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Economic Yearbook 2007
SOUTHWEST: New Directions
A commercial boom.
Regional Trends
TRENDS: A booming commercial construction market is supplanting the stagnant residential market. ... In Lee County, two new regional shopping malls have opened, and the Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital are undergoing a $200-million expansion. ... In Collier County, government-related building will continue. ... In Charlotte County, meanwhile, new office space and distribution facilities are finally lifting the area out of its Hurricane Charley malaise. "We've had very little space available for a new company to locate in Charlotte County. Now that picture is changing entirely," says Charlotte County Economic Development Director Betty Williams.
CHA LLENGES: Low wages combined with low unemployment rates and a continuing lack of enough high-skilled, high-paying jobs. More than half of the region's jobs are in the low-wage service and retail sectors.
HOT SPOT: Florida Power & Light's plans to build a coal-fired plant in Glades County, where per-capita income is just $21,638, would create 1,600 construction jobs for five years and come with an average payroll of $275 million per year. At build-out, the plant would provide 180 permanent full-time jobs with an average salary of $60,000 and add $21 million to the tax base. Neighboring Hendry County stands to pull in an estimated $3 million a year from a substation and lines that would run through the county.
Sarasota
TARGET DEVELOPMENT: With demand for downtown office space so great that the vacancy rate is just 3%, local leaders are looking to transform a five-mile stretch of U.S. 41 that runs from downtown Sarasota in the south to Bowlees Creek in Manatee County in the north. The project, called Innovation41, seeks improvements in signage, landscaping and streetscapes to create a more vibrant, walkable district that can attract a mix of affordable housing, small-scale shops, restaurants and businesses to the area, which will be renamed The Renaissance Trail. "We're transforming a busy commercial roadway into an education and entertainment pathway through town with a lot of mixed uses," says David Voss, project manager for Innovation41.
