A utility contractor that inspects and repairs sewer and stormwater pipes across Florida is asking Seminole County to clear the way for a sprawling new operations campus just off I-4 in Sanford. Atlantic Pipe Services, acquired less than a year ago by an Atlanta private equity firm, wants to build a 37,400-square-foot office and maintenance complex on roughly 7.11 acres between the interstate and North Elder Road, southwest of School Street.
The rezoning request landed before the Seminole County Planning and Zoning Commission, which voted unanimously on Nov. 4 to recommend approving the land-use amendment and rezoning, according to GrowthSpotter. The change would redesignate the property for industrial development on the county's future land-use map and swap out its current agricultural and planned-development zoning for M-1 industrial status, a request filed by engineer Bryan Potts of Orlando-based Tannath Design. County commissioners are now expected to take up the matter at a hearing anticipated for Dec. 8.
Who's Behind the Deal
Atlantic Pipe Services provides sewer and stormwater pipe inspection, cleaning and repair for municipal, commercial and industrial customers, and the company also offers trenchless rehabilitation, a technique that repairs underground pipes without digging up the full line, per the GrowthSpotter report. Founded in 2017, the company is currently headquartered at 1420 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Sanford and operates additional locations elsewhere in Florida and in Greenville, South Carolina.
Atlanta-based Eagle Merchant Partners acquired Atlantic Pipe Services on Dec. 1, 2025, for an undisclosed amount, according to William Blair, as cited in the GrowthSpotter report. In a news release, Eagle Merchant Partners described the deal as a completed strategic investment in a company it called a leading provider of inspection, cleaning and rehabilitation services for stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, serving customers from seven locations across Florida. The firm said the partnership marks its fourth platform investment from Fund II and its sixth investment in the commercial services sector overall, and the two companies outlined plans to expand into additional markets, invest in people and equipment, and pursue acquisitions.
Jon Hall serves as Atlantic Pipe Services' CEO, while Keith Carson is a manager at the company, the GrowthSpotter report states. The two men equally own HCME LLC, which purchased a 0.18-acre parcel at 1040 N. Elder Road for $124,000 on April 30, 2026. Most of the proposed project site, however, is owned by SRY Elder Road LLC, which belongs to Steve Young.
A Site With a Complicated History
The land hasn't always been headed for industrial use. Seminole County authorized two planned developments with commercial and industrial uses on much of the property back in 2013, but according to the same report, those developments never broke ground and their entitlements have since expired. Potts has argued the proposed use fits the surrounding area, which GrowthSpotter notes is already supported by nearby warehouses, distribution facilities and offices, though five homes remain just to the east and north of the site.
Atlantic Pipe Services already has a working relationship with the county. Seminole County commissioners selected the company as one of three contractors for culvert cleaning and camera inspection work back in September 2024, part of a contractor roster GrowthSpotter reports carries an estimated $1.5 million in annual spending across the three firms, with work assigned by purchase order.
What the Campus Would Include
Plans for the Sanford campus call for a 23,400-square-foot office building alongside a 14,000-square-foot maintenance building and a 4,480-square-foot covered area, according to GrowthSpotter's review of the proposal. The layout would also include three private fueling stations and a quarter-acre training area, with two new entrances on North Elder Road set aside for passenger and fleet vehicle parking.
Site plans call for a stormwater pond on the property's western portion beside I-4. Industrial zoning rules would require a 50-foot building setback along the front property line, including a 25-foot landscaped strip that must stay unpaved except for driveways, the report states. Project approvals would also require dedicating right of way and improving Elder Road from Church Street to the site's northern entrance, even though Seminole County's five-year capital plan currently includes no programmed improvements to the road.
Open Questions Remain
County staff say the project site has available water and sewer capacity, and frontage requirements call for a 5-foot-wide sidewalk. But drainage remains a bigger question mark: project plans must demonstrate runoff control and show the receiving system can handle the discharge, since the Lake Monroe drainage basin has limited downstream capacity. Seminole County has separately initiated an update to its 2002 Lake Monroe Basin study, according to the Seminole County government, though that effort has not been tied specifically to this project's drainage requirements in available records.
If commissioners approve the land-use changes at the anticipated December hearing, the campus would still need to clear site-plan review and permitting before construction could begin. GrowthSpotter reports that meeting materials reviewed so far do not specify a construction budget, schedule, projected employee count, or whether the new campus would replace Atlantic Pipe Services' existing Sanford headquarters. The outlet also reported that Atlantic Pipe Services representatives were not reached before publication.
