The air traffic control tower at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville. | Jacksonville Daily Record
Published on May 13, 2025 at 12:46 pm
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Cecil Airport on Jacksonville’s Westside could soon land a passenger airplane manufacturing operation that city officials say would employ 1,200 workers and bring $430 million in private investment.
The unnamed company, which the city is calling Project Bluebird, proposes initially occupying and upgrading an existing hangar at the airport owned by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
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A memorandum May 6 from Ed Randolph, executive director of the city’s Office of Economic Development, says Bluebird plans to build an airplane manufacturing facility on 80 acres at Cecil with the aid of a 20-year, $20 million tax rebate from the city.
The Mayor’s Budget Review Committee voted unanimously Monday to advance the project proposal and file legislation with City Council to consider approving the city tax incentive and an economic development agreement.
After the vote, Randolph told reporters that projects like Bluebird are a “paradigm shift” for cities like Jacksonville. He compared it to investments made by the auto industry in other southern U.S. cities.
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“Suppliers and other widget makers that’ll be needed to accommodate this particular project I think will attract other aviation groups and other folks of that ilk to do stuff in Jacksonville,” Randolph said.
“So I think it’s just like the car manufacturing business when they set up in certain rural states in the South years ago. Look at the momentum they had after those inmate projects. I think that will be similar here in this case.”
The state of Florida also could kick in financial incentives from the Corporate Income Tax Credit and High Impact Performance Incentive Grant projects to secure the aviation manufacture at Cecil.
According to Randolph, state officials have not determined a final dollar amount. Jacksonville is a finalist to land the facility, but Randolph says the company is considering other cities and states.
“It’s very competitive like a lot of these other projects right now,” he said. “Fingers crossed. We’re optimistic it lands here, but there’s some other states and localities that are pushing hard to win the project as well.”
The remaining runway
In addition to council, the aviation authority board would have to approve the project. The board is expected to discuss the project at a meeting May 19.
City officials have been trying to attract a passenger plane builder to Jacksonville for decades.
Randolph says Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration has been in talks with Bluebird for more than a year. The project would generate $1.24 for every dollar invested by the city, he said.
A project summary included in the budget review committtee’s meeting materials Monday says the project would create 400 jobs by Dec. 31, 2031, with average pay of $90,000 annually. Future expansion could push employment levels to 1,200 by the end of 2040, the document says.
About $140 million of the estimated $430 million invested by Bluebird would be in tangible personal property like equipment and finishes, which is what the city intends to use for the tax rebate called a Recapture Enhanced Value Grant.
The incentive would refund Bluebird 75% of the taxes paid on the tangible personal property over 20 years. Since the land for the project is publicly owned, it’s not subject to ad valorem property taxes.
The city and aviation authority have invested more than $170 million to improve Cecil’s infrastructure and lure industry to the site since it acquired what was formerly Naval Air Base Cecil Field from the U.S. Navy in 1999.
Aviation and aerospace company Boeing opened a 150,000-square-foot Component Operations facility last year at Cecil near the company’s 370,000-square-foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.
Cecil also operates an FAA-certified, horizontal takeoff spaceport.
