July 2018

140 141 PALM BAY, FLORIDA “Raytheon Corporation has just started a huge expansion in that area with two phases,”Anderson notes. “The first phase is in construction, right now, and that’s going to total about 500 new, high tech jobs in cyber defense. Just down the street from that, they’re getting ready to clear 25 acres to do a 340-unit apartment complex and retail. And that apartment complex will serve as new housing for Raytheon employees. The same developer has just put contracts out on adjoining properties to do hotel/mixed use. That’s an approved project; the permits are issued, so it’s no longer conceptual. “We want to make a multi-lane boulevard down there, eventually, and the contractor that’s doing the huge apartment complex has bought into that; he’s doing some agreements with our Bayfront Redevelopment Agency to start the first phase of that new multi-way concept in front of his develop- ment. So, instead of us doing it ourself, it now looks like it’s going to become a private/public partnership to get this done. Transportation, between Palm Bay and Mel- bourne. “Lennar Homes is negotiating with the city to get their final plans approved,”Ander- son reports. “Right now, we’re in the stages of getting a utility agreement because, obviously, we have to get utilities out to them. They have three phases set up and they’re ready to roll. That’s another half-million square feet of com- mercial in that area.” The City is also moving forward with its plans for the Bayfront Community Redevelop- ment District, a 1,070-acre area on the Indian River Lagoon, primed for residential, office, commercial, and industrial development. ANDY ANDERSON Director of Economic Development and External Affairs