North Central

Dominating the North Central’s economic, academic and cultural landscapes is the University of Florida, one of the nation’s leading academic and research centers. It is an important central transportation and logistics crossroads that connects the state’s major cities with deepwater ports, international airports, rail and interstate highways.

 

When economic development leaders from Florida’s North Central region are wooing site selectors and industry executives, two words always at the forefront of their sales pitch are “education” and “location.”

And with good reason.

The economic epicenter and beating heart of this 13-county region’s economy is the University of Florida’s main campus in Gainesville.

One of the nation’s leading academic and research centers, UF is home to some 61,000 students, more than 32,000 employees and faculty and is a major talent pipeline to Florida’s thriving $1.7 trillion economy, the 12th largest among the world’s nations.

The North Central region also identifies as an important central location and crossroads that connect with several of Florida’s deepwater ports, international airports and other key transportation and logistics assets.

Two of Florida’s four major interstate corridors — I-10 and I-75 — intersect near Lake City funneling massive flows of north-south and east-west traffic through the state.

The region also boasts a strong health care and life sciences economy powered by UF Health Shands Hospital, employing 33,000 health care workers and one of the largest medical facilities in the state.

While UF’s huge economic impact is felt throughout the region and far beyond, Gainesville is also the home to a large manufacturing base featuring several Fortune 500 companies, such as Philips, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, GE, Texas Instruments, Siemens and Sherwin Williams.

Aerospace / Space Florida

One in particular is focused on Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency, based in Merritt Island, that works with commercial space companies, other governmental agencies, and academic institutions to develop space-related infrastructure.

Jennifer Daniels, Columbia County’s economic development director, is enthusiastic about the recent agreement among 23 regional school districts to adopt Space Florida Academy programs aimed at training students for high-demand aerospace careers.

“So now we are part of and actually are identified as a Space Florida Academy district,” says Daniels. “That designation itself amplifies our presence in the defense and aerospace world and is going to be huge for us.”

Suwanee County Economic Director Jimmy Norris also sees opportunities for North Central counties and technical colleges to partner with Space Florida.

“We think that definitely there is an avenue for our technical colleges to align their programs with Space Florida,” says Norris. “We have a company here in Suwanee County that is doing business with Space Florida making aerospace components. So, we do see a lot of opportunity in this area.”

CTE-Trained Workforce

This growing advanced manufacturing base is being sustained and nurtured by an evolving Career and Technical Education trained workforce.

“I think we have some of the best workforce and talent development programs as they relate particularly to advance manufacturing,” says Jeff Hendry, executive director of the North Florida Economic Development Partnership. “These programs are producing what were traditionally referred to as “blue collar” jobs but are now also evolving into a lot of technology-based work thanks to our great technical and state colleges and the University of Florida.”

While higher education, health care and manufacturing form the core of the region’s economy, local economic development organization executives are eyeing several new and promising sectors as development opportunities.

Sports Tourism

Another promising opportunity within the region is sports tourism, says Landon Harrar, business development and investor relations manager with the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce.

The centerpiece of this initiative is the new Alachua County Sports and Events complex.

The $38 million indoor and outdoor facility, which opened in 2023, was funded primarily with local option sales tax revenues and is expected to generate an economic impact of some $77 million per year and create over 1,100 jobs.

RAADSports, headquartered in Alachua County, designed the facility and currently operates it. “We anticipate having Olympians come here to train,” says RAADSports CEO Richard Blalock. “We want to be internationally known for the different activities we have.”

Soon after its opening, the Sports Center was selected to host the 2025 World Masters Athletics’ international track and field competition for athletes 35 and older, the first time the event has been held in the U.S., says Harrar.

The event is estimated to bring over 10,000 visitors to Alachua County in March 2025, with nearly two-thirds of those visitors coming from international destinations.

Small-town Feel

While the region has enjoyed success with its “small town feel with big city amenities,” marketing strategy, it faces many of the same challenges as the much larger urban regions in Orlando, Tampa and Miami.

Chief among them is the intense competition the North Central region faces with its neighbor Georgia and the other Southeastern states that have lucrative tax, land and cash development incentives in their arsenal.

Florida, which does not impose a personal income tax on residents or on most foods and medicine, is not without its competitive economic development incentives.

What is widely provided by the state for economic development is the Job Growth Grant Fund, which can fund infrastructure and talent initiatives.

Those targeted initiatives have paid off in Suwanee County where the Rhino Company/Wave Armor Division has built a $24 million facility that manufactures floating docks.

The Minnesota-based company’s 213,543-square-foot facility is located adjacent to the Suwannee County Catalyst Site’s industrial park.

The successful effort by the county’s elected officials and economic development leaders to land the project did not come easy, taking several years of persistence and included a number of tantalizing near misses and disappointments.

In addition to the company’s investment, the project directly and indirectly benefited from a pool of state investments of over $14 million into the plant’s site. Those state investments included a $9.6 million Rural Infrastructure Fund grant to construct a wastewater treatment facility, and over $4.6 million in Florida Jobs Growth Grant and legislative infrastructure appropriations.

Workforce Housing

Workforce housing is a constantly pressing challenge. And a good example of that need can be found in Suwanee County.

“We recently had a housing study done,” says Suwanee County’s Norris. “And the study said we’re going to need 1,200 new houses and 400 rentals over the next five years. Part of that is from organic growth and part of it is due to job growth from new companies coming into Suwanee County.”

The results of the study and the number of workforce houses needed were surprising to some local leaders, says Norris.

“But we’re not surprised by those numbers because there is no available inventory of housing now,” says Norris.

Despite the statewide need for more affordable housing and competitive economic development incentives, there are projects in the works that will have a major and positive impact on Florida’s smaller cities and rural counties including internet expansion.

Broadband Explosion

That high-speed expansion is being funded by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program that provides federal funding for grants to states for broadband planning and installation.

“If you don't have the broadband connectivity, it's really difficult for rural counties and cities to attract the kinds of industries they’re going after,” he adds. “So, I think it’s going to be a very exciting time over the next several years for Florida’s rural counties.”