Foy Maloy
My View
I had the pleasure of attending the Nassau County Economic Development Board economic update luncheon Thursday. The standing room-only event was held in the Nassau Room at the Red Bean Center at our Florida State College at Jacksonville campus on William Burgess Boulevard in Yulee. It’s the 30th anniversary of the NCEDB being created.
It was an impressive room full of anyone and everyone involved in or interested in developing Nassau County and planning for it. Or attempting to plan for it. Every elected official from the U.S. Capitol, from Tallahassee and from Nassau County was present. But it is an election year and public visibility is king during the election cycle.
The program began with retiring Nassau County Clerk of the Courts John A. Crawford being recognized by NCEDB Chair Paul Schwend for all of his years of service and contributions to Nassau County. Well done, Mr. Crawford. You are most deserving of the recognition.
The two-hour program was interesting and informative. Peter Anderson with Pattillo Industrial Real Estate Group began with an overview of the plans for the Commerce Park at Wildlight.
Next was Nassau County Deputy County Manager/County Engineer Robert Companion, presenting a brief overview of the enormous Wildlight development. Wildlight roughly encompasses property from Chester Road to the St. Marys River to I-95 to State Road 200. A massive development. Companion stated that when built out, Wildlight will consist of 24,000 new rooftops and 11 million square feet commercial space.
Companion then reviewed the many other county road and park projects that have been approved. For me, this was the best part of the program. The list is very impressive and the projects are located all over the county, not just in Wildlight.
The final guest speaker was Anna Lebesch, vice president of strategy and talent development at JAXUSA Partnership, who spoke about the importance of having a well-educated and prepared work force. The NCEDB partners and networks with JAXUSA in a number of endeavors.
Kudos to the FSCJ Culinary students. They did an amazing job of preparing and serving a Caribbean-themed lunch.
Unfortunately, the planning should have begun 40 or 50 years ago. Nassau County is growing so fast that there’s no way to keep up or catch up. Our county surpassed the 100,000-population milestone in April 2023 and is not slowing down. Nassau County, Florida, is the place to be.