Published: Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 5:43 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 8:43 p.m.

The name of the company that has hired a site selection consultant to evaluate potential locations remains anonymous, but interviews with several Volusia County civic leaders this week revealed its an aerospace company looking to build a manufacturing facility.

Economic development boosters say the project is pivotal to efforts to attract higher-paying jobs and tap into the growing commercial space market that NASA and Space Florida are trying to develop in the region.

The consultant, Mike Mullis, met recently with Clay Henderson, a New Smyrna Beach attorney who has been among those opposed to Space Floridas proposed commercial spaceport on NASA-owned land at Shiloh, on the Volusia/Brevard county line.

He identified himself as a site selection consultant for an entity that was interested in developing a commercial spaceport at Shiloh, Henderson said. Mullis told him the company was interested in a site east of U.S. 1 known as the Unatin property, said Henderson. The property is owned by the investor group Oak Hill Partnership, and one of the partners is Steve Unatin.

Mullis declined to comment.

On Monday, at Unatins request, Oak Hill city commissioners voted to change the land use on 415 acres of the 423.7-acre site to allow manufacturing and to increase the maximum building height to 100 feet. The property owner has referred questions to Kent Sharples, president of the CEO Business Alliance, a private group of local business leaders assisting economic recruiting efforts. Sharples is handling negotiations between the city and Mullis, whose website states he has more than 30 years in international site location services.

The project is referred to by codename Project Panther to protect confidential details. Such code names are common in highly competitive economic development efforts and officials are often asked to sign confidentiality agreements. Sharples has said he is bound by such an agreement. He and others say they dont want to risk losing the project to one of the other sites being considered in three Southeastern states. Theyve been told the business would start with 100 jobs and could expand to 300 jobs, paying well above the countys average salary.

Several Volusia County Council members also are familiar with details of this project.

The project would be good for the community, said Volusia County Chair Jason Davis. He said he has been told the facility would provide support services for commercial spaceflight and would not be harmful to the environment.

Originally posted here:

Oak Hill project would bring aerospace jobs