The Fort Walton Beach City Council unanimously approved a major development order last Tuesday for Beast Code’s new headquarters at Freedom Tech Center, bringing a rapidly growing defense technology company’s operations into the city.

• The two-story, 36,000-square-foot building will be constructed at 690 Liberty Lane NW as part of the Freedom Tech Center development on property leased from the Air Force.

Beast Code, which started with seven local founders collaborating around a folding table, has evolved into a significant defense contractor with more than 230 employees. The company specializes in digital transformation solutions and virtual reality environments that allow military personnel to train in simulated settings.

“Beast Code is a homegrown business. The young men that started it and operate it are from Fort Walton Beach,” said Jay Odom, the developer of Freedom Tech Center, during the council meeting. “They’ve got over 200 employees that currently are in the City of Mary Esther. They’ll be moving to their new world headquarters here.”

The company’s origin stems from a project with the U.S. Navy to visualize ship designs. Their software platform, Beast Core, enables engineers and analysts to understand designs before construction, allows operators to qualify for complex tasks through virtual training, and provides maintenance workers with necessary data.

• Last year, Beast Code secured a $500 million contract with the Navy. Their technology creates “digital threads” across 3D models, documents and metadata, bringing together previously siloed data sources.

“They can take in cyberspace — if the Navy is building a new ship, they can develop, design the entire ship, every nut, bolt, screw, the engines, the kitchen, the bathrooms, the navigation, everything,” Odom explained to the council.

Growth Management Director Christopher Frassetti told council members that city staff reviewed the application and found it meets all requirements in the land development code and planned unit development agreement.

The project is part of the multi-phase Freedom Tech Center development, which also includes hotels and planned restaurant space. The property was voluntarily annexed into the city and is being developed on land leased from the Air Force.

• Construction is expected to begin as soon as building permits are issued, with a target completion date of September 2026.

Several council members praised the development for bringing high-paying technology jobs to Fort Walton Beach.

“Creating standard operating procedures and mission readiness for our country’s national security,” said Councilman David Schmidt. “And then being from here, the developer being from here, these are things that you hope for in communities.”