Regional Buzz - Business Growth in Northwest Florida

Alright, alright, I'm tired of hearing that Florida has a big X across it as far as investors are concerned. Even though our second home buyers have become more scarce and our home prices have slipped from their '05/'06 highs, Northwest Florida has some pretty exciting things going on. Small and high-tech businesses take note!

Pensacola is sandwiched between Mobile, AL, to our west and Eglin, AFB, to our east (Fort Walton Beach, FL, Crestview, FL). In between are miles of pristine white sand beaches, comparatively affordable housing and LOTS of opportunity for growing businesses. Let me explain.

Mobile, AL, a short 50 minute drive from Pensacola, has just been announced as home to the joint venture between Northop Grumman and European Air Defense to build 179 air tankers at an estimated cost of $30 to $40 billion over the next 10 to 15 years. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 jobs will be created. This announcement came on the heels of German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp decision to build a plant in the area which will employ approximately 2,700.

Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Air Force Base are just to the east of Pensacola. A 2005 study by the University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development estimated that the military spending for the previous year from the two bases amounted to $2.2 billion for a total economic impact to the region of $6.6 billion.

In part because of military spending, the area has seen the development of a growing cluster of high tech businesses (App River, Epoch Software Systems, AeroVironmental, SimWright, Separation Systems and more). The Pensacola Chamber of Commerce is spearheading an economic development effort, dubbed iTen Wired, to promote synergy between the burgeoning high tech industry that is growing on Interstate 10 between Mobile, AL, and Crestview, FL.

In addition to iTen Wired, here are a few of the initiatives being undertaken in Pensacola:

iTen Wired just held a well attended networking summit for high tech businesses in Mobile.

The City of Pensacola will be building a small business incubator in downtown Pensacola.

The University of West Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition plans an expanded campus including offices, classrooms, labs and even a residential component in downtown Pensacola. The Institute, along with the recently opened Andrews Orthopedic Institute, have found a niche focusing on improving human performance and technology transfer.

A Maritime Park, including a multi-use stadium, a museum, laboratory (Univ. of West FL), retail space and open park space is scheduled to break ground this summer on the Pensacola waterfront. An estimated 1500 jobs will result from this major downtown project.

Want to know more? I'll be happy to share!