Boasting four Fortune 1000 and three Fortune 500 companies — more than any other city in Florida — and the national or divisional headquarters of some 80 firms, Northeast Florida offers a dynamic market for business relocation and expansion. Served by a world-class intermodal transportation system consisting of multiple seaports, airports, railways, highways and a commercially licensed spaceport, this seven-county region of close to 1.6 million residents and a workforce exceeding 790,000 is a focal point for international and domestic commerce.

In Jacksonville — the nation’s largest city by area — city and county governments operate as one, helping to ensure smooth transitions for businesses looking to relocate or expand. Banking, aviation, healthcare, logistics and manufacturing are among the strongest industry sectors. Across the region, home sales are rising, and educational excellence abounds. Five Northeast high schools earned gold medals in U.S. News & World Report’s “2015 Best High Schools” rankings; the University of North Florida was named one of the best colleges in the Southeast by The Princeton Review for a sixth consecutive year in 2014; and Flagler College was ranked among the top 10 “2015 Best Regional Colleges in the South” by U.S. News & World Report.

WHO LIVES HERE

Young and creative With a population of 853,382 and a median age of 36, Jacksonville is Florida’s largest city and one of its youngest. It is also highly creative. According to the Creative Council of Greater Jacksonville, arts and culture generated an economic impact to the region of $70 million in 2013-14 and nearly 27,000 jobs. Creative industry jobs here in fields such as photography, music, writing, graphic design and advertising sales grew by 6% between 2010 and 2013.

Opportunity seekers In May 2015, Forbes named Jacksonville 5th best city in the U.S “for finding employment right now” based on factors such as cost of living and the presence of companies with varied employment opportunities. Top industry sectors hiring: logistics and industrial.

Skilled and ready Northeast Florida’s four military installations provide direct employment for some 50,000 active duty, reserve and civilian men and women. And of the personnel who exit the military here each year, more than 3,000 remain, providing a ready pool of workers with military-honed skills in electronics, technical maintenance and management. Military veterans make up 14% of this region’s workforce, compared to 7% for the U.S. overall.

People who care Among 50 large U.S. cities, Jacksonville was the 6th most generous in charitable giving between 2006 and 2012, according to a report issued by The Chronicle of Philanthropy in fall 2014. Jacksonville residents gave 3.8% of their income away compared to top-ranked Salt Lake City where residents gave 5.4%.

ECONOMIC LIFE

Aviation & Defense

• Flightstar Aircraft Services has added a third hangar and a 52,000-sq.-ft. climate controlled parts and tooling distribution center at Cecil Airport.
• Since partnering with German pipe manufacturer KME Marine Tube, Jacksonville-based Nuflo Inc., a manufacturer of specialty pipe fittings for military aircraft carriers and submarines, has invested $4 million in construction of a 50,000-sq.-ft. pipe mill and plans two more 50,000-sq.-ft. expansions as business dictates.
• Ballistic protection equipment maker Defenshield has moved its headquarters from Syracuse, N.Y., to St. Augustine. The firm’s customers include the U.S. military, law enforcement and municipalities.

Financial/Business Services

• Mortgage loan servicing firm Selene Finance plans to expand its Jacksonville operations by 105 jobs and make a $500,000 capital investment in IT equipment, furniture and other items.
• General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of industrial giant General Dynamics, will open an operations center in Jacksonville and hire 100 employees to provide IT, systems engineering and other professional services to private- and public-sector firms.
• In a deal with Dell Computer, U2 Cloud is growing its business from eight employees to 80. After two years of negotiation, Dell agreed to market and resell U2 Cloud’s unique data backup package to its customers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Healthcare

• UF Health opened the first phase of a six-story outpatient medical complex — UF Health North — in February 2015 with an emergency room, radiology department and outpatient surgical suites.
• Baptist Health has entered into partnership with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and will open the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in fall 2015. Baptist is the third hospital to join the Anderson Cancer Center Network; similar facilities are located in Arizona and New Jersey.
• Wolfson Children’s Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in two pediatric specialties according to U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals 2015-16”: gastroenterology and neurology/neurosurgery.
• Family-owned Beutlich Pharmaceuticals has relocated from Waukegan, Ill., to a 20,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in Bunnell; up to 30 new employees are anticipated.

