PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — A manufacturer who specializes in electrical equipment is coming to Bay County, local leaders said Wednesday.
Central Moloney Inc., which has a headquarters in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is a supplier to a number of large investor-owned utilities, distributors and OEMs throughout the United States, officials wrote in a news release. The company designs and manufactures electrical distribution transformers and transformer component parts.
Central Moloney’s new facility will produce single-phase pole mounted transformers.
“For this expansion in Bay County, Central Moloney Inc. will be leasing an existing 140,000sf facility owned by The St. Joe Company,” according to the Bay County Economic Development Alliance. “The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is located in VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre. The company will make a capital investment of more than $20M and will create 200 new jobs in Bay County.”
The project began with a lead from Florida’s Great Northwest, the regional economic development entity serving the Florida Panhandle.
“Northwest Florida’s unmatched advantages is what piqued the interest with the leadership at Central Moloney Inc.,” said Jennifer Conoley, President & CEO of Florida’s Great Northwest. “Because they chose to invest in one part of our region, we all will benefit. Through this announcement, a total of 362 jobs (direct, indirect and induced) are projected to be created equaling over $19.7 million in new salaries because of the ripple effect of this high impact industry. We are thrilled to see the growth in our manufacturing sector and to welcome CMI to Northwest Florida.”
Officials added that the project was made possible through the combined efforts of Bay EDA, Bay County Board of County Commissioners, Florida’s Great Northwest, Triumph Gulf Coast Fund, University of West Florida – “Industry Resilience and Diversification Fund” and CareerSource Gulf Coast.
“Central Moloney Inc. will be an excellent company in Bay County. This project will be very impactful for our community by bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs to one of our areas of focused growth within the County,” said Bay County Commissioner, Bill Dozier. “The project will be located in a premier business park near our incredible new airport and will employ 200 people in a growing area of Bay County, Florida.”
