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Northwest: Right Time, Right Place
This region grows new business with solid connections and plenty of room.
PENSACOLA/ESCAMBIA COUNTY
Wind power: GE Energy is expanding its existing plant in Pensacola to begin assembling a new 2.5-megawatt wind turbine. The expansion means 80 additional jobs and about $3 million in new payroll.
New facility: The University of West Florida’s new School of Science and Engineering complex, complete with prototype robot fabrication and testing laboratories and a 3-D virtual reality simulator, is slated to open at the Pensacola campus in February 2010.
 Science, technology, engineering and math programs will come together in this new complex at the University of West Florida. [Rendering: University of West Florida] |
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Under construction: 400 employees are slated to begin working at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in East Milton when it opens in January 2010. GEO Group is constructing the $120-million project that will house up to 2,000 prisoners.
OKALOOSA COUNTY
Incubating technology: The University of West Florida Combs Campus in Fort Walton Beach hosts the area’s technology incubator facility for entrepreneurs like Jerry Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer co-founded GovernmentSupportJobs.com, a firm that specializes in helping companies with government contracts find skilled staff to complete their contracted jobs. The technology incubator, jointly launched in April 2009 by UWF and the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County, aims to assist defense-related and technology startups by providing low-cost furnished office space and technical/business support.
WALTON COUNTY
Access plus natural beauty: With proximity to three airports, two deepwater seaports, CSX rail and solid roads (Interstate 10, U.S. 20 and State Road 331), Walton County is an excellent choice for businesses seeking ease of access. Moreover, the beaches of South Walton make up perhaps the neatest 26-mile stretch of shoreline anywhere, earning the “Blue Wave” certification for cleanliness from the Washington, D.C.-based Clean Beaches Council and helping to retain this area’s popularity as a favorite “drive-to” destination; more vacationers have arrived so far in 2009 than in the previous year.
