Northeast
DataFox ranked Jacksonville No. 2 on its 2016 list of “Best Cities for Tech (outside California and New York),” citing its median age (35) and affordability.
Four Fortune 1000 and three Fortune 500 company headquarters are located in Florida’s Northeast.
Straddling the St. Johns River on its way to the Atlantic Ocean, Jacksonville is the nation’s largest city by area and boasts a government structure in which city and county work as one to ensure smooth transitions for companies looking to relocate or expand.
INDUSTRY SECTORS
Logistics / Transportation
JACKSONVILLE Online mega-retailer Amazon has announced plans to establish an 800,000-sq.-ft. fulfillment center along I-295 on Jacksonville’s Northside. Slated to open by fall 2017, the project is expected to create 1,500 full-time jobs.
JACKSONVILLE Porsche Cars North America is the latest manufacturer to select JaxPort as its primary port of entry in the southeastern United States, joining such manufacturers as Audi, Bentley, Volkswagen and Toyota, that ship their vehicles into the U.S. through Jacksonville.
JACKSONVILLE BMW of North America will spend $30 million to build a new regional parts distribution center more than twice the size of its current 210,000-sq.-ft. facility; 25 new jobs are expected. The Jacksonville center ships parts to 94 BMW and Mini dealerships in six southeastern states and Puerto Rico.
JACKSONVILLE Crowley Maritime Corp. has garnered a $130-million contract to provide fleet management, staffing, repair and dry-dock maintenance for five U.S. government-owned Military Sealift Command Roll-On/Roll-Off and container ships. Two of the vessels will remain berthed in Jacksonville.
GREEN COVE SPRINGS Calavo Growers has selected Clay County as the site for its new distribution center. The international avocado processing firm will operate out of a leased 208,000-sq.-ft. building and create 262 jobs.
DUVAL COUNTY At Jacksonville International Airport, eight carriers offer nonstop flights to 28 U.S. cities, plus Nassau and Marsh Island in the Bahamas and Toronto.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY Frontier Airlines continues to grow its service at St. Augustine’s Northeast Florida Regional Airport with the addition of nonstop routes to Philadelphia International and Chicago O’Hare airports.
Key Players
Crowley Marine Corp. | Jacksonville
Landstar System | Jacksonville
Volkswagen Group of America | Jacksonville
2015 was good to the Port of Jacksonville: Some 184,000 cruise ship passengers and 8.2 million tons of cargo, including 656,599 automobiles, passed through.
Northeast
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Finance / Technology
JACKSONVILLE Australia-based Macquarie Group opened a financial services center with 65 employees and the expectation of 120 total.
JACKSONVILLE Ernst & Young will create 450 jobs at a new client service delivery center. The accounting and professional services firm currently employs more than 100 at its Jacksonville office.
JACKSONVILLE Citi will add 800 jobs to its Jacksonville staff of 4,000 as consumer banking and credit services expand.
JACKSONVILLE Financial services technology firm FIS is adding 250 new jobs to its Jacksonville staff of 1,100.
JACKSONVILLE randrr, a digital platform that connects individuals with job opportunities, plans a $9-million expansion at Flagler Center and up to 200 new software development jobs.
Key Players
Citibank | Jacksonville
Convergys | Jacksonville
Deutsche Bank | Jacksonville
Fidelity National Financial | Jacksonville
Enterprise Integration | Jacksonville
IDS | Jacksonville
Manufacturing
JACKSONVILLE Anheuser-Busch subsidiary Metal Container Corporation broke ground in March 2016 on a $175-million expansion. The 200,000-sq.-ft. facility is expected to create 75 new jobs.
YULEE Akron, Ohio-based River Valley Paper Company will site its new Southeast processing facility in Nassau County, where it has operated a sales office for 10 years.
Key Players
Georgia Pacific Corp. | Palatka
Maxwell House | Jacksonville
Rayonier | Jacksonville
Corporate Headquarters
JACKSONVILLE Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of Winn-Dixie, has changed its name to Southeastern Grocers and relocated its headquarters to a 160,000-sq.-ft. facility.
JACKSONVILLE City Refrigeration Holdings, a global specialist in the installation and maintenance of cooling equipment, will establish its North American headquarters with 100 jobs.
Key Players
CSX | Jacksonville
EverBank | Jacksonville
Fidelity National Financial | Jacksonville
Northeast
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Aviation / Defense
ST. AUGUSTINE Defense contractor Northrop Grumman has opened a new manufacturing facility near Northeast Florida Regional Airport, adding 400 jobs to the 1,100 workers the firm already employs in St. Augustine. Workers at the 400,000-sq.-ft. plant will assemble Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for the U.S. Navy and America’s allies.
Northrop Grumman
JACKSONVILLE A $52-million overhaul of Jacksonville Naval Air Station — its first comprehensive refurbishing since 1967 — reached the halfway point in June 2016 with the opening of new runways and taxiways to accommodate modern aircraft and training facilities. Opened in 1940, Jacksonville NAS is Florida’s oldest.
JACKSONVILLE The Lebanese Air Force has purchased six A-29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft built by aircraft manufacturer Embraer as part of a package that includes maintenance, training and other support. Used by 10 air forces around the world, A-29 Super Tucanos are produced at Embraer’s plant near Jacksonville International Airport, which employs 140.
Key Players
Embraer Defense & Security | Jacksonville
FlightStar Aircraft Services | Jacksonville
Kaman Aircraft Corp. | Jacksonville
Northrop Grumman Corp. | St. Augustine
Life Sciences / Health Care
JACKSONVILLE Mayo Clinic has begun construction on a 150,000-sq.-ft. building for oncology, hematology and neurologic/neurosurgical care. The $100-million project will have four floors with the potential to grow to 11 stories; 300 new jobs anticipated.
JACKSONVILLE Johnson & Johnson Vision Care will add five new production lines, a 3-D printing center and a lab at the complex where it manufactures disposable contact lenses.
Key Players
Baptist Health System | Jacksonville
Johnson & Johnson Vision Care | Jacksonville
Mayo Clinic | Jacksonville
Northeast
LIFESTYLE
Stellar schools Educationally speaking, Northeast has plenty to be proud of: Six of the region’s high schools earned gold medals in U.S. News & World Report’s “2016 Best High Schools” rankings; University of North Florida was named one of the best colleges in the Southeast by The Princeton Review for the seventh consecutive year in 2015; Flagler College was again ranked among the top 10 “2015-16 Best Regional Colleges in the South” by U.S. News & World Report; and for the fourth straight year, the entire orthodontics class at Jacksonville University earned a 100% pass rate on the American Board of Orthodontics’ written exam in 2016.
Flagler College
Sports and recreation Reasons to cheer in Florida’s Northeast include: the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, the AFL Jacksonville Sharks, the North American Soccer League’s Jacksonville Armada FC, the Jacksonville Suns (AA baseball) and one of college sports’ biggest rivalries, the annual Florida-Georgia Football Classic, which just renewed its contract at EverBank Field through 2021. Golf is always in season, too, at more than 80 courses, including TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra where The Players PGA Tournament is held every May.
Lots more to see and do Stretch out on 90 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches. Explore the restaurants and shops along downtown Jacksonville’s Laura Street, named one of the top 5 streets in America. Browse the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. Step back in time at the Civil War Battlefield in Olustee or the Victorian seaport village of Fernandina Beach. Find out yourself why Travel + Leisure ranked St. Augustine No. 4 on its 2016 list of “America’s Favorite Towns” (hint: “unique beaches, colorful shopping, distinctly unsnobby locals”).
Downtown Jacksonville