Northwest
6,000 personnel — average age early 40s — retire from military service here each year, prepped and ready to bring advanced technical skills to the private-sector workplace.
48% of residents over age 25 in Florida’s capital city Tallahassee have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to the U.S. average of 29%.
Since opening in April 2012, the stadium where the Blue Wahoos AA baseball team plays has become a linchpin for a wave of downtown Pensacola development that includes dozens of retail, restaurant and entertainment venues.
INDUSTRY SECTORS
Life Sciences / Health Care
PENSACOLA Sacred Heart Health System has begun its new $57-million, four-story Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart. Connected to Sacred Heart’s existing Children’s Hospital, the new facility will include an expanded pediatric emergency department and neonatal intensive care unit as well as six operating rooms, a pharmacy and rehabilitation gym specifically dedicated to pediatric care.
TALLAHASSEE Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare broke ground on its highly anticipated $250-million surgical center in June 2015. Named for the hospital’s first CEO, the five-story, 340,000-sq.-ft. M.T. Mustian Surgical Center will replace TMH’s current surgical and ICU areas with 28 operating suites and 72 adult medical/surgical intensive care beds. The new facility is expected to begin admitting patients by early 2019.
GULF BREEZE Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine will join forces with Nemours Children’s Health System to become the “official medical services providers” for the United States Tennis Association’s USTA National Campus now taking shape at Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando, offering pediatric-focused injury prevention, rehabilitation and therapy programs for young athletes.
PACE Baptist Health Care is constructing a $6-million medical park — its fourth such facility in the greater Pensacola area — to house physician offices, walk-in care, imaging and laboratory services.
MIRAMAR BEACH Sacred Heart Health System celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding in September 2015 by breaking ground on a $30-million expansion to increase capacity for maternity, emergency, inpatient and pediatric services at its Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast.
Key Players
Baptist Health Care | Pensacola
Bay Medical Sacred Heart | Panama City
Sacred Heart Health System | Pensacola
Tallahassee Memorial Health-Care | Tallahassee
Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center in Panama City will invest $27 million to expand its emergency department and critical care wing.
Northwest
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Aviation / Defense
PENSACOLA The city of Pensacola is moving forward on a 160,000-sq.-ft. aircraft maintenance facility on 18 acres of property leased to Singapore-based VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering at Pensacola International Airport now that a portion of the necessary funding has been secured through the Florida Department of Transportation. The planned facility is expected to create 300 jobs
Dominated by Defense At $20.4 billion in 2015, defense spending accounts for 35% of northwest Florida’s economy. The region’s military presence includes: Eglin Air Force Base, the USAF’s largest by area and home to 38,000 personnel; Tyndall Air Force Base, with a population of nearly 3,000, responsible for air defense of the continental U.S., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; Hurlburt Field, supporting special operations with more than 8,500 military and almost 2,000 civilian personnel; Naval Air Station Pensacola, home of the legendary Blue Angels, 23,000 personnel and the National Museum of Naval Aviation, which attracts some 1 million visitors annually; and Whiting Field, accounting for nearly 1.5 million annual flight operations and host to six training squadrons and two instructor squadrons.
CRESTVIEW The Air Force Special Operations Command has signed an agreement with defense contractor Lockheed Martin to modify AC-130 aircraft. The work, estimated to cost some $20 million, will take place at Bob Sikes Airport near Crestview.
Key Players
The Boeing Company | Fort Walton Beach
InDyne | Fort Walton Beach
L-3 Crestview Aerospace | Crestview
Lockheed Martin | Fort Walton Beach
AC-130 aircraft in flight
Manufacturing
CRESTVIEW American Elite Molding, a manufacturer of specialty cable ties, is expanding its 75,000-sq.-ft. facility by 20,000 square feet and adding 40 employees.
FORT WALTON BEACH Fort Walton Machining, a manufacturer of custom-designed, precision machine parts, is expanding its headquarters with 30 new jobs and more than $1.5-million in new manufacturing equipment.
PENSACOLA Jupiter Composites has added 100 jobs to its 150-member staff and another 25,000 square feet at its 50,000-sq.-ft. wind turbine component facility in Ellyson Industrial Park.
GREENSBORO Armada Ammunition has opened an 8,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing plant in Gadsden County where it will produce pistol and rifle caliber ammunition for law enforcement and the U.S. military.
TALLAHASSEE Construction is underway on a new laboratory for testing HVARC equipment at Danfoss, a manufacturer of magnetic bearing compressors and other components for air-conditioning, heating, industrial and water systems. The 22,000-sq.-ft. “Application Development Center” will be built adjacent to the company’s existing facility, which houses its engineering and manufacturing operations.
EAST MILTON Gulf Cable plans to build a warehouse in Santa Rosa Industrial Park and expand its workforce by 110. The company manufactures medium voltage cables and overhead transmission conductors for wind turbines and wind farms.
