When Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the Center for Neovation in NeoCity in Osceola County last week, he came with a check.
Standing right on the other side of a window where semiconductor manufacturing was going on, the governor presented a $6 million grant to Osceola County to help fund the construction of Neovation Way, a road that would directly link NeoCity to Neptune Road and provide a southern link to the tech park, which has seen a number of investments from outside the county.
The grant for the road project is the second one to come from Tallahassee; former Gov. Rick Scott put through a $5.8 million grant — the largest infrastructure grant in that year’s budget — to complete NeoCity Way through to U.S. 192 at Fortune Road.
So that’s $11.8 million in state funding just for roads within NeoCity — setting the table for the county to continue to roll with its new slogan of, “Be first to what’s next.”
“We knew these things were out there, and with the evolutionary changes in the county, I think that helped influence conversations they were having,” County Manager Don Fisher said following Monday’s County Commission meeting — still clutching that ceremonial check from last Wednesday.
Fisher said the new Neovation Way, which will create a southern portal to NeoCity, is infrastructure important to the Korean company DS Semicon and investor Young-hwa Song, who made the $25 million investment to build a NeoCity city center.
“That property will sit at the corner of NeoCity Way and Neovation Way,” he said. “To be competitive, we believe that’s infrastructure that makes a difference. Our economic development strategy is to put infrastructure in place for companies to succeed, not just pay them to come in here.”
State Rep. Fred Hawkins (R-St. Cloud) also attended the event, and noted he’s worked with Fisher on a state appropriations bill to include funding for the road last legislative session.
“When it wasn’t (originally) funded we continued to push through the Governor’s programs to make what happened a reality,” Hawkins said.
And funding for the roads isn’t the only new investments being made in NeoCity. Minnesota-based SkyWater Technologies has replaced UCF as the operator of NeoCity’s semiconductor fabrication facility, meaning private funding has mostly replaced government funding — NeoCity was always at the top of Osceola County’s legislative priority list at the state Capitol — to power the operations.
There is still a bit the last of state funding through UCF’s budget coming in, the Department of Defense has awarded a $27 million contract, and SkyWater’s operating budget is money being spent locally.
“It’s expensive to operate that fabrication facility,” Fisher said. “While SkyWater is (responsible for) that, it’s still money flowing through Osceola County as a result of it.
Valencia College is also a benefactor of the investment. At the Jan. 5 event, Gov. DeSantis also awarded Valencia College $3.7 million to fund new programs that focus on technology workforce training for semiconductor industries.
DeSantis called the investment in Valencia for robotics technician training program with a specialization in semiconductor production. “A move to expand in-state opportunity.”
“We’ve worked hard in Florida to have more opportunities for expanding vocation education and expanding our manufacturing footprint in Florida,” he said. “Semiconductors are a huge issue worldwide, we are overly depending on foreign nations, the more we can manufacture here, the better.
“Through this program, students will be able to get certified in operating, repairing and designing the robots that create semiconductors in just 14 weeks,” DeSantis said. “Valencia estimates that, in the first two years, 120 people will be able to graduate and immediately find work in the NeoCity technology district, with virtually no debt. Valencia has a proven track record of seeing students graduate.”
“We’re creating jobs that would otherwise be shipped overseas, this is exciting but we have more to do,” Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle said on Jan. 5.
