CEP foundation and county to explore proposed shores business incubator program

Kevin Sheilley, the President/CEO of the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership, speaks to Florida legislators during the Marion County Delegation at the Klein Conference Center at the College of Central Florida in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

The Foundation for Chamber Economic Partnership, Inc. (Foundation) and Marion County Community Services plan to approach the Marion County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) at the upcoming regular board meeting on Dec. 21 with a plan to create a business incubator that would serve the Silver Springs Shores area.

The planned site of the program is a unit in the Crystal Square Shopping Center, which is located at 6829 SE Maricamp Road.  According to the Marion County Property Appraiser’s Office, Crystal Square Shopping Center is owned by Discount Mini Storage Of Ocala LLC, which has a listed address in Boca Raton.

The Foundation For Chamber Economic Partnership is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization run by the Chamber Economic Partnership (CEP), and according to its website “supports programs and initiatives in the Ocala Metro which advance Entrepreneurship, Talent Development, and Leadership.”

Kevin Sheilley, President and CEO of the CEP sent a letter to County Administrator Mounir Bouyounes on Dec. 3 stating the desire for the Foundation to begin the program, which would create space for up to ten individuals to set up and grow their retail and service businesses.  The proposed site is located at 6841 SE Maricamp Road and would also house training and office space for support personnel.

According to the letter, the Foundation had initially considered a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to fund the program, however, after the Foundation negotiated a deal with the building owner to pre-pay five years’ worth of rent, which equates to $240,000, but then became aware that the project would not meet CDBG funding guidelines.

As a result, the CEP is asking the county to identify an alternative funding source to initiate the program, with the potential to use CDBG grants for other parts of the plan.

In coming up with the idea for the program, Sheilley said they began to notice that while the outlook for the county as a whole was positive, looking deeper showed a disparity in exactly where the outlooks were mostly positive.

“Several years ago now, we started looking at the data and realized that as much as this area has experienced growth, and success, and significant wage growth, and all those good things, it wasn’t even in that there were areas of our community that have lagged behind [in those areas].”

Sheilley also pointed out the location selected for the incubator is one way to help businesses in those areas of the county that have “lagged behind” to succeed, which in turn, will help the county as a whole.

“For anyone who’s spent much time looking at data, no big surprise, those three communities that have lagged the most are really our three majority-minority communities, West Ocala, Silver Springs Shores, and Marion Oaks.  And so as an entity whose mission is to be the catalyst for a prosperous community, and that means everyone who lives here,” he said.

The CEP will be working with Marion County Community Services on the Foundation’s project, something that Sheilley said has happened more frequently with COVID-related government funding coming into the county and is going well so far.

“This is a newer area for us to be partnering with Community Services.  Because of the CARES Act and some of the things that we did with the county when there was a lot more that we begin working together. You know, this is a new area for them. And so we both have had to kind of learn as we go, but it’s been really, really good. We’re very excited to be able to to expand into the Shores.”

The requested program is split into two items on the meeting agenda.  The first is for an amount not to exceed $240,000 that will be used to prepay a five-year lease, and according to the posted agenda explanation, can be reimbursed via CARES Act Funds.

The second part of the program request comes in the form of a request for an amount not to exceed $400,000 that will be used to improve and update the leased real estate.  In an email response, Marion County Community Services Director Cheryl Martin said CDBG funds may be an option for this portion of the program.

While the proposed lease is not among the documents that have been made public in advance of the meeting, according to the posted meeting agenda, the Sheilley indicates in his letter to the commission he was able to secure a 25% savings by pre-paying the 5 year lease.  It is not known if the lease contains any options to purchase the improved space upon completing of the lease and if so, by whom.

According to Sheilley, if the board approves the program at their upcoming meeting, he believes the incubator will be operational by mid-2022.