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Economic yearbook 2010
Southwest Fla. Yearbook 2010
Market trends offer grounds for 'some renewed optimism.'
Fort Myers-Cape Coral/Lee County
Many in Fort Myers are finally feeling hopeful. Foreclosures have slowed. The resale housing market is improving and jobs are being created.
A $25-million incentive program that the county launched last year has resulted in contracts with eight companies that have begun hiring for 993 jobs.
One recipient, Source Interlink, a publishing, merchandizing and distribution company, says the $1 million it received will enable it to create or transfer 350 positions from its other locations to its Bonita Springs headquarters.
 “We are very busy on the recruiting scene.” — Jennifer Berg, |
NeoGenomics, a provider of cancer genetics testing services, is expanding its Fort Myers headquarters and testing facilities and plans to hire 75 over the next three years.
Jennifer Berg, marketing and communications manager for the Fort Myers Regional Partnership, Lee County’s economic development office, says the county has 33 other expansion and location projects in the pipeline.
Business to Watch
» Algenol Biofuels, a Bonita Springs-based biotech company that turns algae into ethanol, has received a $10-million grant from Lee County to build a 43,000-sq.-ft. facility for its photobioreactors — containers that generate ethanol from algae, saltwater and carbon dioxide. The new venture will create about 120 jobs.
 Former Bonita Bay Group CEO Kitty Green is helping to lead an effort to generate business leads by urging community input via the together4business.com website. |
» Kitty Green, former president and CEO of the Bonita Bay Group and current chairwoman of the Horizon Council’s community outreach committee, is helping to promote a marketing campaign that asks for the community’s help in generating business leads. The “Together We Mean Business” campaign drives people to the group’s website, together4business.com.
» John Dwyer, president and CEO of Interop Technologies, is rapidly growing the company, which creates software and provides hardware for text and picture messaging, mobile internet access and other cell phone features. “You can win in tough markets if you’re in a good industry — if you really tend to your customers and find the holes,” Dwyer says.
