Successful because the $78 million federal government undertaking is providing 1,067 jobs with about 25% of that number coming from the immediate Coleman area, 80 miles northwest of Downtown Orlando.

Successful also as those new employees begin pumping a so-far undetermined amount of fresh dollars into the local economy. The development will become the area's largest employer.

But the owner/developer of this 1,400-acre enterprise won't be found on the current membership roster of the National Association of Office and Industrial Parks. The owner/developer is the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, based in Washington, D.C.

The first busload of residents begin arriving in July at the six-building, 581,251-sf Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, FL (Pop. 1,094). When it reaches 100% occupancy, the maximum-security facility will be the largest of its kind in the country, prison bureau officials say.

A total 5,500 felons will be housed at the rural Sumter County campus when the no-vacancy sign goes up by the warden some time in December 2004.

At that time, Coleman's population will soar 410% to about 7,500. "Where in the country could you see such a population explosion in such a short time," a Coleman city hall planner tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity--and with a straight face. About 50 inmates a week will be bused to the pen from crowded institutions around the country.

The Coleman community is so pleased with the clean industry and recession-proof project, town officials are asking the Federal Bureau of Prisons to consider building a sister penitentiary on adjacent land.

"What developer could promise so many new jobs to an area in such a short time," a representative of Sumter County Administrator Bernard Dew's office tells GlobeSt.com. "We don't feel there is a safety factor here at all."

That may be, but the Bureau of Prisons still has 125 security cameras in place in and around the facility. That number could double later, a staffer in the office of Greg Walker, the prison's executive assistant, tells GlobeSt.com. Razor-sharp barbed wire, instead of a subdivision's conventional wood picket fence, surrounds the development.

A hospital ward and a furniture manufacturing division will also be operating at the complex. The Bureau of Prisons houses 135,000 inmates at 98 penitentiaries.

Instant Insights /

'Residents' Arriving in July at Area's Largest Shelter Development

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