A company that has already received a 10-year property tax exemption, impact-fee forgiveness and fast-tracked permitting for its construction has one more requirement before buying land in the Tradition Center for Commerce – an 850-foot-long road.
“They want to make sure there’s a road,” City Manager Russ Blackburn told the Port St. Lucie Council during a recent meeting. That meeting asked the council to decide whether or not it should secure the road, even if state grant funding doesn’t come through.
“It doesn’t look too good,” Blackburn said of the city’s request for funds from the state.
Accel International – which makes plated copper wiring used in the aviation, medical and electronic industries – plans to make a $43 million investment via construction and equipment purchases.
It plans to hire 125 employees over three years with an average salary of $47,000; additional upper management positions would pay more.
Already, Accel has locations in Connecticut and Indiana. And while the company expects it will keep its headquarters in Connecticut for now, company representative Dan Chung told both the City Council and County Commission earlier this summer that he anticipates many of the executives putting in requests to transfer to Florida or at least spend vacation time here.
Chung said Connecticut is “a wonderful place to live, but it’s very cold.”
Council members told Chung that Florida – and Port St. Lucie specifically – has the cure for cold.
Economic Development Council President Pete Tesch told the council and the commission this summer that an economic impact analysis concluded Accel International’s move to Tradition would result in a one-time $21.2 million boost to the economy through new construction, and a $20 million annual boost via employment.
The company’s 125-employee hire target would increase through indirect job growth, essentially creating nearly 400 jobs. Tesch said the total economic impact output would be closer to $150 million. “This will have a profound impact,” he said.
The Port St. Lucie City Council Oct. 22 voted unanimously to secure the 850-foot road with no discussion or debate.
“Land it, Mr. Blackburn,” Mayor Gregory Oravec said, noting that Accel would join City Electric and Oculus Optikgerate GmbH, the parent company of Oculus Surgical in St. Lucie West, in Tradition’s Center for Commerce. All three companies have received economic development incentives to move to or expand within Port St. Lucie.