Plans For A Fla.-Based Security Training Campus

Jun 5, 2007 3:57 PM

A proposed $100 million facility envisioned as an extensive security training center has targeted 3,000 acres in Charlotte County, Fla., for a university-style campus with such areas as gun ranges, caves, tunnels and a watercraft assault lake.

The center would train FBI, CIA, military and local and state law enforcement officers -- turning even private security guards into GI Joes able to protect ports, refineries and other vulnerable areas in the United States.

Millions of dollars in federal contracts are up for grabs for the proposed center, named The Grove.

The privately owned facility would be designed to train people to combat terrorism and handle disasters.

Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist has offered his support, calling the project an example of the private sector stepping up to fill a need. "You are focusing on the further security of not only our beloved state but our entire country," Crist told the Sarasota-Herald Tribune. "If there is anything my office can do to assist you ... please do not hesitate to call."

At The Grove, students would train from one day to six months, depending on the subjects. Courses would include intelligence gathering, setting up and reading chemical contamination sensors and analyzing disaster responses.

"Every single person we've ever talked to from the White House to the local sheriff has said: 'Get it done now. We need it,' " says Stephen Alexander, a Fort Myers resident who is one of four investors and developers who started researching the project.

His goal is to sign closing papers on the property and go to the county in September with plans and a request for a zoning change from agricultural to industrial, according to the Tribune.

The partners hope to break ground by July 2008 on the first phase, which would make up 85 percent of the facility and include on-site student housing. It would be completed in 2010. Three other phases would take an additional three years to finish.

Alexander says he toured the country for a site and still chose Florida for its weather conditions and friendly law enforcement. Also, he says, the Charlotte County location was just an hour away from a major airport and close to an interstate.

He says he already has received hundreds of resumes from people across the country who want to become part of the center's staff.

He plans to first tap the local community for retired military, emergency medics and law enforcement and others who are qualified to provide training. The center would hire about 300 people.

Though the facility would be privately owned, investors expect to receive tens of millions of dollars annually in government contracts, Alexander says. Contracts would be in place by the time the center opens its doors.

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