With apologies to fans of college football experiencing poll fatigue, the Orlando region places at or near the top in numerous national rankings for economic vitality and quality of life. Many of those rankings are subjective, of course. Yet, there also is plenty of performance proof that measures up.

Among the highlights: The region leads the nation in job growth, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, adding more than 1,000 jobs per week across a broad base of industries. Notably, in 2017 the professional and business services industry (legal, accounting, computer systems design, management and administrative services) had the largest net gain with 13,200 new jobs, even outpacing the leisure and hospitality industry.

A few other notables from assorted polls: second fastest-growing city in 2017 by virtue of population, employment, wages and economic output; top-10 “American City of the Future” in 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014, with approximately $10 billion in transportation infrastructure in the queue; and No. 2 for “most competitive U.S. location for business.”

You can look all of them up, prominently displayed on the web by the Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP), the agency responsible to keeping all that activity humming.

Clearly, the region is a competitive force. Just seemingly not too competitive within its own borders. In this mapping of three sprawling counties — Orange, Osceola and Seminole — the region offers evidence of playing quite well together.

“Citizens don’t know where the lines are that were drawn a hundred years ago. So, the ability to pull people together to really address the issues and opportunities that we all face together is a much better approach than trying to do it all independently on a much smaller scale,” says Tim Giuliani, president and CEO of the OEP, which itself is emblematic of regional cooperation. The OEP was created in 2017 when the Central Florida Partnership and Orlando Economic Development Commission were merged into one organization.

In another example, a few years ago when the Orlando Economic Development Commission was brainstorming its regional branding campaign “Orlando: You don’t know the half of it” — which lauds business and not necessarily tourism — attractions’ executives nonetheless were in the middle of the ideation. The campaign has become an unqualified success, with Giuliani commenting, “It’s been a regional effort, not outside of tourism, but with tourism.”

Adds Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, “I can unequivocally say that we collaborate in the region better than anybody in the country. There’s great recognition in our region that it’s better if we do this together. Sometimes it’s easier if you do something by yourself, but it never turns out as great as it can be.”

Across the region, collaboration is a theme.

The Counties at a Glance

• Orange County

Former Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings now is the county’s mayor, replacing Teresa Jacobs, who moves to chair of the Orange County School Board. Demings brings an obvious focus on law and order to the region’s most populous county and arguably the state’s hottest bed of activity. Orange County is home to the nation’s second largest university and convention center, an international airport growing by leaps and bounds, an emerging “medical city” and, generally, enough infrastructure construction to make your head spin.

Downtown Orlando offers a microcosm, where Mayor Dyer, fresh off the success of three mega venues (arts center, arena and stadium renovation) has sights set on creating a $1 billion public/private village on roughly 70 acres of prime real estate. Essentially, Creative Village will transform the former Amway Arena site into a mixed-use, transit oriented, urban infill neighborhood with an accent on education. Most notably, the University of Central Florida and Valencia College will open a downtown campus there in August 2019, with approximately 7,700 students.

Similarly, the nearby redevelopment of the economically challenged Parramore neighborhood brings further opportunities for growth, as does a nearly hatched pilot redevelopment initiative to address outdated shopping centers, involving tax rebates on properties of nine acres and more.

Meanwhile, corridors to the southeast and southwest — Medical City and International Drive, just to name two — appear to be broadening by the day.

 

• Osceola County

“We can’t wait for things to happen,” asserts Bob Porter, the county’s executive director of economic development and strategy, who cites a historical comparison to Seminole County of the early 1980s. Back then, famed developer Jeno Paulucci and his Heathrow community stirred the residential and commercial real estate pot, resulting in the arrival of the American Automobile Association’s corporate headquarters and related growth.

The same is happening in Osceola.

“The future is ours, and it’s almost a blank slate,” says Belinda Kirkegard, director of economic development for Kissimmee, the county’s largest city.

Both Porter and Kirkegard point to NeoCity, a 500-acre master-planned community envisioned as a global center for smart sensor, photonics and nano-technology research and development, and big data/predictive analytics with a potential long-term economic output upward of $28.5 billion, according to officials. At the center is BRIDG, a microelectronics fabrication facility seeking to bridge technology and capability gaps across multiple fields. It was established in March 2017 as a not-for-profit, public-private partnership with Osceola County and UCF.

Osceola, also home to the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, is positioning itself to be at the core of advancing technologies that will shape the future of automobiles, surgical devices, home appliances and other devices.

Additionally, while remaining rooted in tourism — ever heard of a place called the Walt Disney World Resort? — the county hopes to move forward on the wings of its airport. A fast fact from the aviation industry: A Boeing study shows that over the next 20 years, the industry will need 2 million new commercial pilots, maintenance technicians and cabin crew members.

Not coincidentally, in April 2018, the city of Kissimmee launched the Aerospace Advancement Initiative, encompassing incentive packages for aerospace businesses to complement aviation education at Kissimmee Gateway Airport, including Florida Aviation Academy, the first charter high school approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The “blank slate” is filling in.

 

• Seminole County

Buoyed by the arrival of AAA all those years ago, Seminole County continues to attract headquarters and substantial outposts, such as Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Scholastic Book Fairs, Sears Home Improvement Products, Verizon and Deloitte.

At the same time, ongoing expansion at the Orlando Sanford International Airport, along with its active foreign trade zone, has heightened the industry profile of aviation here as well. The airport is expected to handle 3 million passengers for the first time in 2018, an increase of 63% from 2008. Last fall, Seminole High School in Sanford introduced an aviation-maintenance program as a “direct reaction to workforce needs,” cites Tricia Johnson, chief administrator of the county’s Office of Economic Development & Community Relations.

Likewise, the recently formed Seminole Economic Development Education Network (SEDEN) meets quarterly, bringing together players in economic development and education. The goal is to support local industry by helping shape classroom curricula in environmental sustainability, manufacturing, hospitality, aviation and other important sectors.

The county’s biggest news, however, comes from potentially turning old into new. Parkside Place is being proposed at the site of Flea World, a popular stop since 1982 that closed in 2015. Plans were reviewed in October by the Board of County Commissioners. The details: 4,076 multifamily units; 752 student housing units; a 184-unit independent living facility; a 312-bed assisted-living facility; 1.39 million square feet of office space, 340,000 square feet of retail space; and a 250-room hotel. The anticipated time frame for the estimated $2 billion project is 12 years, with development work to possibly begin later this year.

Says Johnson: “The name of the game [in Seminole County] is redevelopment.”