Northeast
There’s nothing shy or laid-back about Florida’s Northeast. Positioned along I-95 just south of the Georgia state line, this region’s signature city — Jacksonville — looms large in many ways. At 840 square miles, it is the biggest city by area in the continental U.S. and one of only eight nationwide where city and county governments function as one. Driving growth in this region are three Fortune 500 companies and the national or divisional headquarters of more than 80 other firms, all of which have been attracted to the Northeast for its young and vibrant workforce and a multimodal network of exceptional land-sea-air connections.
Financial services is a particularly strong industry sector here, boasting a list of key players that reads like a who’s who in wealth management. The U.S. financial firms Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Fidelity National Financial, FIS (Fidelity National Information Services), Black Knight, Wells Fargo and VyStar Credit Union all have a significant presence in Jacksonville, as do Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank and Sydney-based Macquarie Group, and many are on the grow.
VyStar Credit Union, for example, is making plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from suburban Jacksonville to a 23-story office tower downtown. VyStar is the nation’s 17th largest credit union with nearly 1,400 employees and assets of more than $7.6 billion.
Elsewhere in the metro area, two global professional services firms are launching new facilities. Ernst & Young has opened a client services delivery center to provide technology, business process support and other services to its clients in the banking, insurance and asset management industries with the expectation of adding 450 employees by 2020. Similarly, the international digital delivery firm Genpact has begun providing residential mortgage loans processing, underwriting and closing services for financial institutions from its 37,000-sq.-ft. office at Capital Plaza in suburban Jacksonville with an estimated 200 jobs expected.
And soon to join Jacksonville’s financial services sector: Zikher. The San Francisco-based fintech firm has announced plans to site its East Coast headquarters in Jacksonville and hire 20 employees in 2018.
Logistics and distribution are also among Northeast's most active and lucrative industry sectors — and with good reason. According to the website jaxusa.org, more than 61 million people live within an eight-hour drive of Jacksonville. That kind of proximity to Southeast markets, say county officials, has drawn the attention of heavy hitters needing ready access to customers.
Mega online retailer Amazon, for example, has committed to Florida’s Northeast in a big way with four new facilities to date. Two fulfillment centers opened here in fall 2017, and close on their heels have come a 237,000-sq-ft. sortation center at Westside Industrial Park and, in north Jacksonville, a 63,000-sq.-ft. facility where packages are sorted for last-mile delivery to customers.
UPS is investing $196 million to expand its Northwest Jacksonville distribution center with the addition of 375,753 square feet of shipping space, three loading wings and advanced automation technology with the expectation of processing 80,000 packages per hour. And Jacksonville-based malt beverage distributor Champion Brands has broken ground on a 38,000-sq.-ft. corporate headquarters on the city’s Southside. Burkhardt Distributing, a fixture in St. Johns County since 1989, has opened a 113,000-sq.-ft. headquarters and distribution center.
Meanwhile, JAXPORT continues to break records. In fiscal year 2017, the port moved more than 1 million TEUs, a 7% increase over 2016, and Asian container trade — its fastest growing container cargo segment — increased by 19%. Thanks to strong auto sales across the Southeast and the continued growth of JAXPORT’s three auto processors —AMPORTS, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics and Southeast Toyota Distributors — a record 693,000 vehicles passed through the port in 2017.
Manufacturing is a prominent and long-standing industry sector here too. Northeast Florida has been in the business of manufacturing for more than a century, and the proof can be found in Jacksonville’s skyline, where the iconic “good to the last drop” Maxwell House coffee cup has been glowing since 1910 atop what is today one of the world’s largest coffee plants.
In 2011, France-based global battery manufacturer Saft opened its North American headquarters and a factory for the production of lithium-ion batteries in Jacksonville. Other heavy-hitters in this sector include: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Jacksonville (contact lenses); Northrup Grumman, St. Augustine (military aircraft); Georgia Pacific, Palatka (pulp and paper operations); Pilot Pen, Jacksonville (writing instruments); GE Oil & Gas, Jacksonville (industrial equipment); Embraer, Jacksonville (light attack aircraft for counter-insurgency); GRACE Aerospace, Jacksonville (aircraft components); Hans-Mill Corp., Jacksonville (stainless steel trash cans).
