Orange to help pay for road to keep business

[sunshine]

By Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted March 9, 2005

More than $1.2 million in public money will be spent building a road for a private company in the long-fallow International Corporate Park, under a plan Orange County commissioners approved Tuesday.

The county will pave a 36-foot-wide, nearly half-mile access road opening up 20 acres in ICP where Orlando-based WinDoor Inc. wants to build a manufacturing warehouse. The road project will cost about $2 million.

The state will pick up just under $1.2 million of the tab, while Orange County will spend up to $65,000, mostly in landscaping work and inspection fees, county officials said. ICP and WinDoor will pay the rest.

WinDoor, which makes sliding glass doors and windows for businesses and high-end homes, threatened to leave Central Florida for Valdosta, Ga., which the company said offered a hefty incentive package.

By keeping the company in town, county officials said, the region hangs on to about 100 jobs that pay an average of $16.79 an hour. And they say WinDoor's expansion will generate another 200 jobs. The business will be up and running by February 2006.

Officials also hope the project could serve as something of a kick-start for the roughly 2,400-acre ICP, which has remained virtually undisturbed since Orange County approved it two decades ago.

ICP is at the center of Mayor Rich Crotty's push to foster an east Orange high-tech corridor, a region bracketed by the University of Central Florida and Orlando International Airport.

While the jobs may not be high-tech, they're good-paying positions that should complement the area, said George Rodon, the county's economic-development director.

"This is a great local manufacturing facility," Rodon said. "I think it helps."

Orange also has fast-tracked the new road that would link UCF and the airport. County officials are seeking companies who would build the nearly $16 million first leg, which would extend Avalon Park Boulevard from Alafaya Trail to the Bee Line Expressway (State Road 528).

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It is ok to pay to propel sprawl but not ok to pay for skyscraper.......that's Orange County.