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Central Fla. Yearbook 2010

Orlando/Orange County

The city, county and region are starting to breathe sighs of relief, cautiously, as multiple projects come to fruition that should create jobs and pump money into the economy.

Gov. Crist discusses high speed rail
The nearly completed Met2 Financial Center (glass buildings, center) will add to the glut of office space Miami is already trying to fill. [Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty]

Most notably, two rail projects that secured green lights within six weeks of each other this winter promise to bring a bonanza of jobs in the design and construction phases this year and next. SunRail, a $1.2-billion commuter train system that will run through Orange, Seminole, Volusia and Osceola counties, is set to carry its first passengers in late 2012. A high-speed rail line between the Orlando area and Tampa, awarded $1.25 billion in federal stimulus money, is projected to start service in 2015.

Challenges loom ahead: Connecting the two rail lines and enticing companies that develop rail construction projects nationwide to set up a new industry in central Florida.


Buddy Dyer
The area has made great strides in diversifying the economy, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer says. “If we were to have another economic downturn that affects home building or construction, we wouldn’t be as heavily hit.”

More jobs are on the way as the Amway Center, new home to the Orlando Magic as well as concerts and other major events, prepares to open in October — a move Orlando officials hope will revitalize the sagging Church Street Station area nearby. Meanwhile, the Dr. P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center, set to break ground in late summer, will create 4,000 jobs.

Lake Nona, expected to bring 20,000 jobs in the next decade, continues to expand since last year’s opening of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, now named the Sanford-Burnham after a $50-million donation in January by philanthropist T. Denny Sanford. A Veterans Affairs hospital and a Nemours medical center for children are set to open in 2012, and a University of Central Florida medical school took in its first students last fall.

While it’s difficult to woo many large companies now, Orlando, Orange County and other areas in the region are focusing on growing handfuls of jobs by promoting entrepreneurship. The UCF Business Incubation Program is still active, eyeing new sites to add to its collection of eight incubators. The program’s sister effort, downtown’s Disney Entrepreneur Center, has seen an increase in traffic, and the city has launched the Entrepreneurial Zone, a drive to offer financial incentives to small businesses that move into downtown office space. Orlando has helped bolster pockets of commercial activity with its Main Street Program that targeted five neighborhoods, generating almost 500 jobs and 82 business openings.

Even tourism is starting to pick up, with Canadian visitors expected to replace U.K. tourists as the most prevalent international visitors. Industry watchers anticipate an influx of tourists when a new Harry Potter attraction opens this year at Universal Studios and Walt Disney World unveils new attractions at Magic Kingdom.

People to Watch

» As founder and president of CEO Nexus, Steve Quello has laid out plans this year to partner with several organizations — including the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Disney Entrepreneur Center, the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program and others — to help second-stage companies find contracts, funding, mentoring and peer support. “Economic gardening,” which Quello has been promoting for years, is taking hold statewide.

» Entrepreneur, publisher and former rocket scientist Mary Spio is co-founder, president and director of Orlando-based Gen2Media, a video technology company that works on national advertising campaigns for Microsoft, Coca-Cola, the Black Eyed Peas, Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and others. She has been named to a panel of 1,000 business leaders nationwide that USA Today will tap for leadership advice this year. In addition to winning several patents for satellite communications technology at Boeing, which she joined in 2001 at age 26, she developed technology that allows films to be transmitted to theaters electronically and is working on a video game that will be tied to a television reality series. She also is publisher of a magazine for single professionals.

Businesses to Watch

» Voxeo, based in Orlando with offices in the U.K., Germany and China, has grown more than 100% a year since it was founded in 1999 and now employs 150, with plans to add 100 positions in the next two years. The company has more than $50 million in infrastructure, technology and programs, and it has signed more than 100,000 customers worldwide to its internet-based phone service and interactive voice response technology.

» Orlando-based Intelligent Global Pooling Systems, known as iGPS, is expected to add 85 jobs in the coming months. The company rents out plastic pallets that contain computer chips that can be used for tracking and managing inventory.

Lake Mary-Sanford/Seminole County

The area has seen steady growth in the number of small businesses opening and creating jobs, helping to stabilize the economy. The Seminole locations of the expanded UCF Incubation Program have been been especially fruitful: Sanford filled all five of its incubator offices immediately after its September opening. “We’re in a situation where things are as bad for us as anywhere else in Florida, but we’re probably better off than two-thirds of the cities in the region as far as unemployment and number of companies closing,” says Bob Tunis, economic development director for Sanford.

People to Watch

» Greg Watson, president of Cold Plasma Medical Technologies in Sanford, received a patent last December for a medical device that can kill bacteria and accelerate healing of flesh wounds.

» Robert Reynolds is founder and president of Altamonte Springs-based Solis Energy, which is expected to reach $5 million in sales this year with its new product, an off-grid system that operates on batteries charged by solar panels. The Power HotSpot can be used for everything from camping trips to WiFi sites to Third World countries.

» With economic empowerment as one of its key areas of focus, the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League named Oviedo resident Allie Braswell Jr. its new president and CEO in January, filling the position E. Lance McCarthy left after five years in 2009. Braswell, a former U.S. Marine, previously worked as an Orlando-based manager of Global Strategies for Diversity and Inclusion with Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.

