The facility will feature a combination of wet, dry, and cryogenic lab space available for existing research and manufacturing businesses at NeoCity, such as imec and SkyWater, looking to expand their foothold in the semiconductor and advanced packaging sectors. (Photo/Ken Jackson)
Osceola County and NeoCity leaders Thursday welcomed Florida Secretary of Commerce Alex Kelly to ceremoniously break ground on a 30,000 square foot multi-use lab facility at the Kissimmee tech campus. The facility will feature a combination of wet, dry, and cryogenic lab space available for existing research and manufacturing businesses at NeoCity, such as imec and SkyWater, looking to expand their foothold in the semiconductor and advanced packaging sectors beyond their current roles as anchor tenants at the Center for Neovation, along with space for future new business.
“This modern economic development pattern is how we’ve chosen to move Osceola County forward,” said Osceola County Manager Don Fisher of a project that began in earnest in 2012. “As you know, we are very reliant on tourism and agriculture, and evidence of that, during Covid, we reached 31 percent unemployment. That was the third highest in the United States.”
The new $22 million facility is being largely funded by a $17.5 million grant from the Florida Department of Commerce through a Florida Job Growth Infrastructure Grant Fund.
“This investment is very purposeful and very intentional,” Fisher said. “Thanks to the care of the (county), the governor’s office and Secretary of Commerce, the $17.5 million investment in this building would not be happening.”
Fisher mentioned Zing Drone, which will have a design center in the new building to further its drone detection systems, and Hybrid Enterprises, a St. Cloud firm providing Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems for government, healthcare, multimedia, and academic organizations, that will have new space on the NeoCity campus.
Kelly said Osceola County has the attention of state leaders because of its commitment to resources in a semiconductor industry that, in the past, did much of its work internationally.
“We have probably the fourth largest number of of semiconductor related establishments in the country (at NeoCity),” he said. “NeoCity is a known presence and is really for an industry that had a foothold here. It didn’t have that bright light that attracted not just the country’s attention, but the world’s attention. All of you have done that.
“Why is that important? These are unique space aviation sciences that did not exist at the foot of the supply chain. You’re investing in it. We think about the academic institutions investing here—Valencia College, technical colleges, UCF, the University of Florida. Right now it’s a Florida really elevating its role in quantum technologies. On behalf of the governor myself, thank you for what you’re doing.”
The new facility is the first component of the NeoCity Master Plan to develop the 480 acres site, which also boasts its own electrical power substation. This project is on top of a transformative purchase- and- development agreement with AdventHealth for 20 acres at NeoCity South in St. Cloud, for a state-of-the-art health care campus, announced earlier this year. Under that agreement, AdventHealth will build a multifaceted health care campus in a phased approach, culminating in a hospital with at least 80 beds and room to expand to 200 beds, over the next eight years.
Next up for NeoCity is a Community STEM Day, postponed in February due to the cold snap, will be happening on Saturday, March 28, from 1-4 p.m. at NeoCity. The event will have hands-on activities, interactive learning stations, and real-world STEM exploration of new technologies for all ages. There will be free pizza and a chance to win a tablet.
