North Central
North Central boasts some of Florida’s most highly educated people: 43% of Gainesville residents over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to the national average of 29%.
Gainesville is home to Florida’s most prolific patent earner — the University of Florida — with 105 U.S. utility patents granted in 2015. (National Academy of Inventors, Intellectual Property Owners Association)
The University of Florida has received $8 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to begin building the second phase of its Florida Innovation Hub (above), a business incubator that has assisted 60 companies to date, resulting in 760 jobs and $50 million in private investment over three years. At roughly 100,000 square feet, the new Hub will be double the size of the original and include an entrepreneurial center for women. Estimated completion: 2018.
INDUSTRY SECTORS
Logistics / Transportation
OCALA FedEx Ground’s new $180-million distribution center opened in early fall 2016 at the Ocala/Marion County Commerce Park just off I-75 with 350 employees. As business grows, the 450,000-sq.-ft. facility is expected to more than double in size to 1 million square feet.
OCALA Paramount Transportation Logistics Services has announced plans to open a 266,000-sq.-ft. facility and create 200 transportation-related jobs in Marion County. Headquartered in Fort Myers, Paramount is part of the Roberts Family of Companies that includes Ocala-based R+L Global Logistics.
DIXIE COUNTY At Cross City Airport, a runway has been repaved using FAA and Florida Department of Transportation funding, totaling $1.8 million, and 10 new hangars are under construction.
GAINESVILLE Gainesville Regional Airport served a record-breaking 217,355 passengers in 2015, up 2% from 2014 and 892 passengers more than its previous record of 216,463 set in 1990.
LAKE CITY Aircraft maintenance firm HAECO Americas has announced plans to grow its presence at Lake City Airport with a capital investment of $2 million and 400 new jobs. HAECO’s Lake City complex currently includes 600,000 square feet of covered hangar space and 1.3 million square feet of ramp area.
Key Players
Cheney Brothers | Ocala
R+L Global Logistics | Ocala
Fedex
North Central
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Technology
GAINESVILLE The University of Florida received $706.8 million in research grants in fiscal year 2015, $5.1 million more than the previous year’s record and representing a 32% increase in UF research awards since 2005-06. Also on the rise: Giving. The university received donations totaling $315 million in 2015.
GAINESVILLE Dutch software company VANAD Group has announced plans to establish its U.S. headquarters in Gainesville with 10 employees to start. With offices in seven countries, VANAD provides products and services that help companies improve customer communications using cloud-based software.
GAINESVILLE IT consulting services company USR Systems will create 140 jobs toward the goal of building a delivery center in Gainesville. The New Jersey-based firm with offices in Michigan, Illinois and India, specializes in mobility, cloud enablement, digital transformation, business intelligence, data analytics and testing.
GAINESVILLE Feathr, the event marketing cloud that got its start at Florida Innovation Hub, has decided to remain in Gainesville and establish its headquarters here instead of relocating to another tech hub like New York or Austin. Feathr’s software allows event organizers to easily connect with their attendees and exhibitors through behavioral marketing and currently powers more than 200 events in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
Key Players
Mindtree | Gainesville
Info Tech | Gainesville
Here Comes the Sun! Duke Energy’s new Perry Solar Facility is up and running. Roughly the size of 17 football fields, the 5 MW facility contains an array of 22,000 solar panels and is the second such facility in Duke’s long-range plan to install up to 500 MWs of solar power in Florida by 2024.
Manufacturing
NEWBERRY Endoscopy Replacement Parts Inc. (ERPI) has been named 2016 “Small Business Exporter of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Launched in 1997 with four employees, the specialty machining firm today has a staff of 14, handles some 2,000 product lines and ships parts to customers in more than 70 countries worldwide.
HIGH SPRINGS ThemeWorks, a full-service fabrication company whose clients include theme parks, zoos, aquariums, casinos, museums, architects, restaurants and movie studios, will add 40 new jobs to meet increasing demand for its services.
LIVE OAK St. Louis-based International Mulch Company has opened a 162,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing and distribution center in Suwannee County, its fourth such facility nationwide, with 30 new jobs. The company recycles rubber products for landscaping and playgrounds.
Key Players
E-ONE | Ocala
Green Technologies | Gainesville
Monterey Boats | Williston
Signature Brands | Ocala
Life Sciences / Health Care
GAINESVILLE U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals 2016-17,” ranks UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital among the top 50 nationwide in nine pediatric specialties: cancer, cardiology/heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology/GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology/neurosurgery, pulmonology and urology. A $20.7-million addition to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit that is to include 16 beds and a dedicated neonatal neuro-intensive care unit is scheduled for completion in 2017.
ALACHUA Biopharmaceutical firm Florida Biologix, which originated at the University of Florida, has merged with Massachusetts-based Brammer Biopharmaceuticals with plans to grow its local operation and develop a 50,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in the Boston area. The new company will be called Brammer Bio. Florida Biologix currently employs 120 in Alachua; 30 new jobs are expected before the end of 2016.
ALACHUA Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. opened its new combined-use corporate office and laboratory facility at Progress Corporate Park in February 2016. The biotech firm, which was founded based on technology developed at the University of Florida, conducts human clinical trials of gene therapies for the treatment of rare eye and lung diseases.
OCALA Ocala Health broke ground in March 2016 on a 10,500-sq.-ft. freestanding 24/7 emergency department on U.S. 441 in Summerfield. The $10-million project will employ approximately 40 full-time health care professionals and is expected to serve more than 15,000 patients annually. Also in the works: the addition of 42,000 square feet of space at West Marion Community Hospital to accommodate expansions of the facility’s emergency department, operating rooms and patient rooms.
Key Players
Munroe Regional Medical Center | Ocala
Ocala Health System | Ocala
RTI Surgical | Alachua
UF Health | Gainesville, Jacksonville
UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital.
North Central
LIFESTYLE
Fun for all Spanning 13 counties, North Central offers activities for every age and interest. Fish the scenic Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers, hike Ocala National Forest (watch out for bears!), browse Cedar Key’s quaint shops or see real Florida wildlife aboard a glass bottom boat at Ocala’s iconic Silver Springs. In Gainesville, browse the Florida Museum of Natural History with its awesome butterfly garden and, just next door, the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (general admission to either is free); visit the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, the only zookeeper training facility with its own accredited zoo on site; or pack a picnic and head for the brand new 32-acre Depot Park downtown, opening in fall 2016 with a football-field sized children’s play area, nature trails and more.
Florida Museum of Natural History
Living large Now under construction just off the University of Florida campus, the 10-story “Standard” is part of a new wave of residential and mixed-use projects in Gainesville targeting students and young professionals. Plans call for 443 residential units, a 144-room hotel and ground-floor retail space.
The Standard, Gainesville
A campus at last In late 2015, the College of Central Florida, which has been offering classes in Levy County since 1993 from a storefront in Chiefland, broke ground on a permanent campus. Located on 40 acres between Chiefland and Fanning Springs, the new Jack Wilkinson Levy Campus — just one building for now — will contain laboratories, general purpose classrooms, a library, auditorium, student services and offices for instructors and administrators.
College of Central Florida, Levy County campus