Greenville Economic Expansion

01/14/2019

Savannah Reams: Greene Publishing, Inc.

On Monday, Jan. 7, Governor Rick Scott announced six awards for more than $18 million in funding from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, monies secured by Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature last year. In total, through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, nearly $56 million has been awarded to 22 rural communities, including the Town of Greenville, which has made leaps and bounds over the past year, working to develop economically and recreate the once bustling downtown atmosphere that many so fondly remember.

Greenville has been awarded a total of $1,705,000, which will be used to repurpose a local building into a mattress manufacturing facility and to construct a publicly-owned building to be leased as the only grocery store in town, creating access to food that is currently unavailable to residents. These projects will create jobs and provide economic growth.

"Today, Governor Scott is like Santa Claus in the Town of Greenville," said Town Manager Edward Dean. "By awarding Greenville a $1.7 million Florida Job Growth Grant, United States Senator-elect Scott is helping to change the plight of this evolving community. This grant will allow us to bolster our infrastructure and created much-needed jobs. Suffice it to say the citizens of Greenville are grateful to Governor Scott for his compassionate support of our rural community."

According to Dean, the town is partnering with Clover Farm, who will lease the city-owned property on which the new grocery store will be located. The town is currently in the process of readying a bid request in order to hire an architect company to design floor plans for the renovation of three buildings located in the center of town which, collectively, will be called the Greenville City Center. The center will not only house a Clover Farm grocery store, but, if Dean's plan goes accordingly, a laundromat and doctor's office, both of which are two facilities the town desperately needs.

The mattress manufacturing facility will be located on the property of Twin Oaks Juvenile Development, Inc., located in Greenville. Twin Oaks partnered with the Town of Greenville in order to apply for the Florida Job Growth Grant and will be working with the town to operate the facility. This manufacturing facility will not only provide an estimated 150 jobs to the community, but will also serve as a vocational learning experience for the foster children Twin Oaks serves. "There are 15 different trades we can teach through this facility," said Benjie Read, CFO of Twin Oaks Juvenile Development. "Helping kids is what we do and this is an awesome opportunity to do that. We have a great relationship with the Town of Greenville and we’re happy to partner with them in order to secure this grant. We owe Governor Scott a great deal of gratitude."