With plenty of space to spread out and numerous business-friendly perks, Immokalee Regional Airport is expanding its commercial possibilities with the construction of an industrial park. Low lease rates and numerous benefits (not the least of which is location) present good opportunities for businesses looking to begin, relocate or expand operations.

The 13,000-acre Immokalee Regional Airport is now used primarily for student training, agricultural spraying flights and general aviation traffic, says John Kirchner, manager at the airport. There are three runways, each 150 feet in width and 5,000 feet in length.

But a new plan seeks to diversify business at the airport, in Immokalee and in Collier County. The Collier County Airport Authority, in cooperation with local and federal governments, is building a manufacturing park and actively signing on companies to locate their operations there.

The plan is to bring in higher-paying, less seasonal employers to the local economy - and local labor force. "We want to diversify Collier County's economy from an all-weather economy," says Airport Authority Executive Director John Drury.

The Incubator

The industrial park is being built in phases. Phase One is the current construction of a business "incubator" called the Immokalee Innovation and Technology Center. The new facility broke ground last month and is expected to open in the spring of 1999.

The million dollar incubator is being built by the Collier Airport Authority, which is funding the project through a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and a matching long-term loan from the Collier County.

The 13,000 square-foot facility, due for completion next April, features 10 1,00 square-foot air conditioned bays outfitted with the manufacturing capabilities, including phase three electric, six-inch slabs and an overhead BUS system.

Also in the incubator are communal facilities:

** a calibration testing lab with temperature and humidity monitoring capabilities (one of three such facilities in Florida)

** a tool room

** conference facilities where tenants can hold business meetings or gather with each other to problem solve and share ideas

** a truck well and fork lift

** an office management room with mailboxes, office supplies and secretarial services

Tenants will also have access to an accounting firm, a legal firm and a marketing company to handle their start-up business needs. "There are entrepreneurs, inventors and small manufacturers who are good at what they do," says Collier County Airport Authority Executive Director John Drury, "but they don't have the business facilities."

The building is to be managed by the Global Manufacturing Technology Company, whose president, Larry Fox, was one of the parents of the manufacturing idea along with Drury and Collier County Housing Director Greg Mihalic.

The idea is to help small businesses get off the ground and to move to other facilities - hopefully larger ones - after two to three years. In return, new companies will come to Immokalee, providing new job opportunities other than agriculture to area residents.

The first phase is already sold out to companies looking for space, with a waiting list forming to fill chance vacancies. And the Collier Airport Authority is also planning Phase Two, says Drury, which will consist of a 15,000 square foot building with five 3,000 square-foot bays.

On top of the bays in the incubators, manufacturing companies will have the option of entering into a long-term lease with the Airport Authority for vacant land upon which a company may build customized facilities. Lease rates run about .10 cents per square foot -- $520 a month for a 62,500 square-foot lot, for example.

But there are even more incentives for manufacturers. The Immokalee Regional Maufacturing Park is located within a designated Florida Free Trade Zone, meaning that companies may use the site to import goods into the United States and hold or use them as components of another product without paying duties until that product is sold. The manufacturer will be assessed a duty on the finished product rather than on individual parts, materials or components. It's a deal that can save thousands for smaller companies - even more for large companies. The idea behind the FTZ is to give an incentive to companies to stay on U.S. soil and use American workers.

The park is also located in a Florida Enterprise Zone, which grants state job and electrical tax credits to companies locating there. And it's a Foreign Entrepreneurial Zone, which grants foreign nationals a lowered business investment quota to gain visas.

The airport is even more convenient because of its proximity to larger facilities - Southwest Florida International Airport is only 30 miles away, Miami International Airport is only 80 miles and Tampa International Airport is 124 miles away.

For more information about the Immokalee Regional Airport Manufacturing Center, call Global Technologies at 435-9722.