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Business Forecast? Hot! Hot! Hot!
A Business Advantage
“There is no better place to start and grow a business than in Tallahassee,” says Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey.
Successful by Association
With state government just down the street, almost 300 associations are headquartered in the Capital City. Collectively, they employ over 1,500 people. Among the largest to call Tallahassee home:
• Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers
• Florida Dental Association
• Florida Institute of CPAs
• Florida League of Cities
• Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association
• The Florida Bay
• Florida Health Care Association
• Florida Justice Association
• Florida Retail Federation
• Florida Sheriffs Association
• Partners in Association Management
• Association of Florida Colleges
Regional Collaboration
Collaboration doesn’t stop at the county line. Tallahassee leaders believe strongly in working with neighboring counties because growth for one means growth for all. Wakulla County, which borders the Gulf coast, is only 20 minutes from Tallahassee. Officials are investing in the county with projects such as fourlaning U.S. 319 and a focus on attracting tenants to its two industrial parks. Opportunities await for companies in need of an engaged workforce, land, and quick access to an international airport (Tallahassee International Airport is conveniently located south of town, close to the Wakulla area). Recently, the Wakulla Environmental Institute (WEI), a Tallahassee Community College facility, opened to spur green, sustainable job-creating industries including the aquaculture oyster program, which has 70 oyster leases along Wakulla’s coastline.
Wakulla is also known for its pristine outdoor natural resources and activities such as the San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park, St. Mark’s Bike Trail, Gulf Specimen Marine Lab and Aquarium, and Wakulla Springs State Park. Because of its underground network of caves and caverns, Wakulla is the “Cave Capital of Florida.”
Gadsden County has five business parks for companies interested in doing business in North Florida, with proximity to important commodities from Florida’s forestry and agriculture industries, access to a large workforce, and a well-connected network to move people and products by air, rail, and river. Hoover Treated Wood Products opened in 2019 after support from the Gadsden County Development Council (GCDC) and the town of Havana helped secure a $323,000 Rural Infrastructure Grant to extend water and natural gas to the site. “Gadsden County is committed to economic development and bringing quality jobs to our community. Hoover Treated Wood Products is a testament to our hard work,” says Antonio Jefferson, chairman of the Gadsden County Development Council.
Currently, the GCDC is working on a new strategic plan engaging business and industry in determining future workforce talent needs and then partnering with K-12 teachers to get students excited about and trained for high-demand jobs. To complement this focus, the Gadsden Technical Institute establish a new Diesel Systems Technician program to support the growing transportation, distribution and logistics cluster.
