Aerospace company to bring 100 jobs to Crestview
CRESTVIEW — A global aerospace company moving its U.S. operations to the Hub City should be operating by this time next year, its president says.
Segers Aerospace Corp. is moving its domestic headquarters from South Florida to Bob Sikes Industrial Air Park. It hopes to receive a certificate of occupancy for its new building in August 2008, said company President Howard K. Hadley.
Okaloosa County commissioners approved the project earlier this week. Aviation Industrial Group Inc., a subsidiary of Segers, bought the land.
Segers also has locations in Europe and the Middle East. The company has set up a temporary office near Bob Sikes Airport while the 12.2 acres for its new building is being developed.
The company repairs and overhauls jet engines, particularly the T-56, which is used in the Lockheed C-10, also known as the Hercules. It also works with C-130 engines.
Hadley said the company wanted to move to a smaller area and be near a major military installation such as Eglin Air Force Base.
“It is a logical move for us,” he said. “We wanted a move out of high-density areas like Miami and Opa-Locka.”
Hadley said he was also impressed with the pitch made by county Airports Director Jerry Sealy and the county’s Economic Development Council to locate Segers in Northwest Florida.
County officials have worked for the last few years in building an aerospace hub around Bob Sikes Airport.
Having a commercial contractor such as Segers next to like-minded businesses will provide the airport area with continuity, Sealy said.
“They bring expertise to do engine testing, modification and repairs,” he said.
The company will employ 100 people locally at the outset. That number should grow by 5 to 10 percent annually for the next several years, Hadley said.
The development will feature a 72,000-square-foot building that will house Segers’ administrative offices as well as its repairs and overall operations components.
Two other buildings planned for the site likely will be leased to other companies, Hadley said.