Key Players
Armstrong World Industries | Pensacola
Danfoss | Tallahassee
Hitachi Cable America, Florida Plant | Pensacola
Jupiter Composites | Pensacola
Northwest
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Logistics / Transportation
PANAMA CITY Port Panama City is looking to double its throughput capacity by developing a new terminal for forest products on a 41-acre tract of waterfront land recently purchased from WestRock Company. The port’s plans include a 200,000-sq.-ft. warehouse for wood pulp, kraft linerboard and related products, a 48-car-capacity rail yard and a 38-foot-draft berthing area. WestRock will continue to operate its corrugated packaging mill on adjoining property. In other developments, two port tenants added jobs in 2015: the port’s largest tenant, Eastern Shipbuilding Group, hired 150; Berg Steel Pipe increased its staff by 180.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY FloridaWest, the county’s lead economic development alliance, has announced plans to develop a 1,760-acre industrial park 10 miles north of Pensacola. Dubbed “The Bluffs,” the project would accommodate as many as 60 new industries and manufacturers on four large segmented parcels of land along natural bluffs that overlook Escambia Bay and the Escambia River and possibly create up to 15,000 new jobs, officials say.
WALTON COUNTY At 213,500-square feet, a FedEx Ground distribution center under construction in Mossy Head Industrial Park is about four times the size of the Okaloosa County facility it replaces and more accessible given its location just off Interstate 10. An estimated 465 jobs are expected.
PANAMA CITY BEACH Bay County commissioners have approved the route for a $519-million parkway that will link Bay and Gulf counties, thus paving the way for the Florida Department of Transportation to begin design plans for the 30-mile Gulf Coast Parkway that has been under consideration for more than a decade.
Key Players
DRS Technologies | Fort Walton Beach
Eastern Shipbuilding | Panama City
Gold Ring Distributing | Milton and Panama City
Linea Peninsular | Panama City
The Bluffs proposed site
Business and Financial Services
PENSACOLA An $840-million expansion underway at Navy Federal Credit Union is on track for completion in 2019. The first phase, adding 2,000 employees and 400,000 square feet of office and parking space, opened in summer 2016. Phase two, which is currently under construction, will add 1.1 million square feet and another 5,000 employees.
FORT WALTON BEACH The city of Fort Walton Beach and the Miami-based Venture Hive accelerator are partnering to offer two unique training programs for U.S. military veterans, spouses and dependents seeking to start and grow their own businesses: Venture Hive accelerator on-site and Venture Hive virtual accelerator online. Each 12-week program provides participants with personal mentoring, customized training and networking opportunities to help them build and scale their business ventures.
Key Players
CHCS Services/iGATE | Pensacola
Navy Federal Credit Union | Pensacola
West Corp. | Pensacola
Northwest
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Tourism
GULF BREEZE Innisfree Hotels plans to spend $100 million on two new beachfront hotels in Panama City Beach: a 182-room Hampton Inn & Suites, slated to open in spring 2017, and a Springhill Suites by Marriott, set to open in spring 2018. Both properties will be within walking distance of the Pier Park shopping/entertainment complex and beachside restaurants. In addition, Innisfree has received permission from Okaloosa County to build phase two — a five-story, 175-room hotel — at its Emerald Breeze Resort on Okaloosa Island.
NAVARRE BEACH The beach’s first hotel in a decade — a 161-room Marriott Springhill Suites — is expected to open in fall 2016; 75 jobs are anticipated.
BAY, ESCAMBIA, OKALOOSA, SANTA ROSA, WALTON Bed taxes collected in these five coastal counties topped $71.8 million in 2015, a 16.5% increase over the previous year and the third straight year of record gains. Leading the way: Bay and Walton counties at $21.5 and $20.7 million respectively.
DESTIN The Henderson, a 170-room gulf-front property operated by Salamander Hotels and Resorts, opened in fall 2016. The $300-million resort complex encompasses the historic Henderson Park Inn and overlooks the protected dunes at Henderson Beach State Park. Future plans call for the addition of 200 luxury condominiums.
Key Players
Edgewater Beach & Golf Resort | Panama City Beach
Innisfree Hotels | Gulf Breeze
The Henderson rendering
LIFESTYLE
Natural appeal With its mix of natural springs, sugar white sand, abundant pine forests and towns with tongue-twisting names like Apalachicola, Miccosukee, Wacissa and Sopchoppy, Florida’s northwest is a natural draw for tourists of all ages and interests. Unique sights in this region include the old and new state Capitols in Tallahassee; the underwater Panhandle Shipwreck Trail and Grayton Beach State Park, No. 6 on Stephen Leatherman’s (aka Dr. Beach) 2016 list of America’s top 10 beaches.
Live and learn Northwest Florida offers a wealth of learning venues, including: Florida State University, ranked eighth “Best College for Veterans” by Military Times; Florida A&M University, ranked eighth among historically black colleges and universities by U.S. News & World Report; and University of West Florida, where the Center for Cybersecurity has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security.
The place to be Destin was ranked No. 3 on TripAdvisor’s 2015 Traveler’s Choice list of “Top U.S. Destinations on the Rise” for its clear green water, soft-sand beaches and plenty of things to see and do.
With its white sugar sand beaches and more than 6,000 feet of scenic shoreline bordering the Gulf of Mexico, Henderson Beach State Park in Destin offers a rare glimpse of the Florida Panhandle’s once abundant coastal dune ecosystem, not to mention some pretty spectacular sunsets.