Southwest
Need talent? Southwest’s pool of workers age 25-54 is projected to increase 15.6% by 2025. (University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research)
Diversity is fast becoming a hallmark of this region. From 2007 to 2012, Hispanic-owned firms increased by 44% in Collier County and by 39% in Lee County. (Survey of Business Owners, U.S. Census Bureau)
Four deep water ports within an average 160-mile radius provide ready access to domestic and international markets for companies with global ambitions.
Currently home to 700,000 residents, Fort Myers and surrounding Lee County are expected to gain at least another 40,000 by 2020. Many of the area’s newest residents are millennials, drawn to this region by economic opportunity and a superior quality of life.
INDUSTRY SECTORS
Technology
FORT MYERS Tech advisory firm Gartner has announced plans to hire as many as 900 people for positions in sales, client service and finance at its Gateway campus by 2019. The company, which currently employs 1,100 in southwest Florida — more than the number working at its headquarters in Stamford, Conn. — is a leading provider of information technology research to corporations, government agencies and investors.
BONITA SPRINGS Software solutions provider eMaint Enterprises with operations centers in New Jersey and Ireland has elected to expand in Florida where the firm established its headquarters in 1986. A leader in Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS), eMaint will relocate from Estero to Bonita Springs and add 150 jobs.
Key Players
Gartner | Fort Myers
Settling In After operating for two years out of temporary sites in Naples and Bonita Springs, all 625 Hertz headquarters employees are finally together under one roof in southwest Florida. The company’s new 248,600-sq.-ft. headquarters building opened in January 2016 on 34 acres in Estero, with the capacity to add another 200 staff members as needed.
Southwest
INDUSTRY SECTORS (continued)
Logistics / Transportation
PUNTA GORDA Cheney Brothers Inc. opened a 250,000-sq.-ft. distribution center — its fifth Florida facility — along I-75 in October 2015. Founded in 1925, Cheney Brothers exports food products worldwide and directly serves customers in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas from its headquarters in Riviera Beach and distribution centers in Ocala, Orlando, Miami and now Punta Gorda.
FORT MYERS R+L Logistics plans to add 80 jobs over the next three years as it settles into its new 27,000-sq.-ft. facility in Island Park Center; the Ocala-based transportation firm already employs 90 in Fort Myers.
FORT MYERS Logistics firm Allyn International moved its headquarters to a newly renovated office building where it plans to add 50 jobs.
ENGLEWOOD Two southwest distribution firms — Sunfresh Produce and Happy Foods — have merged to form one of the largest regional produce suppliers on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Operating as one out of Sunfresh’s Englewood warehouse and carrying the Sunfresh name, the combined companies hope to compete more effectively in the chain restaurant market.
FORT MYERS Southwest Florida International Airport served a record-breaking 8.4 million passengers in 2015 and appears on track for a repeat. In March 2016, Southwest Florida logged the single-largest month for passenger traffic in its 33-year history with nearly 1.3 million passengers served. Fourteen carriers offer nonstop flights from Fort Myers to more than 30 U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, Chicago and Dallas, and international destinations such as Dusseldorf, Cancun, Nassau, Montreal and Toronto.
PUNTA GORDA Punta Gorda Airport tripled the size of its terminal as part of an $8-million expansion completed in February 2016. Discount carrier Allegiant Air, which flies to 30 midsize cities from Punta Gorda, was the driving force in boosting the airport’s passenger traffic by 33% in 2015.
Key Players
Allyn International | Fort Myers
Cheney Brothers | Punta Gorda
R+L Logistics | Fort Myers
Southwest Florida International Airport
Life Sciences / Health Care
NAPLES Medical device manufacturer Arthrex plans to add 560 jobs at its corporate campus and another 350 jobs as part of a 218,000-sq.-ft. expansion at its manufacturing plant in Ave Maria. In 2016, Arthrex was ranked No. 62 on Fortune’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
FORT MYERS Lee Memorial Health System, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2016, will open two new facilities: the 128-bed, $242-million Golisano Children’s Hospital in spring 2017 and Lee Health Village at Coconut Point, a $140-million outpatient medical campus in southern Lee County, in 2018. A 24,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its Regional Cancer Center is also planned.
Key Players
Arthrex | Naples
Lee Memorial Health System | Fort Myers
NCH Healthcare System | Naples
21st Century Oncology | Fort Myers
Tourism / Hospitality
MARCO ISLAND The Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort has completed phase one of a $300-million project that includes renovations to the fitness center, entrance and lobby areas, south tower guest rooms and two signature restaurants. Renovations to north tower guest rooms, a 12,000-sq-ft. indoor virtual entertainment center and 100,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor event space are underway. Target completion: January 2017, when the hotel will convert to a JW Marriott-branded resort.
LEE AND COLLIER COUNTIES An estimated 4.9 million visitors traveled to
Lee County in 2015, and their spending totaled almost $3 billion, a 4.6% increase over the previous year. Visitors were also on the rise in Collier County — to slightly more than 1.8 million, an increase of 3.1% — and spending topped $1.3 billion, a jump of 8% over 2014.
CAPE CORAL With the addition of a $15-million, 35,000-sq.-ft. conference center, Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village will begin accommodating groups in late 2017.
Key Players
Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa | Bonita Springs
Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort | Marco Island
Ritz Carlton | Naples
South Seas Island Resort | Captiva Island
Westin Cape Coral Resort
Southwest
LIFESTYLE
Lively or laid back Be as active or as idle as you like, Florida’s southwest region has it all: historic downtowns in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Naples; symphony orchestras, theaters, galleries and museums; nonstop weekend adventure on 22 miles of ATV trails at Florida Tracks & Trails in Punta Gorda; and the ultimate get-away-from-it-all — Captiva and Sanibel Islands — just three miles offshore but sparsely populated and remote enough to make believe you’ve been shipwrecked.
Baseball rules! Spring is for baseball in southwest Florida. Here, where three major league teams have their spring training venues — the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers and the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte — tickets are reasonably priced and individual players more accessible than during the official MLB season up north.
Minnesota Twins Spring Training
Educational opportunities Southwest Florida is home to Florida SouthWestern State College where classes are offered at three campus sites and one regional center, and Florida Gulf Coast University offering 53 undergraduate and 26 graduate degree programs, plus counseling and workshops for entrepreneurs at its Small Business Development Center. In 2016, FGCU was the first Florida university to sign on to Gov. Scott’s “Ready, Set, Work” initiative, offering students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree within the traditional four years the chance to recoup all out-of-pocket tuition costs — up to $4,200 — incurred during their freshman year.
The future is now Developer Syd Kitson’s bold plan to build a town in southwest Florida that would run on solar power got shelved during the recession; in April 2016, he announced its comeback. Located east of I-75 between Punta Gorda and Fort Myers, the 18,000-acre master planned community called Babcock Ranch is expected to ultimately contain 19,500 homes, 6 million square feet of commercial space and a public/private transportation system of shared, driverless vehicles. Phase one construction has begun, and Florida Power & Light is already on-site building a 75 MW solar plant.
Captiva Island