Christopher Mitchell (cmitchell@wmbb.com)
News 13 on your side
Monday, January 29, 2007

Bonifay, Fla - "I've been waiting for this moment for 42 years," says Holmes County Commissioner Phillip Music Monday. He just learned that more than 120 acres of prime real estate on the southwest corner of I-10 and Highway 79 south of Bonifay is being offered for industrial development.

"It's going to be property that's ready to go that we really didn't even know we had - 120 acres to develop - until now," Music says. He adds that this means Holmes County can boast about the real estate to huge manufacturing and distribution companies that could potentially bring thousands of jobs to the region if they decide to build here. "I feel this will put us on the top with the opportunity we have here with an $18 million hospital going over just east of that place here. We're just north of the (new, planned) airport, and we're right there on the Interstate," he says.

The property owners and their representatives will formally tell the Holmes County Commission about the availability of the land at Tuesday night's commission meeting. The commissioners are expected to take a vote on announcing the availability of the land to Opportunity Florida, an organization which promotes economic development in the Panhandle's more rural communities. The organization is in touch with some of the biggest companies in the country interested in finding properties that build distribution centers and other major industrial developments.