Editor's Note: This is the first of a three-part series on a Northwest Florida engineer's plans to enhance North Okaloosa County's economy.
The series' second part, to appear in the Oct. 17-20 Weekend Edition, will focus on the plan's educational component.
CRESTVIEW — Neighbors saw ant hills, prickly pears and armadillo ruts at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, but Okaloosa County engineer Paul Hsu sees the future.
“I feel that North Okaloosa is definitely the most important part of the county’s future, simply because we have a commodity that is absolutely needed to support growth, which is land,” Hsu said.
With partner Bob Keller, a retired Air Force pilot and owner of Sunshine Aero Flight Testing, Hsu took more than 20 acres of scrubland and created the Crestview Technology Air Park on the northwest side of Bob Sikes Airport’s 8,000-foot runway.
With Sunshine Aero’s 40,000-square-foot hangar and office space as the park’s anchor, Hsu and Keller have started exploring further expansion.
To some, their goal — a 60- to 80,000-square-foot, $30 million hangar — might seem lofty thinking.
To Hsu, it’s attainable.
FEASIBILITY
“I honestly believe this is very feasible,” Hsu said. “Our plan — our two little heads got together and we talked about it — is we want to be part of Okaloosa’s growth. It could be the largest commercial hangar in Okaloosa County.”
Hsu said his and Keller’s vision was propelled by several inquiries from a major — but for now, unnamed — world leader in aircraft manufacture.
For the past year and half, the vision has taken shape. Hsu believes within two years, the new hangar and related infrastructure can be a reality, bringing between 200 and 600 high-paying skilled jobs, Hsu said.
“To me, for the next five or 10 years, if you look at Crestview’s growth, it’s going to be in the area of aerospace, avionics or airplane-related industry,” Hsu said.
And that has local leaders' attention.
POLITICAL SUPPORT
With Keller in the pilot’s seat, Hsu, Crestview Mayor David Cadle and Laurel Hill educator Dennis Mitchell flew to Tallahassee last week and met with area Legislative representatives.
“Sen. Don Gaetz looked at me and said, ‘If Paul Hsu is behind this, it’s going to get my support,’” Cadle said.
“Bob Sikes Airport can be the centerpiece of economic development for Okaloosa County for the next 20 years,” Gaetz said. “Dr. Hsu’s proposed hanger expansion, by itself, can add 600 high-paying jobs. I’m doing all I can to help make it happen.”
“To create high-paying, sustainable jobs is the future, and just to talk about it is not going to get things done,” Hsu said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Engineer's vision for Okaloosa County begins at Crestview Bob Sikes Airport