"We had teachers who couldn’t find places to live — people in caring professions, like firefighters, who couldn’t find a home. People asked, ‘What do you do about affordable housing?’ Well, now we’ve got affordable housing." — Jim Moore, director of the Lee County Economic Development Office
Sarasota / Sarasota County
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| See population, income and job statistics from this region. Explore |
 Jim Moore’s Lee County Office of Economic Development manages a $25-million initiative designed to lure companies and help existing businesses. [Photo: Jason P. Smith] |
One of the area’s "strongest assets," the Michigan report notes, is its thriving arts community, which the economists think the area should better use to attract tourism, wealthy retirees and educated workers.
Meanwhile, in a move to protect local workers, the city adopted a policy to hire local laborers for city construction projects; county leaders are pushing to institute a similar labor ordinance countywide. And the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce kicked off an initiative called Sarasota Tomorrow that fast-tracks public projects and provides technical and other assistance to local businesses.
Businesses to Watch
» With 2008 sales of almost $100 million, IntegraClick, a Sarasota-based internet marketing company, has grown 20,000% in the last four years. The company relies on a "cost-per-action" model, meaning that an advertiser doesn’t pay IntegraClick unless "our customer makes a sale," explains Ravi Ghai, vice president of corporate development. The company tripled its staff last year and is still hiring. January was the company’s most profitable month ever, says Ghai, and the company is "hoping to double our revenue this year."
People to Watch
» When popular social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn began to take off several years ago, Bill Jula noticed there were no networks devoted to marketing and sales professionals. In 2006, he and business partner Rich Swier launched Fast Pitch! (fastpitchnetworking.com) to serve those groups. Business leaders throughout Sarasota County, including the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, have recently partnered with Fast Pitch! to help area businesses learn how to leverage social networking to grow and market their businesses. Because the venture is subsidized by a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, every business in Sarasota County can now make unlimited connections and use more than 30 marketing tools to promote their business for free.
Bradenton / Manatee County ?
| Who's Hiring |
| » Sarasota-based internet marketing company IntegraClick is hiring ad representatives, account managers, credit analysts and software programmers. |
| » Partners in Practice, a medical billing company, is hiring billing clerks. |
| » Medical Education Technologies, a Sarasota company that develops learning tools for medical professionals, is looking for a director of government systems, a firmware engineer, a physiologic model developer, a regional sales manager and field service technicians. |
| » Boar’s Head is hiring in sales, marketing, creative services, research and development, accounting and training in its Sarasota location. |
| » NeoGenomics Laboratories in Fort Myers is looking for technologists and sales reps. The company is also hiring laboratory assistants. |
| » Pyper Engineering in Fort Myers is seeking an Autocad draftsperson, a certified building instructor and engineers. |
Price alone used to be enough to make Manatee County a more attractive place to do business than Sarasota or Hillsborough County, economist Hank Fishkind recently told the local economic development commission. Today, he says, there is less difference. Other issues that pose challenges: Major infrastructure needs, steep impact fees and a lengthy and difficult permitting process. Larry Bustle, former Palmetto mayor and newly elected commissioner in Manatee County, is among those pushing to make local government more business friendly. Bustle and other commissioners are re-examining the county’s permitting process and looking for new incentives to help create jobs. One proposal would create flexible zoning for 3,000 acres around Port Manatee. If it’s approved, businesses opting to set up shop in the Port Manatee Encouragement Zone will benefit from local impact fee exemptions, accelerated permitting and other incentives.
Businesses to Watch
» Quasar Bio-Tech, a light therapy device manufacturer that relocated from Valley Forge, Pa., last August, is expanding as it moves its manufacturing operations to Manatee County. The company, which had outsourced its manufacturing to a Texas firm, decided to bring the operations in-house and take advantage of the local workforce. The expansion will create 24 jobs.
People to Watch
» Lars Hafner has instituted sweeping changes in the nine months since he took over as president of Manatee Community College. Hafner refuses to raise class size limits but requires that classes are at least 93% filled — a move he says has saved several hundred thousand dollars.
Naples / Collier County ?
