Crestview Ed Center already attracting job creators

FAMU’s Crestview Education Center has caught the attention of a major job creator in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmacy South, Inc. has expressed interest in establishing a plant in Crestview and forming a partnership with the FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences satellite campus in that city. The FAMU pharmacy program would pipeline its graduates into jobs at the plant and also assist with research projects.

According to the Crestview Bulletin, the first phase of the plant would initially bring 130 new jobs with a total payroll of $6.8 million. The average salary would be more than $52,000 per year. The second phase of the plant would take the total number of jobs up to about 500.

“Once introduced, this will act as a catalyst to induce other pharmaceutical companies to cluster here,” Crestview Mayor David Cadle told the Bulletin. “That is why the pharmacy college is so important to us. It has drawing powers for these sorts of companies.”

Former state Sen. Durell Peaden (R-Crestview) steered a total of $11M into FAMU’s budget during the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions in order to cover the start-up costs for the Crestview Education Center. He also secured $1.5M in recurring money in 2010 for FAMU to use for salaries and operational costs at the center. The current Florida budget grants FAMU another $1.5M to continue funding the campus.

The Crestview center will be FAMU Pharmacy’s first degree-granting satellite location. The pharmacy school’s campuses in Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa do not offer full degrees. They are used as clinical training divisions for advanced students.