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Business Florida 2015 - The Regions
Northeast Florida
Jacksonville, Orange Park, Palatka, Palm Coast, Ponte Vedra, St. Augustine
QUALITY OF LIFE
Dream region
Jacksonville’s a great place to live the “American Dream” says the “2013 American Dream Cities Report” from Xavier University’s Center for the Study of the American Dream and The Burghard Group, which ranked this city No. 2 among seven where residents believe the American Dream is best being achieved. Attributes cited: material prosperity, diversity and leisure activities.
Speaking of leisure
Jacksonville has it in spades. Catch the annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival (2nd largest in the U.S.), Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Museum of Science and History and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. And for history, there’s St. Augustine, named a “Top 20 Must-See Place in the World” by National Geographic Traveler, the Victorian seaport village of Fernandina Beach and the Civil War battlefield at Olustee.
Sports and recreation
Reasons to cheer in Florida’s Northeast include the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, the AFL Jacksonville Sharks, the Jacksonville Suns (AA baseball) and one of college sports’ biggest rivalries, the annual Florida-Georgia Football Classic. Golf is always in season at more than 80 courses, including TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra where The Players PGA Tournament is held every May.
NOTABLE ADDITIONS/EXPANSIONS
Financial services
On the heels of its 2013 announcement to add 300 jobs and $10 million in capital, Deutsche Bank has received approval from the Florida Office of Regulation to establish an international bank office in Jacksonville, the city’s first; 200 new jobs are anticipated.
Life sciences
An expansion currently under way at the Jacksonville campus of VISTAKON will add 23,000 square feet and another 100 jobs to the firm’s existing staff of 1,900. A division of the Fortune 500 company Johnson & Johnson, VISTAKON manufacturers the ACUVUE® brand of extended-wear disposable contact lenses.
Logistics
Cincinnati-based Total Quality Logistics, the nation’s second largest freight brokerage firm, has opened a sales office in Jacksonville with 16 employees and plans for up to 75 new jobs within three years. This is the firm’s 4th office in Florida and its 21st nationwide.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