Business to Watch

» Winter Springs electrical engineering firm Power Grid Engineering is among Florida companies supporting new legislation to adopt renewable energy portfolio standards like those in 29 other states. The company, started by two former Progress Energy executives, employs 16.

Who’s Hiring

» Florida Hospital’s 15-year Health Village project is expected to bring more than 20,000 high-wage jobs to the Orlando/Orange County.

» The Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research is expected to create 300 research jobs.

» With a remodeling and expansion plan under way at Orlando International Airport, AirTran Airways is creating 121 jobs with an average wage of $45,000-plus and retaining 290 existing positions.

» The Father’s Table, a national dessert maker that sells cheesecake, cake rolls and other products to wholesale clubs, groceries, restaurants and school cafeterias, donates 50% of its profits to charity. The company opened a second Sanford plant this year and plans to hire 50 employees.

» Rose’s Paper, which manufactures paper products for restaurants, is expanding its Sanford facility by 65,000 square feet and plans to hire as many as 40 employees.

Osceola County

Building on the county’s proximity to Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports, Osceola is marketing itself as a Mecca for amateur sports and is looking to bring in more businesses and events to use the county’s facilities. The area also is riding the entrepreneur wave with this year’s opening of a UCF incubator in St. Cloud and another being considered in Kissimmee.

Person to Watch

» With Florida State University’s Energy & Sustainability Center moving this year from Tallahassee into the eco-friendly community of Harmony, Anjaneyulu Krothapalli and his team of five employees and 15 doctoral students want to start an incubator for alternative energy companies that would employ 1,000 by 2016.

Businesses to Watch

» U.K.-based Diagnosys, which manufactures electronic circuit testing equipment for defense, mass transit and other industries, added 14 jobs with an average salary of almost $35,000 to its U.S. headquarters in Kissimmee this year, bringing its national staff to 38.

» Based at Florida Hospital Celebration, the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement received a $4.2-million Department of Defense grant this year to continue developing its robotics surgery program.

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Lake County

Biofuel, agritech and medical services remain the county’s strongest-growing industries. Meanwhile, Lake is continuing to target new small businesses and is filling its UCF incubator spots in Leesburg with an eye toward opening another site in or near Clermont. Also, officials are planning a business expo and exploring the idea of a small-business resources program in Mount Dora.

People to Watch

Charles Mojock
Charles Mojock

» Charles Mojock, president of Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg since 2002, sits on the board of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, where he chairs a council examining how and where to expand the region’s workforce. He also has created a New Vision Council to explore taking the 4,800-student college to a four-year institution.

» Two-time Olympic U.S. softball gold medalist Dot Richardson leads the 300-acre National Training Center in Clermont that has brought in more than 160 sports teams to train and play at the facility, creating an economic impact of more than $6 million. Richardson, an orthopedic surgeon, is leading the charge to make the sports, health and fitness facility a destination for sports medicine.


Dot Richardson heads the National Training Center in Clermont. [Photo: Kelly LaDuke]
Businesses to Watch

» Boston-based alternative energy company Smart Fuels transports restaurants’ used cooking oil to its tank farms, where the waste is then turned into fuel. Its new biodiesel refinery in Fruitland Park — part of a growing cluster of biofuel businesses in Lake County — has 12 employees with plans for adding eight. Another biofuel company, meanwhile, has been working to secure state permits to move 18 jobs to Lake County.

» Treadway Industries in Leesburg, which builds architectural details for residential and commercial buildings and facades for film sets, had to lay off workers locally but has announced plans to add eight high-wage jobs this year. The company also has offices in Malaysia and Japan.

» Jobs
MSA Jan. 2009 Jan. 2010 % Change Jobless Rate
Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford 1,010,899 972,485 -3.8% 12.4%
Source: Agency for Workforce Innovation
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» Homes
Single-family existing-home sales by Realtors
MSA Jan. 2010 Sales 1-Year Change Jan. 2010 Price 1-Year Change
Orlando 1,745 +55% $123,500 -18%
Source: Florida Association of Realtors

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» Population Totals
+ 2.4% or higher ?? -1.0%-2.4% ??- 1.0% or less
? ? Average Annual Growth
County 2010 2006-2010 Trend
Lake 322,665 2.83 +
Orange 1,110,795 1.36 -
Osceola 281,255 3.58 +
Seminole 422,646 0.86 -
Florida 18,910,672 1.21% -

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» Population by Age
? Years of Age (2010)
County 0-14 15-19 20-39 40-64 65+ TOTAL
Lake 16.3% 4.8% 23.2% 27.0% 28.7% 322,665
Orange 20.7 7.0 29.1 33.0 10.2 1,110,795
OSceola 21.7 6.7 30.0 29.9 11.7 281,255
Seminole 17.9 6.5 26.1 37.1 12.5 422,646
Florida 17.9% 6.1% 25.4% 32.9% 17.6% 18,910,672

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» Per Capita Income
? ? Source of Income
County Per Capita Income 2010 Labor Property Transfer
Lake $32,386 54.4% 22.3% 23.3%
Orange 35,351 79.8 16.2 4.0
Osceola 24,436 71.7 10.4 17.8
Seminole 44,305 78.3 16.3 5.4
Florida $39,927 62.2% 26.5% 11.3%