MRO project gets more money

Triumph Gulf Coast agreed today to provide another $10 million for Pensacola's ST Engineering expansion project. The funding was $2.5 million less than what the city wanted. The initial grant from Triumph Gulf Cost of $56 million called for a commitment to Pensacola that would create 1,325 jobs and keep them in the community for at least three years. Friday's vote upped that commitment to seven years. Earlier this week, the Pensacola City Council and Escambia County Commission each approved committing an additional $5 million a piece to the project, bringing the local governments' contribution to $15 million each. The $210 million project would expand ST Engineering's aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) footprint at Pensacola International Airport from the current one to four hangars. ST Engineering has said its first hangar, which opened in June and cost $46 million, would generate 400 jobs. With Triumph's vote Friday, the city is still on the hook for about $24.8 million. Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson is optimistic that $20 million of that will come from the state through the Florida Department of Transportation. Triumph's vote Friday removed the March 31 deadline the city was facing to find all of the other sources of funding. Triumph Gulf Coast is the group formed to distributed funds provided by BP to Northwest Florida counties most impacted by the 2010 oil spill. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 02/08/19). Previous