![Whiting Aviation Park north entrance [Ramon Rios | Press Gazette]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-7664be11-af3b-2827-e053-0100007f0d55-7a2deff4-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — The Triumph Gulf Coast Board voted to move forward to a grant award agreement for $8.5M in site development at Whiting Aviation Park. The project, expected to create over 200 high paying jobs, is built on the investment Santa Rosa County made to purchase 267-acres adjacent to NAS Whiting Field and a unique MOU with The Department of the Navy for "through the fence" accesses for private companies. The total project cost is $17,704,975.
Development of Whiting Aviation Park strengthens the region’s aviation cluster with the Pensacola Airport to the west and the Crestview Bob Sikes Airport in Okaloosa County to the east. It enhances the region’s growing aviation industry by providing additional industrial space adjacent to an existing airfield. The proposal supports the regional strategic initiative of expanding the aerospace and defense industry cluster, an industry with a strong outlook for growth.
Targeted investments in the aviation and aerospace cluster are expected to drive supply chain companies to co-locate in the region. Florida is currently #2 in the nation for aviation and aerospace establishments and added more than any other state in the southeastern U.S in 2017.
Triumph Gulf Coast’s board of directors is appointed by the Governor, Chief Financial Officer, Attorney General and presiding officers of the Legislature. The appointees to the Triumph Board are Allan Bense, Dr. Pam Dana, Chair Don Gaetz, Ben Lee, and Stephen Riggs, IV and Jason Shoaf. All meetings of the board are public.
More information about Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc. is available at www.myfloridatriumph.com.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Triumph board moves forward on $17M county proposal