March 28, 2024

Community Portrait

Tallahassee - A Community Portrait

An In-Depth Look at Florida's Capital

Charlotte Crane | 10/1/2010

Notable

Danfoss Turbocor
[Photo: Ray Stanyard]
» Danfoss Turbocor — The firm manufactures and markets ultra-efficient variable-speed air-conditioning compressors that are oil-less and almost frictionless. It sells worldwide. The company, which employs around 160, also operates an R&D lab at its facility in Innovation Park.

» Capital City Bank Group — The 68-office bank, one of the Florida Trend TopRank Top 25 Trust Banking Firms, has moved beyond its traditional regional identity to serve communities extending from Atlanta to Orlando.

» Brandt Information Services — This 25-year-old consulting business has grown rapidly in recent years to become one of the leading providers of labor market research and information technology services to state governments and private companies nationwide. Of particular note is the firm’s work in forecasting job growth in green industries and projects.

» Plantation area — Just north of Tallahassee are 300,000 acres of plantation land — an area of pine woods and rolling hills where wealthy northerners in the late 1800s assembled vast tracts they used to hunt turkey and quail. Many of the hunting plantations still exist, and about half the plantation acreage is under conservation easements. One former plantation, Tall Timbers, is now a nature preserve and research station that has gained an international reputation in controlled burning — “fire ecology” — and habitat management.


[Photo: Ray Stanyard]
» National High Magnetic Field Lab — The lab is the largest and highest powered magnet lab in the world and one of Florida’s premier research resources. The magnets and experimental techniques are applicable in physics, biochemistry, biomedicine and materials science. The lab draws scientists from around the world.

» Our Region Tomorrow — This regional visioning and planning group’s efforts encompass parts of both north Florida and south Georgia — one of the few such efforts that extend across state lines.

» Vision 2020 — A venture capital fund started by the county and other government groups such as the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, the Tallahassee-Leon County Economic Development Council and the FSU Foundation to develop the area’s research assets.

» Southwood — A planned community developed by St. Joe Co. with parks and its own “town center,” Southwood has energized development in the city’s southeast, a once-moribund area where the state has built a satellite office complex.

Southwood

» Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion — This partnership among FSU, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was seeded with $15 million from the state and began construction on a 60,000-sq.-ft. headquarters facility in April. Researchers will explore “efficient and low emission propulsion systems for commercial and military aircraft” as well as machinery designs and aircraft powered by alternative fuels and power systems. FCAAP is headed by Farrukh Alvi.

Access Tallahassee
» Access Tallahassee — This 4-year-old networking group for young professionals is a key element in recruiting and retaining young professionals and keeping them integrated in the local business community.

» In August, Tallahassee Community College celebrated the official opening of its Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. The AMTC is envisioned as a unique training resource for local manufacturing and industrial businesses and will provide customized skills training for existing and emerging workforces. Its construction was funded in part by a $1.8-million grant from the Department of Defense and U.S. Army Research Office, and its 24,000 square feet includes practical hands-on training labs, classroom and conference space and a process development area for local entrepreneurial companies.

» Figg Engineering Group — The firm specializes in what it calls “bridges as art” and has designed spectacular spans all over the country, including the Sunshine Skyway across the mouth of Tampa Bay.

Biggest Employers

» State of Florida (non-university) 39,777

» Florida State University 8,784

» Leon County Schools 4,077

» Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare 3,480

» Florida A&M University 3,468

» City of Tallahassee 2,633

» Publix Supermarkets 2,000

» Wal-Mart Stores 1,900

» Leon County 1,522

» Tallahassee Community College 1,090

» Capital Regional Medical Center 878

» ACS 852

» Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center 672

» Capital City Bank Group 626

» Capital Health Plan 485

» Branch Banking & Trust Co. 403

» General Dynamics Land Systems 367

» St. Marks Powder 330

» Sodexho 300

» Westminster Oaks 300

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