March 29, 2024
National Flight Academy

The National Flight Academy opened in Pensacola last year.

Blue Wahoos stadium

Quint Studer brought the minor league Blue Wahoos to town and helped to finance the team’s stadium.

Photo: Leslie Taylor

Cindi Bonner

Person to Watch - Cindi Bonner

Photo: Tim Ludvigsen

DeTect

DeTect's Radar Wind Profiler

Apalachicola River

The Apalachicola River is a source of water for the population in the growing Atlanta area - but also for marine life in Apalachicola Bay, which supplies 10% of the nation's oysters.

Photo: Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT

Choctawhatchee Bay Bridge

Voters approved a tax to add a two-lane bridge over the Choctawhatchee Bay.

« RETURN TO THE 2013 ECONOMIC YEARBOOK

Northwest Florida

Charlotte Crane | 4/9/2013
Northwest

Strong business growth and record tourism

Concerns about possible military cutbacks

Pensacola/Escambia County

» Economic improvement projects that have been years in the making came to fruition in Pensacola last year — a $35-million National Flight Academy providing aviation-oriented STEM classes and a $7.7-million reconstruction of the downtown library. The downtown Community Maritime Park and baseball venue was also completed.

»  Leading the recovery: Record tourism (up 10% over the same period a year ago), hospital expansions, growing IT businesses and a lineup of new-business prospects resembling pre-recession levels. Still, unemployment is hovering around 8%, and urban poverty levels are high. “I would venture a third of the employable people in the city are either unemployed or underemployed and in desperate need of entry-level jobs,” says business consultant Jerry Maygarden, a former mayor, state representative and hospital executive. As president of West Florida Historic Preservation, he's promoting development of heritage tourism to provide jobs and foster economic growth. The UWF-affiliated organization owns 8½ acres of historic assets in downtown Pensacola, one of Florida's earliest exploration sites.

Businesses to Watch


Ross Overstreet,
CEO, Overgroup


Mark de Vries,
Landrum Europe

» Overgroup: A software company that works with regional telephone companies to enable customers to activate cell phones and pay bills online, has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. Employment is expected to increase from 25 in January to 35 to 40 by year-end.

» Coastal Machinery: The company's shipments of used construction equipment from the Panhandle to Caribbean nations, including Trinidad and Tobago, and to South America are slowly increasing, accounting for 30% of sales; overall sales were up 10% to 12% last year. Similar growth is expected this year, says President Joe Meeks.

» Landrum Professional Employer Services: The employee outsourcing company, which has a staff of 147, expanded twice last year, teaming with a European company to open Landrum Europe in Almelo, the Netherlands, and acquiring two professional employer organizations in the Carolinas. The latter additions increased worksite employees on payroll to 11,000.

People to Watch


Sansing


Barnett

» Sandy Sansing: Sansing, who owns eight auto dealerships, is the 2013 chairman of the Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce. His primary goals include creating 3,000 jobs by 2015, implementing a two-county strategic marketing plan and increasing participation of the chamber's 1,200 members.

» Cindi Bonner: The founder of Fitness Onboard, which provides stand-up paddleboards as exercise platforms, patented her own board, the Fitness Onboard SUP by Dragonfly, and has opened three locations, including a downtown retail shop.

» Jim Barnett, interim CEO of the University of UWF Business Enterprises and associate vice president for facilities at the University of West Florida, is overseeing development of an 18-acre campus center that will have a hotel, conference center, student housing and restaurant/retail space. Construction is projected to start in June with completion scheduled for August 2014.

Escambia Population: 302,758
Population Growth Rate (2009-13): 0.48%
Population by Age:
0-14 15-19 20-39 40-64 65+
18.14% 6.66% 27.61% 32.09% 15.51%
Per Capita Income: $38,372

MSA Dec. 2012 Dec. 2011 % Change Jobless Rate
Fort Walton/Crestview/Destin 92,080 92,736 -0.7% 5.8%
Panama City/Lynn Haven/Panama City Beach 80,172 80,490 -0.4% 8.5%
Pensacola/Ferry Pass/Brent 192,304 190,547 +0.9% 7.8%
Source: Agency for Workforce Innovation

Homes - Single-family, existing-home sales
MSA 2013 Sales 1-Year Change 2013 Price 1-Year Change
Fort Walton Beach 2,698 -3.2% $179,900 +1.1%
Panama City 2,057 +13.9% $148,000 +5.7%
Pensacola 5,379 +11.2% $145,000 +2.8%
Source: Florida Realtors

Tags: Economic Yearbook, Northwest

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Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

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