Cocoa's Paragon Plastics looks to expand in Titusville

• Paragon Plastics may move from Cocoa to a 6-acre site at the Spaceport Commerce Park in Titusville
• The company wants to build a $3 million, 66,000-square-foot manufacturing complex there
• The company is growing, as it diversifies beyond making parts for the boating industry
• The 30-employee business hopes to add 10 employees by the end of 2016

Paragon Plastics founder and owner David Trout knows he took a big risk when, as an employee of the Sea Ray boat plant on Merritt Island, he decided to set out on his own to start a business, making plastic components.

It was a struggle to get the business going 22 years ago, starting with making a connector for marine air conditioning units.

But business grew, and he now has 30 employees at his Cocoa facility.

With a need to expand again, and no room to grow at his St. Johns Street complex not far from Cocoa Village, Trout is ready to take another risk.

He hopes to move to a 6-acre site at the Spaceport Commerce Park in south Titusville, where he wants to build a $3 million, 66,000-square-foot manufacturing complex on Armstrong Road, and add $300,000 in new equipment.

Project Eagle in Titusville approved for $2.5 million in incentives

Trout, the president and chief executive officer of Paragon, however, also is considering a site in east Orange County, near where his biggest customer, boat-maker Correct Craft, is located.

Trout's decision will depend in part on whether Paragon can get property tax breaks from Brevard County and Titusville on his proposed Titusville complex. The value and duration of those tax breaks are still to be determined.

As a preliminary step, the Brevard County Commission on Tuesday will consider qualifying Paragon as an eligible business under the county's tax abatement program. An advisory board of business and government officials on May 19 will meet to recommend the size of the tax break, and that recommendation will go to the County Commission for a public hearing and vote on May 26.

An initial estimate from the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast indicates that Paragon's expansion could qualify for $16,378 a year in tax breaks, while the company would pay $22,720 a year in new taxes on the proposed Titusville complex.

The tax breaks can extend for up to 10 years, and are tied to a formula that takes into account the capital investment, number of jobs created and average annual wage.

Boating industry expands in Brevard County

Trout said Paragon plans to have a $3.3 million capital investment and, by the end of next year, plans to add 10 jobs paying an average of $37,000 a year.

In his report to the county, Trout said the incentives "would be a great benefit to Paragon Plastics' growth and expansion efforts by allowing the company to better leverage its capital to increase efficiency and competitiveness in their production."

The company is growing, as it diversifies from its main business of making parts for the boating industry. It projects annual sales of $8 million by 2018, according to the report.

About half of its work now is outside the boating sector. That includes such things as aftermarket parts for Ford and Chevrolet vehicles, lawn mower grass catchers, manhole attachments, flooring for airport security screening passageways and I-beam protectors for the grandstand area of Daytona International Speedway.

"We're kind of behind the scenes," Trout said, fabricating plastic products of other companies, primarily using a process called thermoforming.

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Trout started his business in a garage on Merritt Island in 1993, making vacuum-formed flanges and transition boxes for marine air conditioning units.

He moved the business 12 years ago to his current site in Cocoa, where he has 35,000 square feet of manufacturing, office and warehouse space in buildings owned by an affiliated company. The company also leases a nearby 3,000-square-foot warehouse.

"The city of Cocoa has been awesome," Trout said. "But we've outgrown the facility we're in. We're maxed out."

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 and dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54.

Three-step process

9 a.m. Tuesday: The Brevard County Commission on Tuesday will consider qualifying Paragon Plastics as an eligible business under the county's tax abatement program. The commission meets at the Brevard County Government Center, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera.

8:30 a.m. May 19: The advisory Ad Valorem Tax Abatement Review Committee of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast will make a recommendation on Paragon's proposed property tax break. The council meets at the Economic Development Commission office, 597 Haverty Court, Suite 40, Rockledge.

9 a.m. May 26: The Brevard County Commission will hold a public hearing and vote Paragon's tax break.

Applying for Paragon jobs

For information about the new jobs at Paragon Plastics, call 321-631-6212.

Another Titusville expansion

Paragon Plastics could join "Project Eagle" as a new business at Spaceport Commerce Park, near Space Coast Regional Airport in south Titusville. The unidentified high-tech manufacturer being referred to as Project Eagle hopes to open a 150-employee manufacturing facility at Spaceport Commerce Park. Those jobs would pay an average of $48,000 a year. The Brevard County Commission on April 28 voted 4-1 to approve $2.5 million in incentives for the company.