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Construction update: Smart-sensor facility shaping up in Osceola

By Carrie Courtney and Company

Real Estate Agent with Changing Latitudes Real Estate SL3164250

April 07, 2016 08:14 AM

Osceola's Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center has changed a lot since it started vertical construction a little more than a month ago.

What began from just moving dirt around last year on the site near U.S. 192 and Florida's Turnpike in Kissimmee is now noticeably a large building that will be built with lots of steel and concrete to house very expensive equipment to manufacture tiny smart sensors.

"The vertical phase has been in development for 34 days," said Pete Pace, Osceola County's construction and asset management director.

And right now, all hands are on deck as development ramps up. Pace said about 100 workers were on-site during the Orlando Business Journal tour of the building under construction. Pace said at their peak, there will be between 200 to 300 workers in place.

The smart-sensor facility is an important project for Osceola County, as it will help bring in thousands of high-wage jobs in technology and an entry in a market that will have a global impact of $154 billion by 2020. And while the project has a completion date of March 15, 2017, organizations are already anxious to put it to use.

For instance, a University of Central Florida scientist is part of $317 million project to revolutionize textiles. UCF will partner with MIT to create smart sensor-connected clothing, and much of the research will be done at the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center.

The two-story, 54-foot-tall, 100,000-square-foot building will be the anchor for the major 500-acre tech campus Osceola is building. While more details on the tech campus are still developing, take a look at the pictures to see how the smart-sensor facility is coming along.