With taxable sales off 27% in Collier County from November 2007 to November 2008, community leaders are taking steps to spur the economy. County commissioners are giving local developers more time to pay their transportation impact fees. The Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, a driving force in the impact fee abatement, has teamed up with the Naples Daily News to launch a robust "buy local" campaign, and the chamber is producing podcasts to help local businesses deal with the downturn. Meanwhile, the Economic Development Council of Collier County has launched an initiative called Project Innovation to help the region transition from a tourism- and real estate-dependent economy to one with more employment in professional services and technology. While times are tough, locals are celebrating small victories. Despite the fact that bookings for conferences and conventions are down about 10%, overall tourism was actually slightly up in 2008. And while home prices continue to decline, sales have been picking up. The Bonita Bay Group, which builds master-planned communities in southwest Florida, reported a 58% increase in residential sales in 2008, compared with 2007.
Businesses to Watch
» The Seminole Casino Immokalee recently underwent a $22-million, 43,700-sq.-ft. renovation that more than doubled the casino’s size and created 600 jobs.
People to Watch
» As a research analyst and portfolio manager at Naples Capital Advisors, P.J. Marinelli, 27, is looking to the U.S. and emerging markets more than to Europe. He is also bullish on Brazil and its domestic consumption prospects.
Fort Myers-Cape Coral / Lee County ?
 The Fort Myers-Cape Coral area, once the epicenter of the housing boom, is now ground zero of the collapse. |
Fort Myers’ sprawling exurbs, with their overgrown subdivisions, have morphed from the epicenter of the housing boom into ground zero of the housing collapse. Lee County — including hard-hit communities like Cape Coral and LeHigh Acres — lost more than 15,000 jobs between the end of 2007 and 2008. Taxable sales plummeted 21% in Lee County from November 2007 to November 2008, according to a February report by the Regional Economic Research Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University. The county is looking to lure companies and help existing firms in high-wage/high-skill industries expand with a $25-million incentive fund. Jim Moore, director of the Lee County Economic Development Office, says the funds can provide companies with significant capital that might not otherwise be available in this tight credit market. The housing crisis might even help the county. Two years ago, Moore says, companies were refusing to move to the area because "we had a housing crisis here of a different type. We had teachers who couldn’t find places to live — people in caring professions, like firefighters, who couldn’t find a home. People asked, ‘What do you do about affordable housing?’ Well, now we’ve got affordable housing."
Businesses to Watch
» Last year, Fort-Myers based Greystone Pharmaceuticals, which develops wound-healing technologies, entered into a worldwide license agreement with 3M Health Care for products using Greystone’s patented PHI technology.
People to Watch
» Chico’s FAS, the Fort Myers-based women’s apparel retailer, is hoping new CEO David Dyer can reinvigorate the company. Chico’s reported a 10.9% decrease in same-store sales in January and a 15% decline in same-store sales for the one-year period that ended Jan. 31. As president and CEO of Lands’ End, Dyer used his merchandising and marketing expertise to pull the retailer out of its malaise in the late 1990s. Dyer, who also worked for Tommy Hilfiger Inc. and the Home Shopping Network, says he plans to grow Chico’s online and catalog sales. Meanwhile, he’s eliminating 180 positions, approximately 11% of the headquarters employee base, saving about $15 million a year.
Charlotte County ?
With tourist development tax revenue trending about 10% below last year’s levels and taxable sales down 16.4% for the year ended November 2008, the county is expecting to get a boost from Major League Baseball. In February, the Tampa Bay Rays kicked off their first spring training season in Port Charlotte — a move that the reigning American League championship team hopes will broaden its fan base and that local tourism officials hope will benefit local restaurants and hotels. The Rays are playing in the recently renovated stadium previously used by the Texas Rangers. The Rays, the state and tourists (through bed taxes) chipped in to pay for renovations to the Charlotte Sports Park.
Business to Watch
» Southwest Florida College has opened a campus in Port Charlotte that will initially offer diploma and degree programs in a variety of healthcare fields. Programs include associate degrees in surgical technician, health information technology and medical assisting as well as degrees in medical assisting, medical billing and coding technology. The campus will also offer online programs for associate degrees in criminal justice and management and degrees in medical billing and coding technology.
Hendry / Glades Counties ?
» Already grappling with an 11.9% unemployment rate, residents in Hendry County are nervous about U.S. Sugar’s plans to sell 180,000 acres to the South Florida Water Management District. Currently, 1,700 people — 23% of Clewiston’s entire population — work for the sugar manufacturer. Leaders in neighboring Glades County are working on a grassroots effort to create an "inland port" distribution center just northwest of Moore Haven. The Everglades Foundation, an environmental group that favors the buyout, is pushing state lawmakers to create an economic plan for affected communities like Clewiston.
