New Jackson County manufacturing building expected to bring dozens of jobs

JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Revitalizing the Endeavor Property in Marianna and putting the more than 500 acres to use is important to local officials.

“Governor Scott gave us this property right after Hurricane Michael, and my promise to him was that we would use it to revitalize Jackson County and make it a better place,” Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners Jim Peacock said.

They are using it to bring more than 50 new jobs to the area.

“Having an opportunity for good jobs, manufacturing jobs, is vital to our economy and developing employment for our area,” Consulting Engineer David Melvin said.

They hope the sky is the limit as they break ground on what is called ‘Project Blue Sky.’ City and County Officials are fixing up the site, so that a manufacturing company will call it home. Officials say multiple companies are currently competing for the spot.

Even though breaking ground was the first public step in this process, officials have been working behind the scenes since 2017.

“Unfortunately COVID slowed everything down and kind of pushed us back, but we’re just breaking the ground for the first warehouse building at the Endeavor Industrial Park,” Peacock said.

All the money used to build the new manufacturing warehouse is coming from state grants.

“City of Marianna obtained $1.6 million in rural infrastructure funding, and Jackson County was able to obtain $4.6 million from both CDBG program, and from EDA,” Melvin said.

Officials say they are excited to see what this project brings to the area after it is complete in the next year.

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