- November 7, 2024
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Gioia Sails South will get a $90,000 incentive to build its new manufacturing facility in Flagler County.
The company, which makes marine fabric products like yacht furniture, bridge enclosures and dodgers, moved to Flagler County in 2013 and has outgrown its current facility on Hargrove Grade.
It plans to invest $2.8 million in building a new facility, and an economic model prepared by CareerSource estimates the total economic impact of Gioia remaining in Flagler and building the new facility at $27.5 million over 10 years.
“We are really getting an amazing return,” Flagler County Department of Economic Opportunity executive director Helga van Eckert told the Flagler County Commission at its regular Dec. 19 meeting. “We’re keeping a wonderful company that employs our local residents. They’re investing $2.8 million right up front …and the new footprint will allow then to create additional jobs.”
Gioia employs 43 people, and the planned expansion would allow it to add an additional 10 jobs, according to a Flagler County staff report.
The purpose of the incentive is to allow for the new construction, van Eckert said. Gioia was one of the companies recruited through economic development initiatives to come to the county. But, said Gioia Sails Vice President Pat Moynihan, “We are out of space, to a point where I’ve had to schedule outgoing and incoming on a daily basis just to free up some space.”
The county agreement states that Gioia would receive the $90,000 over the course of 10 years, based on performance measures including purchasing land for a new facility, constructing a 20,000-square-foot facility and getting a certificate of occupancy, and then meeting required objectives.
“The incentive … has a value equivalent to what we believe the annual county property tax will be once that facility is constructed,” van Eckert said.
For the first two years, 2018 and 2019, Gioia would get $15,000 per year in incentive money under the agreement; for 2020 and 2021, the incentive payout would be $12,000; for 2022 and 2023, it would be $9,000; for 2024 and 2025, it would be $6,000, and for 2026 and 2027, it would be $3,000.
“This is a company that’s already demonstrated a commitment to Flagler County, and what's beautiful about this is … we’re rewarding performance,” Gary Lubi, head of the Flagler County Economic Alliance Council, said during the meeting’s public comment period. “That’s the best way to get your return on investment. This is a company that we want to keep here.”
Until it’s ready to begin construction on its own facility, Gioia plans to lease land from Designs for Health, at the intersection of Commerce Boulevard and Pine Lakes Parkway, and lease out its own current Hargrove Grade facility.
The County Commission voted to approve the agreement. Commissioner Donald O’Brien abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest because the insurance company he works for represents Gioia; the remaining three commissioners voted in favor of the agreement.
