Local and state officials gathered Thursday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking of Project Titan — a $210 million development project from ST Engineering that is expected to bring 1,300 jobs to Pensacola.
“This is not just a great day for Pensacola, this is a great day for Escambia County and Northwest Florida,” Mayor Grover Robinson said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Thursday’s event is the result of collaboration across government lines from city and county to state to find the funding. Stakeholders such as Pensacola International Airport Director Matthew Coughlin, Florida Secretary of Commerce Jamal Sowell, and Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault spoke at the ceremony.
The final piece of funding for Project Titan was completed in February when Gov. DeSantis announced his office awarded the city a $4.8 million grant from the Florida Job Grant Fund. The state and federal government, the city and the county, and ST Engineering helped pool the money, Robinson said. Other funding sources include $45 million from FDOT; $35 million from the City of Pensacola and Escambia County; and $66 million from Triumph Gulf Coast — its largest grant to date.
Mayor Robinson recalled back a few decades when the Pensacola airport had just two airlines.
“And they both took you to the same place,” he said.
Now, the international airport boasts 30 destinations. And after today's ceremony "the sky is literally the limit," the mayor said when it comes to the airport's future.
“We are Florida’s First, but we are also Florida’s future,” said Robinson. “We are very excited at what that will be.”
Project Titan plans include building three hangars and expanding ST Engineering’s maintenance and repair facility. Jeffrey Lam, President of Commercial Aerospace, ST Engineering, said the goal is to make Pensacola their largest facility.
"We look forward to being a significant contributor to the region’s aviation and economic ecosystem through this milestone project. We are also taking the opportunity to ensure that the new hangars are built with sustainability in mind to reduce the carbon footprint of the business," he added.
Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh expressed enthusiasm at bringing not just more jobs to Pensacola but “good-paying, winning-wage jobs” and gave a shout-out to former Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward, who started the recruitment of ST Engineering to Pensacola.
As a former Escambia County School District board member, Bergosh said “Project Titan” provides an opportunity to keep young talent in the area with the prospect of better jobs.
“This is an investment that pays in dividends,” he said.