De soto / Highlands / Hardee Counties
» BP and Verenium Corp. have formed a 50/50 venture committing $45 million toward building one of the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities in Highlands County. The company will break ground on the 36 million-gallon-per-year facility in 2010 and begin producing fuel in 2011.
| Jobs | ||||
| MSA | Jan. 2008 | Jan. 2009 | % Change | Jobless Rate |
| Bradenton / Sarasota/ Venice |
276,600 | 259,500 | -6.2% | 10.0% |
| Cape Coral/Fort Myers |
226,100 | 205,500 | -9.1% | 11.5% | Naples/Marco Island |
131,100 | 123,300 | -5.9% | 8.8% |
| Punta Gorda | 44,400 | 41,800 | -5.9% | 11.0% |
| Source: Agency for Workforce Innovation | ||||
| HOMES | ||||
| Single-family, existing-home sales by Realtors | ||||
| MSA | Jan. 2009 Sales | 1-Year Change | Jan. 2009 Price | 1-Year Change |
| Fort Myers/Cape Coral |
758 | +124% | $94,900 | -59% |
| Marco Island* |
26 | -16% | $200,000 | -62% |
| Punta Gorda |
175 | NC | $99,500 | -37% |
| Sarasota/Bradenton | 511 | +4% | $144,800 | -41% |
| Source: Florida Association of Realtors * Data from the Marco Island Association of Realtors only |
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| POPULATION TOTALS | ||||
 2.4% or higher  1.0% - 2.4%  1.0% or less |
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| COUNTY | 2009 | Average Annual Growth | ||
| 2005-2009 | Trend | |||
| Charlotte |
160,447 | 1.14% | |
|
| COllier |
334,507 | 2.19 | |
|
| De Soto |
36,141 | 1.31 | |
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| Glades |
11,477 | 0.40 | |
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| Hardee |
29,574 | 1.50 | |
|
| Hendry |
40,450 | 1.23 | |
|
| Highlands |
104,017 | 2.23 | |
|
| Lee |
618,424 | 3.33 | |
|
| Manatee |
331,629 | 2.12 | |
|
| Sarasota |
380,504 | 1.12 | |
|
| Florida | 18,898,835 | 1.60% | |
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| POPULATION BY AGE | ||||||
| Years of Age (2009) | ||||||
| County | 0-14 | 15-19 | 20-39 | 40-64 | 65+ | Total |
| Charlotte |
12.1% | 4.5% | 20.1% | 31.6% | 31.7% | 160,447 |
| Collier |
17.5 | 5.2 | 23.5 | 28.9 | 25.0 | 334,507 |
| De Soto |
18.4 | 6.6 | 33.0 | 25.7 | 16.3 | 36,141 |
| Glades |
14.4 | 5.8 | 28.1 | 30.2 | 21.4 | 11,477 |
| Hardee |
23.5 | 6.8 | 30.4 | 26.4 | 13.0 | 29,574 |
| Hendry |
23.7 | 8.5 | 31.3 | 25.9 | 10.6 | 40,450 |
| Highlands |
15.3 | 5.1 | 22.3 | 26.8 | 30.1 | 104,017 |
| Lee |
16.6 | 5.2 | 25.2 | 30.5 | 22.4 | 618,424 |
| Manatee |
17.4 | 5.5 | 24.2 | 31.1 | 21.7 | 331,629 |
| Sarasota | 13.0 | 4.6 | 20.6 | 32.2 | 29.7 | 380,504 |
| Florida | 18.0% | 6.3% | 25.8% | 32.7% | 17.2% | 18,898,835 |
| PER CAPITA INCOME | |||||
| COUNTY | Per Capita Income 2009 | Source of Income | |||
| Labor | Property | Transfer | |||
| Charlotte |
$37,238 | 48.0% | 32.7% | 19.3% | |
| Collier |
61,470 | 43.3 | 52.1 | 4.6 | |
| De Soto |
22,753 | 64.0 | 16.3 | 19.7 | |
| Glades |
21,648 | 60.1 | 20.6 | 19.2 | |
| Hardee |
22,427 | 71.9 | 11.7 | 16.4 | |
| Hendry |
24,813 | 73.3 | 12.4 | 14.3 | |
| Highlands |
27,418 | 49.0 | 24.6 | 26.5 | |
| Lee |
43,405 | 57.8 | 33.0 | 9.2 | |
| Manatee |
42,936 | 62.3 | 28.7 | 8.9 | |
| Sarasota | 57,218 | 48.9 | 41.5 | 9.6 | |
| Florida | $40,331 | 67.6% | 23.6% | 8.8% | |