Bakery rolls past Flagler

Enterprise Flagler Executive Director Greg Rawls suggests that a recent, failed try at attracting a bakery is evidence that voters should pass the referendum.

by Andrew O'Brien | Staff Writer

King's Hawaiian bakes a lot of dinner rolls. So many rolls, in fact, that the California-based company accounts for more than half of dinner-roll sales in the U.S. The company recently signed a deal to locate a bakery and distribution operation in Gainesville, Ga. The project is estimated to create 226 jobs within five years.

What does this have to do with Flagler County?

According to Peter Anderson, vice president of Patillo Industrial Real Estate -- North Florida's largest owner of industrial property -- Gainesville, Ga., is similar to Flagler County, except in one respect: The Atlanta suburb had a 111,000-square-foot shell building waiting for a company to inhabit. Flagler County didn't.

Enterprise Flagler Executive Director Greg Rawls said he got the lead on this project about eight months ago, but because the county is lacking industrial facilities, the company decided to take its bakery -- and all 226 jobs -- 450 miles north.

"Our biggest building is a church, and our second-biggest is the School Board transportation building," Rawls said.

Rawls' motivation for pointing out the failed attempt to attract the company is clear: He wants to convince the residents of the county to vote on the economic referendum Nov. 2. The referendum asks voters to raise property taxes by .25 mills for the next 10 years. The funds would be dedicated to erecting speculative buildings and otherwise promoting job growth in the county. Enterprise Flagler, which could play an advisory role to Flagler County in the process, has been criticized for not being more specific in its plans, despite the unveiling of a new county webiste: www.flaglersnewgameplan.com. 

Anderson was brought in on a personal level, not as a consultant, and he said he didn't conduct any studies to confirm his impressions. But he said his company has been in the business of building Class-A industrial parks and facilities for the last 60 years, and he thinks Flagler has a lot to offer, including proximity to Interstate 95, a high quality of life and high-end housing for executives. Those factors, he said, make Flagler a candidate for national and international industrial companies. The missing piece is the top-notch industrial site.

Anderson said as a private developer in Jacksonville, he's generally opposed to governments getting involved in speculative development. But in Jacksonville, companies can choose from 10 million square feet of available industrial space. Not so in rural counties.

"In rural counties ... sometimes the government has to step in, and you hope that they'll be looking to step out as quickly as you can, too, once they prime the pump," he said.

According to Rawls, ITT built the most recent industrial park in the county -- in the 1980s. He said, "The private sector cannot deliver to get the modern facility that this county needs."

Anderson said he found the economic development referendum intriguing. He said that in the end, residents will have to decide whether they want Class-A industrial sites in their community at all. 

Contact Andrew O'Brien at andrew@palmcoastobserver.com.