Logistics/Distribution

• Nestle USA will shift a majority of its U.S.-to-Puerto-Rico shipments from the Port of New York and New Jersey to JaxPort with the anticipation of growing its volume to Puerto Rico at least 400%.
• Ireland-based Greencore Group, a supplier of convenience foods to the American market, has opened its southern hub in Jacksonville to service clients in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. In 2014, Greencore delivered 108,000 items a week to 1,300 stores.

Manufacturing

• Building Component Supply, manufacturer of roof and floor trusses, wall panels and other engineered products, has opened in Green Cove Springs; 50 jobs antcipated.
• The Safariland Group, a global provider of safety and survivability products, plans to invest $1 million in facility and equipment upgrades and add 30 new jobs at its two Jacksonville sites.
• Knoxville, Tenn.-based Sea Ray Boats will add 160 positions at its Palm Coast plant, bringing the facility’s workforce to approximately 540.
• Georgia-Pacific is investing close to $90 million in improvements at its Pulp and Paper Operations in Palatka. Approximately $70 million will go toward equipment modernization; the rest will be used to install product quality improvement equipment in the mill’s kraft paper area.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Crowd appeal People just love to come to Jacksonville. The North American Soccer League’s Jacksonville Armada began play in spring 2015 before a record crowd of 16,000-plus; One Spark, the highly successful crowdfunding festival now in its third year, lured more than 320,000 to downtown Jacksonville over six days in April 2015; the annual Florida Country Superfest brings upwards of 80,000 music fans each June; and, in October, one of college sports’ biggest rivalries, the annual Florida-Georgia Football Classic, draws close to 50,000.

The perfect playground With some 85 courses throughout the region, golf is always in season in Northeast Florida, but never more so than in May. That’s when the best of the best (and their fans) congregate at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra for one of this sport’s signature events, THE PLAYERS Championship PGA tournament.

Plenty more to see and do Catch the annual Jacksonville Jazz Festival (2nd largest in the U.S.), Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Museum of Science and History and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. For history, there’s the Victorian seaport village of Fernandina Beach, the Civil War battlefield at Olustee and, of course, St. Augustine, which in 2015 is celebrating the 450th anniversary of its founding. And coming soon: the St. Augustine Aquarium.

NOTABLE ADDITIONS/EXPANSIONS

Logistics Volkswagen Group of America has chosen to site its import facility and Southeastern distribution center at JaxPort with plans to create 100 jobs. The facility is expected to receive and process 100,000 factory-new Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley vehicles within one year and approximately 550,000 units over the next five years. The first shipment — 1,000 new VW Jettas, Beetles and Golfs — arrived in April 2015.

Manufacturing GE Oil & Gas has opened an advanced manufacturing facility at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville with the expectation of creating 500 manufacturing, administrative and engineering jobs over three years. Products manufactured at the 510,000-sq.-ft. facility include GE’s Mooney regulators and Becker control valves for the energy industry.

Business services Zurich-based Adecco Group has relocated its North American headquarters from New York to Jacksonville, creating 185 jobs in the process. A leading provider of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing and other HR solutions, Adecco maintains 5,100 offices in 60 countries worldwide.

NOTABLE EMPLOYERS

Aviation/Aerospace

• Fleet Readiness Center SE| Jacksonville
• FlightStar Aircraft Services| Jacksonville
• Kaman Aerospace Corporation| Jacksonville
• Northrop Grumman Corporation| St. Augustine
• Unison Industries | Jacksonville

Finance & Insurance

• Bank of America/Merrill Lynch | Jacksonville
• Citibank | Jacksonville
• Deutsche Bank | Jacksonville
• Fidelity Investments | Jacksonville
• Florida Blue | Jacksonville
• JPMorgan Chase | Jacksonville
• Lender Processing Services | Jacksonville
• Wells Fargo | Jacksonville

Healthcare

• Baptist Health System | Jacksonville
• Mayo Clinic | Jacksonville
• Medtronic | Jacksonville
• UF Health | Jacksonville
• VISTAKON Johnson & Johnson Vision Care | Jacksonville

Logistics/Distribution

• BI-LO and Winn-Dixie Stores | Jacksonville
• Crowley Maritime Corporation | Jacksonville
• CSX | Jacksonville
• Fanatics | Jacksonville
• Landstar System | Jacksonville
• Ring Power | St. Augustine

Manufacturing

• Georgia Pacific Corporation | Palatka
• Rayonier | Jacksonville
• SAFT North America | Jacksonville
• Swisher International Group | Jacksonville