March 10, 2026/by James Visona

More High-Wage Jobs Coming To Santa Rosa Industrial Park After COVID Pause

More high-wage jobs coming to Santa Rosa Industrial Park after COVID pause

Pensacola News Journal

March 6, 2026, 3:02 a.m. CT

Lovell Government Services, which is expected to employ 100 and pay above average wages, has turned in plans to build an 80,000-square-foot Santa Rosa County distribution center
Lovell Government Services, headquartered in Pensacola, was founded 2013 by Marine Chris Lovell to ‘ensure America’s Warfighters had access to the most advanced lifesaving resources available’
An application for zoning filed by the Vestcon Builders on Feb. 26 does indicate that the building itself will be constructed to serve two tenants, with each occupying 40,000-square feet.

In 2019, Santa Rosa County Economic Development Director Shannon Ogletree pulled back the curtain on what he’d labeled Project Lionheart and revealed Lovell Government Services as the prospective first business tenant signing up to occupy space within the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10.

Things did not go as planned at that time, though, and business owner Chris Lovell had to step back and recalibrate his plans for development on the 8-acre tract he’d signed a bid sheet to acquire.

“COVID happened,” Lovell said. “That set us back a little, but we have soldiered through.”

Project Lionheart came roaring back to life in 2022 and Lovell signed on for a second time with the county to develop within the industrial park. Now, according to the general contractor hired to build an 80,000-square-foot distribution facility, Lovell Government Services stands only about six months away from breaking ground.

“They’re getting this off the ground,” said John Karlesky, the managing partner at Niceville-based Vestcon Builders LLC, the company hired to construct the building.

Lovell founded the company that bears his name in 2013. The Marine veteran’s motivation, according to the company website, was to “ensure America’s Warfighters had access to the most advanced lifesaving resources available on and off the battlefield.”

The company, headquartered in Pensacola, supplies unique medical, surgical and pharmaceutical resources to organizations that include the Department of Defense and medical organizations associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Buffalo Rock brings hundreds of jobs, millions in investment to East MiltonParent company of Oreo and Ritz relocating to East Milton ‘mecca of distribution’Santa Rosa County secures $1.9M Triumph grant to keep I-10 industrial park growingProject Lionheart roars back to life in Santa Rosa. Project Planes, Trains and Automobiles is next.Santa Rosa County reveals company behind ‘Project Lionheart’ bid for I-10 Industrial Park space

When Lovell originally signed a bid sheet with Santa Rosa County, his company’s plans for the 8 acres within the East Milton industrial park were to construct a 100,000-square-foot distribution center.

When it confirmed in 2022 it would be locating in Santa Rosa County, Lovell Government Services estimated its capital investment would exceed $10 million and the distribution center it ran would employ between 90 and 100 people at wages that exceeded by 150% the estimated $50,000 average wage of county residents.

An application for zoning filed by the Vestcon Builders on Feb. 26 indicates the building itself will be constructed to serve two tenants, with each occupying 40,000-square feet.

The shared site will be constructed so as to provide independent loading dock operations. Twelve total truck docking locations are envisioned, with eight of those belonging to the building’s west side tenant and four to the east side tenant.

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A total of 2,400 square feet will be utilized as office space.

Karlesky indicated that Lovell Government Services Is, at this time, the sole owner and lone perspective tenant of the building he’s contracted to construct.

Ogletree said Lovell had proposed the 80,000-square-foot building with the idea of leasing out warehouse and distribution space until Lovell Government Services expanded to the point where it could utilize the entire facility.

Santa Rosa County has been successful in attracting business to The Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 in large part due to the sites location off four lane State Road 87 in close proximity to Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 90.

The county is presently working to prepare its larger Milton Interchange Park, just up SR 87 from the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10, for occupation by interested companies.

As fate would have it, during the time when Lovell Government Services was retooling its plans for the industrial park site, three companies that finalized negotiations with Santa Rosa County after Lovell have since begun operations.

Damian’s and Hershey’s, both ice cream product distributors, opened their doors in 2025 at sites within Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10 that were acquired not long after Lovell Government Services did so.

In January of this year Buffalo Rock celebrated the opening of its own 352,800 square-foot distribution facility within the industrial park.

Buffalo Rock, the nation’s largest family-owned bottler of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper products, had brought in approximately 200 employees in the month or so that the distribution center had been operational prior to the grand opening. At full strength it will employ between 350 and 400.

Additionally, Mondelez International, producer of Nabisco products, crackers and candies, has opened another 53,610-square-foot distribution center just north of the industrial park.

In the end, Lovell said, being the first in to the industrial park doesn’t mean nearly as much as knowing that soon enough his goal of opening a distribution center in Santa Rosa County will have been realized.

“We’re excited to get this project started,” he said. “We’re last to be in there, but we’re super excited that we made it.”

And he added that his small, veteran owned, business intends to do its part to get along within the confines of the industrial park.

“My neighbors are Hershey’s and Pepsi,” he said. “We’re going to be a good neighbor and let them know that if anything starts to expire we’ll be happy to help them with that.”

March 6, 2026/by James Visona