Melbourne Economic Development Incentives

Most Melbourne business incentives come from the City of Melbourne, Brevard County and the State of Florida, with the EDC of Florida's Space Coast acting as the regional point of contact.

Three levels of government stand behind most incentive offers in Melbourne, with a regional nonprofit coordinating them. The City of Melbourne's Economic Development Division, part of the Community Development Department, is charged with attracting, retaining and expanding private capital investment, and the city says it works in tandem with Brevard County and State of Florida partners to provide local and state incentives. The same division coordinates capital projects inside the city's community redevelopment areas. The city describes Melbourne as the economic and business hub for South and Central Brevard County.

For larger relocations the regional contact is the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast. The EDC describes itself as the single point of contact for state and local incentives across the Space Coast, assigns each project a project manager, prepares incentive application forms and manages the process in confidentiality. The EDC's own announcements show the practice: Northrop Grumman's 2014 Melbourne expansion was known as Project Magellan throughout the due diligence phase, and Dassault Falcon Jet's 2022 maintenance facility at Melbourne Orlando International Airport was deemed Project Vista.

The City of Melbourne's main local incentive is an Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program of up to 10 years of 100 percent property tax exemption on new investment.

The core local tool is property tax relief. The city's Local and State Incentives Summary lists a City of Melbourne Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program offering up to 10 years of 100 percent property tax exemption on new investment from a new business or the expansion of an existing one, and a separate Brevard County Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program on the same terms. The EDC calls the county version an Ad Valorem Tax Abatement program offered by Brevard County and several local municipalities to companies that meet job creation, wage and capital investment criteria, and says an EDC council of up to 22 investors and municipal partners reviews applications and recommends the level of abatement to the Brevard County Commission. Grant agreements are considered case by case, usually in place of the tax exemption or to supply the local match that some State of Florida incentives require.

The summary lists several other local advantages. Foreign Trade Zone FTZ 136 offers savings or deferrals on U.S. Customs duties on imported goods. HUBZones give qualifying firms preferential access to federal procurement. Expedited permitting assigns help through every local permit tied to a project, and Melbourne International Airport offers preferential land and building lease opportunities for manufacturing and commercial businesses. On its incentive programs page the city adds that it can structure incentive programs for substantial projects on a per project basis, based on projected economic impact, so packages are not limited to the published list.

The Melbourne Economic Enhancement District, known as MEED, is a city district established in 2008 to encourage redevelopment that creates new jobs, improves the environment and revitalizes neighborhoods.

According to the city, its incentives come from two separate state initiatives: economic development and redevelopment incentives offered through Enterprise Florida, which the city's page places under the Governor's Department of Economic Opportunity, and incentives from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for redevelopment projects that also clean up contaminated sites. The two sets may be used separately or together, with City of Melbourne staff providing technical help with the state agency.

A citizen board reviews the applications. The MEED Advisory Committee takes public comment on rehabilitation and redevelopment in the district, considers additional areas for brownfield designation outside it, recommends to the City Council whether to adopt resolutions of support for applicants seeking state incentives, and reviews brownfield site rehabilitation agreements. Its members must live in, do business in, or own property in the MEED, and it meets only when a qualified application reaches the Community Development Department.

The city's incentives summary lists seven State of Florida programs as utilized in Melbourne, ranging from tax refunds and credits to training grants and a road fund.

The city's summary lists the state programs it calls utilized in the City of Melbourne. The Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund pays pre-approved companies $3,000 per net new full-time job, or $6,000 in an Enterprise Zone or rural county, with added amounts for wages at 150 or 200 percent of the average, for high-impact sectors or rising exports through a Florida seaport or airport, and a $2,500 brownfield bonus. The local community where the company locates contributes 20 percent of the total refund, and a single applicant is capped at $5 million. A companion Qualified Defense and Space Contractor Tax Refund uses the same per-job amounts for defense, homeland security and space contractors that create or retain jobs in Florida, which the city lists among programs used in Melbourne.

Larger projects fall under other programs on the city's list. The Capital Investment Tax Credit requires at least 100 jobs and $25 million in eligible capital costs, with an annual corporate income tax credit for up to 20 years. The High Impact Performance Incentive Grant requires 50 new jobs and $50 million in investment within three years, or 25 jobs and $25 million for a research and development facility, with half the grant paid when operations begin. Training programs include Quick Response Training, which the EDC says requires an average wage of at least 115 percent of local or state private-sector wages, and Incumbent Worker Training through CareerSource Brevard. The Economic Development Transportation Fund can pay up to $3 million for public road work tied to a company's location decision.

The state list on the Melbourne page has not kept pace with the statutes. In the 2026 Florida Statutes published by the Legislature, the high-impact business grant, section 288.108, and the capital investment tax credit, section 220.191, are still in force, but a request for the QTI section, 288.106, or the QDSC section, 288.1045, returns the message that the statute cannot be found. A Melbourne business weighing the QTI or QDSC refunds should confirm their status with the state before counting on them.

Downtown Melbourne, the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA and three federal opportunity zone tracts each add place-based incentives on top of the citywide programs.

Place-based programs add another layer. In the Melbourne Downtown CRA, eligible commercial properties may qualify for a matching facade improvement grant of up to $20,000, and the CRA offers public-private partnerships for real estate projects with at least $5 million in capital investment, using tax increment financing to attract the mixed-use, hotel and residential projects the city has judged deficient downtown. In the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA, created May 22, 2001, grants have paid for facade improvements and Art Overlay Zone improvements, funded by tax increment financing that captures city and county taxes on property values above the 2001 base level. The same CRA paid for a sidewalk along Eau Gallie Boulevard and business wayfinding signs, exterior changes and signage on its commercial buildings need prior approval from the Historic and Architectural Review Board, and the Melbourne City Council serves as the agency board for all three of the city's CRAs.

Federal opportunity zones are the third option. According to the city's opportunity zone listing, the U.S. Treasury has designated three Melbourne census tracts, and capital gains reinvested there through qualified opportunity funds can earn tax benefits. The EDC's opportunity zone program lists a temporary deferral, a step-up in basis and a permanent exclusion of gains for investments held at least 10 years, and its area map covers Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay and Titusville.

The EDC's announcements tie its largest Melbourne airport deals to state and local incentive partners, but they do not publish the incentive amounts.

When Northrop Grumman selected Brevard County in May 2014, the EDC release said the expansion could add 1,800 jobs at an average annual salary of $100,000 with about $500 million in new capital investment at Melbourne International Airport, and that the EDC coordinated the state, Enterprise Florida and Space Florida with Brevard County, CareerSource Brevard, the City of Melbourne and the Melbourne Airport Authority. EDC president Lynda Weatherman said the result showed how important economic development incentives are to winning such a project. The October 2022 Dassault Falcon Jet announcement credited the EDC, Enterprise Florida, Space Florida and CareerSource Brevard with securing a $115 million, 400-job maintenance facility at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, without publishing an incentive amount. That release put the average annual wage at $86,120.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, by re-reading the City of Melbourne's economic development, incentive programs, incentives summary, MEED committee, opportunity zone and Olde Eau Gallie CRA pages, the EDC of Florida's Space Coast incentive, opportunity zone and project announcements, and the Florida Legislature's 2026 statute pages.