Northwest
There’s a lot to like about Florida’s Northwest, but two assets in particular stand out — some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and a heavy military presence. The white sugar sand and gently lapping waves along the Gulf coast make this a great place to live and visit; the 6,000 military retirees who join the workforce here annually make it an even better place to do business. Northwest has plenty of space for new companies and no shortage of skilled workers to staff them. Aviation and technology are primary industries here, and most of the Southeast U.S. is within a day’s drive.
Northwest Florida is home to six major military installations, including NAS Pensacola, Eglin AFB and Tyndall AFB. Not only do these half-dozen facilities themselves account for 60,000 military and civilian jobs, they attract privately owned aerospace manufacturers, suppliers and Department of Defense contractors who bring with them additional job opportunities for highly skilled personnel.
A case in point: Alabama-based VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering, which found the ideal site for a hangar on 19 acres of land adjoining Pensacola International Airport. Large enough to accommodate two Boeing 777s or six Airbus A-320-sized aircraft and at least 400 personnel, the facility opened in June 2018 and first-hires included graduates from the Escambia County School District’s newly created aviation technology career academy.
In Bay County, GKN Aerospace has hired 40 employees and will add 130 more by the end of 2020 for its manufacturing facility at Venture Crossings near Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The U.K-based firm is a leading builder/supplier of advanced aerospace systems, components and technologies.
Other players in Northwest’s aviation/aerospace sector include: The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, InDyne and On-Point Defense Technologies. In 2017, aviation services company ONVOI Global Services moved its headquarters to Defuniak Springs Municipal Airport in Walton County for its proximity to I-10 and to better serve its military clientele.
And coming soon to this sector:
• Butterfly Training, a France-based firm that develops and manufactures e-learning and cloud-based aviation training courses focused on airport security, safety and dangerous goods, plans to site its U.S. headquarters in Panama City.
• Sheltair Aviation will double its capacity with the addition of a second hangar at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.
Not surprisingly, given its high concentration of military assets, Northwest Florida is positioning itself to take advantage of a technology issue that’s on everyone’s minds these days — cybersecurity. Leading the charge is the University of West Florida’s Center for Cybersecurity. With an eye to growing Escambia County’s cybersecurity industry cluster, FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance is partnering with UWF to create a comprehensive “Cybersecurity Strategic Plan for Greater Pensacola.”
Elsewhere in the technology sector:
• The Pensacola-based Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s ground-breaking projects include the development of a robot to fight fires in buildings and aboard ships and extensive research into ways to extend the capabilities and resilience of humans in extreme environments.
• Panama City-based DeTect has installed its radar system, which detects drones and birds that could pose a hazard to aircraft, at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, for what is said to be the first system of its kind at a U.S. airport.
• In Pensacola, the startup firm VetCV has developed a web application that veterans and their families can use to store and share medical histories and other personal data.
Florida’s Northwest — aka Florida's Panhandle — is readily accessible by road, rail, air and sea. I-10 bisects this region east to west providing easy connections to I-65, I-75 and I-95, which put 12 of the Southeast’s major metros and 58 million potential customers within an eight-hour drive. Four commercial airports offer direct flights to more than 30 U.S. cities, and a Class 1 CSX rail line connects to several short lines and the region’s three deepwater ports for streamlined freight delivery.
Significant developments in Northwest's logistics sector include:
• Construction of a 260,000-sq.-ft. East Terminal warehouse for the storage of wood pulp, Kraft linerboard and other dry goods at the Port of Panama City.
• Construction of a dry dock facility at the Port of Port St. Joe where Panama City-based Eastern Shipbuilding will build ferry hulls for the Staten Island Ferry Service.
• The formation of a “Gulf to Gadsden Freight Logistics Zone” to plan and fund infrastructure improvements to connect Northwest’s landlocked northern counties to its Gulf-front southern counties with deepwater access.
• Allegiant Travel Company plans to house two Airbus aircraft at a year-round base at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport; 65 jobs and new routes to five cities are expected as a result.
• The opening of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. UNITED’s sales and distribution center in Valparaiso from which 3 million cases of beverages will be delivered annually.
While Northwest’s primary industry sectors bustle with economic activity on a daily basis, this region is largely a laid-back kind of place where daily life is a lot like being on vacation. There are dozens of small towns to explore. Bascom in Jackson County — which until now has been known primarily for being the birthplace of actress Faye Dunaway, is cultivating fish eggs in hopes of becoming the “Caviar Capital of America.” Florida’s capital city — Tallahassee — is here too, as is one of America’s oldest, Pensacola, where five different flags have flown since its founding in 1559.
And speaking of Tallahassee, in 2017, personal finance website WalletHub.com named it the 16th most educated city in the U.S. Nearly half of all Tallahassee residents over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 30% nationwide. Two of Florida’s 12 public universities are located in Tallahassee — Florida A & M University, ranked 6th among historically black colleges and universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2018, and Florida State University, the nation's 26th-ranked public university and a research heavyweight. In 2017, FSU was No. 33 among U.S. public universities for patents granted in 2017 (34 in all), and in FY 2018, its researchers received more than $226 million from federal, state and private sources to support investigations into such wide-ranging areas as nuclear science, climate change and the effects of deep space travel on human health.
This region boasts a full calendar of special events and festivals plus a wealth of natural beauty in the form of winding rivers, abundant pine forests and crystal-clear springs.
Tourism is big business all over Florida’s Northwest. The University of West Florida’s Office of Economic Development and Engagement estimates that 15% of all visitors coming to Florida each year head for the Northwest — 17.5 million in 2017.
The draw? Weather for one thing, luring tourists from the miserably cold north in winter for the sunshine and from the sweltering south in summer for Gulf breezes. And word about what’s to see and do here is getting around. The Travel Channel named Tallahassee-Leon County one of “10 Great Small Towns for Big Vacations” in 2018, and Shipwreck Island Waterpark in Panama City Beach ranked No. 3 on Trip Advisor’s 2018 Travelers’ Choice Awards for Amusement Parks and Water Parks. Northwest hotels fared well too. The Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach was No. 1 on Travel & Leisure’s “World’s 10 Best Hotels in Florida,” closely followed by The Henderson in Destin at No. 3.