Project Lionheart roars back to life in Santa Rosa. Project Planes, Trains and Automobiles is next.

Pensacola-based Lovell Government Services has signed on for the second time to locate a 100,000-square-foot distribution center within Santa Rosa County's Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10.

The company, which supplies unique medical, surgical and pharmaceutical resources to the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs Medical organizations, will not be required to pay any of the $595,000 the seven acres it intends to build upon is estimated to be worth, county documents show.

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It met enough economic impact criteria to qualify for a 100% discount of the purchase price.

County Commissioners agreed to terms of the deal and accepted a bid for the property from Lovell at their Thursday meeting.

Lovell Government Services, which has traveled for several years under the Santa Rosa County economic development code name of Project Lionheart, had in 2019 signed a bid sheet with the county to develop on eight acres within the same industrial park.

"Unfortunately, circumstances changed for the company and they were unable to start construction as planned," according to a project summary submitted to commissioners for review.

"He, (owner Chris Lovell) had to recalibrate, look at things differently, and that's what he did," said Santa Rosa County Economic Development Director Shannon Ogletree.

After Lovell stepped back from the original bid agreement with the county, the economic development team negotiated a deal with a new potential tenant.

Ogletree declined to identify the business entity involved, but he said Project Planes, Trains and Automobiles, involves a company with plans to occupy the last 47 acres available within the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10.

Two ice cream distribution centers, Hershey and Damians Ice Cream, presently call the 90-acre Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 home.

Project Planes, Trains and Automobiles is scheduled to be brought before the County Commission in January, Ogletree said.

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Lovell Government Services met or exceeded three economic impact criteria Santa Rosa County uses to apply discounts to the cost of land. The company expects to make a capital investment that exceeds $10 million, employ between 90 and 100 people and pay an average wage that is approximately 150% the county's average wage, which is estimated at around $50,000.

The company also received economic impact points as a "target industry" as determined by the county's 2022 Economic Development Strategic Plan Update.

A spokesman for Lovell Government Services did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the company's plans.

Ogletree said he believes part of the attraction for businesses like Lovell considering locating in Santa Rosa County is the county incentive package that includes discounts on the sale price of land. The county documents reviewed by commissioners before the vote stated the seven acres Lovell had negotiated to buy would have sold for $84,000 an acre without the discounts provided.

Even without incentives, Ogletree said, the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 is "a damn good site," on State Road 87 one-half mile from I-10. And as it fills up, he said he's already receiving inquiries about the 200-acre Milton Interchange Industrial Park slated to go in a short distance up State Road 87. The new park will be the fifth Santa Rosa County industrial park.

More:Santa Rosa County's industrial parks are filling up and one more is in the works

Work at the new industrial park, to be prepared for occupancy at an estimated cost of $36 million, could begin as soon as April, according to Ogletree. The county's efforts to open it were greatly enhanced last year when the Triumph Gulf Coast board, a body that distributes funds Northwest Florida has received out of a lawsuit settled after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, agreed to put $15.9 million toward the effort.

Like its smaller predecessor, the Milton Interchange Industrial Park, also close to I-10, will target businesses specializing in transportation, warehousing and logistics, Ogletree said.

"That has become our sweet spot," he said.