Why have so many manufacturing facilities elected to settle here? Officials credit the region’s strong military presence. With four facilities, including the Navy’s Southeast Headquarters Fleet Readiness Center, and 75,000 active duty, reserve and civilian men and women, the military is Northeast’s largest employer. And of the military personnel that retire here each year, more than 3,000 choose to stay in the region, bringing a strong work ethic and military-honed skills to local employers.
Among new arrivals in Northeast’s manufacturing sector is China-based JinkoSolar Holding Co., which in March 2018 announced plans to build a state-of-the-art solar panel manufacturing facility at Jacksonville’s Cecil Commerce Center that will serve as its North American headquarters and create 200 jobs; estimated opening: late 2018.
And in June 2018, LignoTech Florida, a joint venture between the Norwegian bio-chemical firm Borregaard and U.S. specialty pulp manufacturer Rayonier Advanced Materials, began production of lignin products at a new facility adjacent to Rayonier’s existing cellulose mill in Fernandina Beach. The lignin products produced at the new plant are designated for sale primarily to the construction industry.
Meanwhile, Rayonier continues to grow its footprint across Northeast Florida with the opening of a new headquarters building to serve as the keystone for a brand new, self-contained community called Wildlight. This 2,900-acre development is to include a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, rental apartments, offices, shops, restaurants and other family-oriented amenities as well as 200 acres of open space for the pursuit of healthy activities like walking and biking. Several homes are already occupied, and a new neighborhood school — Wildlight Elementary — opened with 600 students in fall 2017.
While north of Jacksonville this brand new community is being created, a really old one — St. Augustine — continues to thrive.
Spaniards came ashore near what is today St. Augustine 55 years before the Brits touched ground at Plymouth Rock, leaving behind plenty of significant evidence for present-day visitors to enjoy. Worth exploring here: Castillo de San Marcos (oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S.), the oldest house, oldest wooden schoolhouse in Florida and more.
And speaking of history, the Civil War looms large in this region too. Florida’s bloodiest Civil War confrontation — the Battle of Olustee — took place in what is today Baker County in 1864; a live reenactment commemorates the battle each February.
Other attractions in northeast Florida include the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, historic downtown Fernandina Beach (400-plus historic homes, churches and commercial buildings) and Flagler Beach, named one of America’s “Coolest Small Towns” by Budget Travel magazine.
Northeast Florida is a golfer’s delight too, with more than 80 courses, including TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra where the Players PGA Tournament is held annually in March. And coming in 2020: PGA Tour’s new headquarters that will bring an anticipated 300 new hires, plus the 800 employees working at 17 sites around the region, under one roof in St. Johns County.
Beyond golf, this region has plenty of other sports to cheer for: NFL Jacksonville Jaguars, AFL Jacksonville Sharks, Minor League Baseball’s Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, NASL Jacksonville Armada FC and one of college sports’ biggest rivalries, the Florida-Georgia Football Classic each fall in downtown Jacksonville.
Health care in this region is superior and growing. Mayo Clinic Jacksonville was named Florida's No. 1 hospital on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals 2018-19” list, earning top 50 rankings in six specialties: gastroenterology and heart surgery, geriatrics, cancer, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, and cardiology and heart surgery. Mayo Clinic, which has invested nearly $500 million in major reconstruction projects and more than doubled its space over the last three years, plans to spend another $144 million to add two buildings at its 400-acre Jacksonville campus.
Also nationally recognized for health care by U.S. News & World Report: Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine at No. 49 nationwide for diabetes and endocrinology care.
In addition, Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville earned accolades on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals, 2018-19” list, ranking No. 47 and No. 49 respectively nationwide for pediatric neurology and neurosurgery and cancer care.
Northeast has schools worth boasting about too. Six of this region’s high schools earned gold medals in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best High Schools, 2018,” and one school district — St. Johns County — ranked No. 1 statewide for the ninth consecutive year.
With 53 undergraduate and 28 graduate degree programs, the University of North Florida in Jacksonville has been named a “best regional” university for seven consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report, and in 2017, UNF’s Coggin College of Business was recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best business schools for the 11th year in a row.