Aerospace Parts Manufacturer Headed To Airport Park

BROOKSVILLE - County officials are celebrating the decision by an aerospace manufacturing firm to relocate to the Airport Corporate Park.

Intrepid Inc. has finalized plans to set up shop in the park adjacent to the Hernando County Airport, said Valerie Pianta, program coordinator for the Hernando County Office of Business Development.

Intrepid makes precision-machined components that typically wind up in the hydraulic and fuel systems of airplanes and helicopters.

"It's good, clean industry" that pays above the average county wage of $13.29 per hour, Pianta said.

"Manufacturers have a choice of where they can make their product, and we're glad they chose Hernando," she said. It was a decision some two years in the making, said Paul DeSilvio, one of three co-owners of the firm.

The 13-year old business is currently based in Tampa but sought to relocate to get a better deal on land, DeSilvio said. The firm first looked along State Road 54 in Pasco County, and then State Road 52. They were surprised by the cost of land, he said.

Then a friend told DeSilvio about the Hernando County Airport Corporate Park. He and his partners, Tim Tabor and Robert Belle, said the numbers made it an easy decision. Intrepid will lease a 15,000-square-foot building being built to its specifications by Proud Pelican Construction on a 2.25-acre lot. The company will have the option to buy the building, DeSilvio said.

"For what we're paying for a 9,000-square-foot building here (in Tampa), we got a brand new building built for us," DeSilvio said. "It was kind of a no-brainer."

The company employs about 20, he said. Once the deal at the airport started looking like a go, the company began recruiting Hernando County residents. Now about half of Intrepid's workforce live here and are looking forward to a shorter commute, DeSilvio said.

DeSilvio is among those ready for the move, slated to happen by November of this year: He already moved to Spring Hill on the Pasco County side.

"So I'm really anxious to get out there," he said.