
new manufacturing jobs. The company, ARK Technologies, announced its
commitment to expand its operation to a site just south of Piedmont
a few months later.
Site and
building plans for ARK’s new manufacturing plant are under review by
Daytona Beach building officials.
The company
intends to begin construction after the first of the year and to be
in operation in a new Mason Avenue facility by the end of 2007.
Gateway
Business Park South got another boost in late 2004 when Kevin
Bowler, president of Daytona Beverage, the Daytona Beach area
distributor of Anheuser-Busch
products, began exploring a new location to construct a
state-of-the-art refrigerated beverage distribution facility.
Within a year,
the company became the newest corporate participant to discover the
Mason Avenue opportunity by building an 85,000-square-foot
distribution center and moving his 85-member corporate office, sales
and distribution team from Port Orange.
“The work that we accomplished in 2003 and 2004 in opening the
initial phase of the Mason Avenue extension also attracted the
attention of Ocean Design, Inc.,” said
Michael. The county and other community leaders had been working
with Ocean Design since 2002 to find a suitable location for the
company to consolidate its manufacturing, engineering and
headquarters group.
Working with
developer Joe Fisher of Resource Property Rights of Summerland Key,
Ocean Design committed to a longterm lease in what would become the
largest of the Gateway Business Park South’s projects to date, a
100,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to
accommodate the needs of 200 high-skilled, highwage
jobs.
No sooner was
Fisher done with the success of the Ocean Design project he
announced the development of an additional 100,000 square feet of
industrial space to be built along the Mason Avenue extension. This
project, named the Tiki Supreme, is under review by Daytona Beach.
Fisher is not
alone in recognizing the importance of the city’s newest industrial
center. Attracted by the opening and permitting of Gateway Business
Park South by Consolidated Tomoka, Michael J. Cotton of Center
Pointe. announced plans earlier this year to develop an additional
85,350 square feet of class A industrial space.
The Center
Pointe development team includes the architectural firm of BPF
Design Inc. and local engineer Parker Mynchenberg and Associates of
Daytona Beach. The project will consist of two-grade level tilt wall
constructed industrial buildings. Development costs are estimated at
$7 million.
Designed for
manufacturing, warehouse and office use, Center Pointe will feature
three-phase power, 22-foot eave heights and ample parking. The first
building will be 53,750 square feet of which 36,600 already has been
committed by Costa Del Mar, Inc. an Ormond Beach manufacturer.
Costa Del Mar,
a manufacturer of sunglass eyewear, will move the company’s
estimated 70 administrative and production workers to the Gateway
Business Park South upon completion of the Center Pointe
development.
The Center
Pointe project will have up to 48,750 square feet of space available
upon completion. This includes the second building consisting of up
to 31,600 square feet and 17,150 square feet remaining in the first
building that will be occupied by Costa Del Mar. Cotton anticipates
initiating site work before the end of the year. The first of Center
Point’s two buildings is expected to be completed by next year.
“What began as
an economic development effort to save a few jobs in Daytona Beach
now has become a major business development success story that has
attracted more
than 430 high-skilled jobs for Daytona Beach with more to come,”
said Michael.
