600 new jobs coming to Treasure Coast

STUART, Fla. - Governor Rick Scott was part of a major economic announcement on the Treasure Coast Thursday. Hundreds of new jobs will soon be on the way to the Martin County, an area plagued by high unemployment. The new jobs, approximately six hundred of them in total, are now officially on the horizon. "The train is turning so to speak and hopefully with the announcement today, we'll be able to look for more things like this," said Congressman Thomas Rooney, a Republican who represents District 16.

The announcement came in Stuart, which is home of American Custom Yachts. The company is expanding, with a lot of help from American Energy Innovations. Together, the firms will produce cutting-edge water turbine blade technology on the Treasure coast. The jobs on the way took investment on both the state and local levels. "It really worked out from a Martin County point of view at a $750 a job, which is remarkably low," said Edward Ciampi, Chairman of the Martin County Board of Commissioners. Local leaders and residents hope the investment pays off. "These six hundred jobs will mean a lot for our local businesses and to the ancillary businesses that will use services that are created by what they do," said Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith. The average annual wage of those jobs will be $43,350.

Until now, these tentative project plans were known only as 'Project Felix', to keep competing ventures at bay. Now, it is clear which entities are involved and that these hundreds of jobs are, in fact, on their way to Martin County.

In a part of Florida where unemployment remains very high, Martin County needs these jobs, and so does Governor Rick Scott. His campaign promise was to create 700 thousand new jobs over seven years. Scott was the keynote speaker at the announcement event. "They are not just doing the exact same thing they did in the past, they are expanding and changing what they are doing to go along with the economy," said the Governor. He said that this job announcement was the largest he has made since taking office. The six hundred jobs should be arriving in the Stuart area over the next five years.