Titusville Logistics Center ready for groundbreaking
TITUSVILLE – A key component in Port Canaveral’s plan to expand its cargo shipping operations occurs Monday morning, with the groundbreaking of the Titusville Logistics Center along U.S. 1.
Flagler Global Logistics is the owner of the 246,240-square-foot facility, scheduled to be complete early next year, and the Canaveral Port Authority will be the center’s first major tenant.
The center will play a role in the port’s bid to boost cargo traffic, as goods come into Port Canaveral via ships and eventually are transported by rail or truck throughout Central Florida and other parts of the country.
“This further bolsters the city’s position in building out a future industrial employment corridor in Titusville,” said James H. Tulley, mayor of Titusville.
Flagler Global Logistics is a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries. The latter, with roots going back to American business pioneer Henry M. Flagler, is made up of three companies, aside from Flagler Global Logistics. The others are:
All Aboard Florida, which is proposing to build a privately owned and operated intercity passenger rail line between Orlando and Miami;
Parallel Infrastructure, which provides right-of-way management and infrastructure development services;
Flagler, a full-service commercial real estate company.
Port Canaveral also is developing the 270-acre Brevard Crossings site in Cocoa for cargo warehouse space.
The Titusville Logistics Center is the latest good piece of economic news for North Brevard, which has suffered over the past decade from a severe national recession and downsizing at the Kennedy Space Center. Tulley and other officials can boast about other economic progress in the area.
Demolition work has started again on the Miracle City Mall, a site to be re-developed into new commercial and retail space.
In June, Embraer announced it was moving a recently acquired California company, now called Embraer Aero Seating Technologies, to Spaceport Commerce Park in Titusville. That will mean 150 new jobs paying an annual average wage of $48,000.
Also in June, Brevard County commissioners approved $3.49 million in property tax breaks for Lockheed Martin Corp., which says it could create up to 300 jobs in Titusville and make an $80 million capital investment at an aerospace manufacturing plant at 1515 Chaffee Drive in Spaceport Commerce Park. The project includes $52 million in new construction, and $28 million on machinery and equipment.
“North Brevard and Titusville are on the move again,” said Walt Johnson, vice mayor for Titusville and the city’s former economic development director.
“A lot of people counted us as down and out,” Johnson said. “And that’s just not true.”