MILTON — The Santa Rosa County Commission approved a $100,000 Super Qualified Target Industry incentive for Ropella, a growing executive search firm in the Santa Rosa Industrial Park. The company is expanding their headquarters and will hire 50 additional employees over the next five years.
Ropella got its start in Chicago in 1991. In 2008, they built their 13,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters in the industrial park and have grown from five employees to over 40 employees world-wide. The company plans to open offices in Brazil and Asia in the coming months.
"Ropella is a Santa Rosa-based company that rebounded from the economic downturn in years past and today is expanding almost on a daily basis," said BOCC Chairman Bob Cole, District 2. "They have raised the bar not only in their industry but also in architecture in our industrial park. We're very glad to have them."
The company is completing a 2,500 sq. ft. addition and in the coming year will start construction on a 15,000 sq. ft. building, doubling the size of the current facility and creating space for new hires.
"Ropella is excited to announce our chemical, technology and consumer products company clients are hiring and replacing key executives at a record-breaking pace," said Patrick Ropella, chairman and CEO of Ropella.
Ropella's expansion shows that Santa Rosa's business climate is attractive to high performing companies that are looking to thrive and grow according to Shannon Ogletree, director of economic development for Santa Rosa County. "I applaud Ropella for choosing Santa Rosa County for its continued expansion," he said.
The Super QTI Incentive is a performance-based, local incentive for qualifying new or expanding targeted industries and is not paid out until all criteria have been met. Funding for the incentive will come from the economic development portion of the electric franchise fee.
For more information, contact Tina Stewart, business development manager, at 981-2071.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton business wins $100,000 incentive from Santa Rosa County