New Walton County commercial development: Alaqua Industrial Park

For more information, contact John Finch, project developer by phone at 650-6333 or 699-2613 or by e-mail at jfi@web30a.com or check out the Web site at Alaquacommercialpark.com. Realtor Jeffrey W. McDonald of Red Hot Realty in Destin, 837-7078, has the listing.

A new industrial park with a unique mix of attributes will soon be going up on U.S. Highway 331 near Freeport in one of the fastest-growing areas of Northwest Florida.

Developer John Finch’s project, Alaqua Industrial Park, is ideally located on a 23-acre parcel that sits just three miles from Interstate 10. It is 10 minutes from State Road 20 and 20 minutes from U.S. Highway 98, making it easily accessible to and from most major roadways.

Designed to meet the needs of light manufacturing and small commercial concerns, Alaqua Industrial Park is actually three developments in one.

Fronting the highway will be showroom space, where tenants can set up retail shops with great visibility from the road. Behind them will be warehouse/office space where those same tenants can do their assembling/manufacturing/packaging/distributing. And behind those will be mini-storage units to house the overflow.

Of course not every business that moves into Alaqua Industrial Park will need that much space. But some industries, such as plumbing, granite and cabinet-making, furniture restoration and the like, are tailor-made to such a set-up, Finch says.

“Say you’re a granite or marble manufacturer used to working out of this steel building where all your equipment is and your big noisy trucks are always pulling up and pulling away. It’s not ideal for face-to-face meetings with customers,” Finch points out.

The way he envisions Alaqua, that same granite guy could have a showroom up front to display his product line, while he and his employees do all the manufacturing/assembly work out back. If he wants to do the selling, he can go back and forth by golf cart – he’ll be that close.

“It’s a place to meet with customers, and to entice them in,” Finch says of the showrooms. “Customers would never stop by an ordinary industrial park but since people are going to be driving by and looking in the windows, this provides these small businesses a way to pick up new customers.”

Alaqua Industrial Park will consist of about 18 retail stores/showrooms, up to 24 industrial buildings on half-acre or 1-acre lots, and the mini-storage facility. Ground breaking is expected for early 2007.

Bob Smith of the Walton County Economic Development Council says he welcomes “the opportunities that (Alaqua Industrial Park) can present for Walton County.”

“The more opportunities that business and industry have to establish or expand their operations, the better for all of us,” Smith contends, adding that the EDC works with private developers of business parks.

Finch expects demand to be high.

“There is very limited property zoned industrial in Walton County,” he notes. “And what’s so unique about this 23 acres is that it is so ideally located. Highway 331 is a corridor, you’re 31/2 miles south of I-10 and there is so much growth going on in and around DeFuniak Springs and Freeport.”

Alaqua Industrial Park is close to Owl’s Head, a new 1,000-acre New Urbanism community being planned for Walton County, and to Hammock Bay, a new neighborhood community in Freeport.

Finch, who owns and operates Sunshine Shuttle, which provides transportation services between Pensacola and Panama City Beach, says Alaqua Industrial Park will be a good neighbor. Every effort will be made to preserve the existing trees on the property and the units will be energy efficient and solar powered.

“Long before construction began, John asked for our help to make sure his commercial facilities were developed with energy efficiency in mind,” says Aaron J. Bradshaw, manager of marketing for Chelco. “He is very interested in green technologies. When it comes to making sure that his development is in tune with the environment, John’s dedication is unsurpassed.”

Finch is also providing safe haven for the gopher tortoises already living on the property, paying to dig up the creatures – which aren’t an endangered species – and relocate them to a sanctuary.

“We’re trying to be a leader in the environment and also help our tenants get a good return on their money. We’re passionate about it,” Finch says.

Realtor Jeffrey W. McDonald of Red Hot Realty in Destin, who has the listing, believes many people will be looking at Alaqua as an investment opportunity.

“An investor can purchase a 5,000 square foot warehouse for under $600,000 and lease it out for $5,000 a month,” McDonald explains. “This creates a positive cash flow – plus you’ve got a property that is bound to appreciate because the demand outweighs the supply. Such a rock solid investment is rare in this current market.”