All sorts of development/area news hits the Pensacola News Journal today....(check out the pdf link in the beach development article)....
Navy gives green light to National Flight Academy
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...WS01/808280339
After seven years of planning, the U.S. Navy on Wednesday approved construction of the National Flight Academy at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.
Adm. Gerry Hoewing said the Navy already is releasing funds to move forward with design and construction of the $19.5 million academy.
"We've been working on this for the last year," Hoewing said. "We haven't been too vocal about it in the press, because you don't want to over-promise and under-produce."
Hoewing said construction may begin in early 2009.
Pensacola-based Caldwell Associates and Greenhut Construction were chosen as the architect and general contractor for the project.
The facility's opening is planned for May 8, 2011 — the 100th anniversary of the birth of Naval aviation.
"The vision of the National Flight Academy is to provide an environment where students in seventh grade to 12th grade would have the opportunity to study science and math with aviation as the focus," Hoewing said.
Students in the program will spend a little over five days living at the academy, which will have a Naval aviation theme. Bunk rooms will look like aircraft carrier state rooms, and classrooms will look like carrier ready rooms, Hoewing said.
"They will eat, sleep, live, study and play in the National Flight Academy. It's going to be a great hands-on learning experience," Hoewing said.
Tuition for the program is expected to be $895 a student, which includes food and housing.
"Our vision is that about 50 percent of the students will be on some sort of scholarship program," Hoewing said. "We want to make sure this opportunity is available for all students."
Originally approved in 2001, the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation has since raised more than $30 million for the project. Enterprise Rent-a-Car was the biggest donor, with other donations coming from private investors, major corporations and aerospace industries, Hoewing said.
"Economically, this will have a significant impact to the Northwest Florida region," Hoewing said. "When you bring 264 students into the National Flight Academy from all around the country, a substantial portion are going to bring their parents.
"Most importantly, this is something that needs to be done for our American youth in order for them to get excited about science technology and math."
Susan Cundiff, a teacher at Gulf Breeze High School, said that the program will be a positive learning experience for students.
"It's great science, and it's definitely great physics and math," Cundiff said. "It's good for them to see how science and math work together and how they are applied."
ExxonMobil unveils local tire facility
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...NESS/808280327
ExxonMobil Chemical unveiled a new manufacturing facility in central Escambia County that will create a revolutionary new line of tire inner liners designed to significantly reduce air loss.
The liners will be made with Exxcore DVA, or dynamically vulcanized alloy, and the Pensacola facility, located on Chemstrand Road near the Solutia plant, will be the only facility in the world manufacturing the material.
Plant manager Louis Davis said this $10 million addition prompted the second expansion for the central Escambia County site in three years and recently opened 30 new jobs with more expected to become available as the site grows.
The Exxcore DVA combines rubber and plastic to hold air seven to 10 times better than conventional tires made with halobutyl, Exxon officials said.
Global marketing and sales manager Mike Gallagher said because fuel economy is affected by tire pressure, the product line could save Americans millions of dollars in gas.
"It represents significant potential for annual fuel savings of almost 700 million gallons of gasoline and over 6 million tons per year of potential greenhouse gasses that could be eliminated," Gallagher said. "That's the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road."
The tire liners are 50 percent more durable than standard liners, which improves speed rating and potentially extends tire life.
Global Marketing Manager Vanessa Talbot said Pensacola's facility was chosen to spearhead this effort because it already manufactures products similar to Exxcore DVA, so the transition would be easier.
"We're very confident in its success," Talbot said. "The product has already been tested by every major car company in the world."
Exxon spokeswoman Susan Kattelus said companies should begin manufacturing the tires within the next two years.
The Yokohama Rubber Co. plans to begin making tires with the inner lines this year, and Cheng Shin Rubber Company, the makers of "MAXXIS" brand, plan to debut their tires in 2009.
SRIA talks beach development
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...WS01/808280342
http://www.pnj.com/assets/pdf/DP116631828.PDF
The Santa Rosa Island Authority is looking at conceptual drawings that call for building multiple parking garages and commercial buildings on Pensacola Beach.
The SRIA board hopes to develop the core business area of the beach where the bulk of commercial businesses are concentrated in the area surrounding Quietwater Boardwalk and Casino Beach. The idea is to attract more businesses to build on the beach.
At Wednesday's SRIA committee meeting, Carter Quina, principal partner of Quina Grundhoefer Architects, presented a conceptual design for how the core area could be developed.
"We are looking at a fresh approach to mostly address the parking issue on Pensacola Beach," Quina said.
Here's what the drawings include:
** Four parking garages, with four levels each, to be built in phases. The plan would include two parking decks in the existing Casino Beach parking lot and two decks at the current site of the SRIA office.
** A 64,000-square-foot, three-level commercial building on the Quietwater Sound side. It would include SRIA offices.
** A 130,000-square-foot, six-level commercial building on the Gulf side near Casino Beach parking area.
** Retail space in front of the parking garages to help disguise the look of them.
** A pedestrian foot bridge across Via de Luna, and a pedestrian area alongside the Casino Beach parking decks leading to the Gulf.
** The Visitors Information Center off Via de Luna would be relocated into space in front of one of the parking decks.
SRIA board chairman Thomas Campanella said he liked the conceptual design and that board members would be reviewing the drawings to discuss the details of them at its next meeting.
Local firm lands $43M contract
TECHSOFT will provide Web-based training for Naval tech center
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...NESS/808280326
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I just read that today and I was going to post it lol. But that's encouraging news! Too bad that I'll be off to college by the time any of that stuff is completed.
), but I'll have my A.A. in Pre-law from PJC this December via dual-enrollment classes. So I won't be going there either lol. I want to go to law school (as you've probably guessed) so it would be cool if I could land a job here in the future. But yeah I know what you mean about UWF being a "brain-drain." I have several friends going there this year, and none of them plan or want to stay in the area. 
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