Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Northwest Fla. Yearbook 2010

Pensacola/Escambia County

Development diversity — ranging from a $20-million National Flight Academy to a 100-employee poker room at Pensacola Greyhound Track — is generating energy in an economy still dampened by a high jobless rate, last year’s 25% decrease in new-home sales and the pervasive capital shortfall for small businesses wanting to expand.

Navy Federal Credit Union is adding an $81-million, fourth building at its Pensacola campus and projecting five-year hiring of 800 more employees to its current 1,342. Also providing optimism: The $78.9-million expansion at Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport and growth among healthcare providers and beach tourism accommodations.

National Flight Academy
The National Flight Academy (rendering) is set to open next year.

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Person to Watch

» Julian MacQueen, CEO Of Innisfree Hotels, Gulf Breeze, has blueprinted a $24-million Hyatt Place Hotel and retail/office complex adjacent to the Pensacola airport; he’s also building a $38-million Holiday Inn Resort at Pensacola Beach, where he already operates Hampton and Hilton hotels. His reasoning: “The supply line of new products in the hospitality industry has essentially dried up. By the time these projects come down the chute, the market will be ready for them.’’

Business to Watch

» Smart Horizons Career Online Education, a partnership of south Florida entrepreneurs with Pensacola-based Smart Horizons, plans a May launch of online education to re-engage adults and dropouts in the education system for diplomas and career credentials. The goal, says CEO Howard Liebman: Launch four to six national online high schools per year, potentially requiring annual hiring of 75 to 100.

Who’s Hiring

» Woodlands Medical Specialists recently hired 37 and is planning to add 20 more this spring as it expands services.

» Baptist Health Care has 100 positions available due to vacancies and need for support staff for additional physicians. It hired 950 employees last year, reaching a record total employment of 6,000.

» Hotel Indigo in Pensacola Beach is hiring 70 through Landrum Staffing to operate the $45-million, 162-room hotel when it opens in late May.

» Five Sisters Blues Cafe will hire 15 to 25 kitchen and serving staff by its April restaurant opening.

Panama City/Bay County

May’s scheduled takeoff of the $318-million Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and the recent landing of sought-after Southwest Airlines to serve it are seen as certain economic uplift — giving Bay County affordable global connectivity along with industrial land with airport access. St. Joe Co., which donated the 4,000-acre airport site amid 71,000 acres of greenfield, is working on a first-phase, 1,000-acre development for commercial and office space, expecting to have infrastructure work under way by year-end, says Kevin Johnson, St. Joe vice president for economic development. St. Joe will encourage aerospace, aviation and defense companies to expand or relocate near the airport.

Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is scheduled to be completed next month.

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Business to Watch

» Coast Water Efficient Technology, recently relocated to Panama City from California, projects creating 230 jobs within three years at its new manufacturing, assembly and distribution facility for water-efficient plumbing products. President Robert Easter expects the company will have close to 100 jobs in Panama City by year-end.

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Fort Walton/Okaloosa County

Defense spending is muscle in Okaloosa’s economy, accounting for nearly 48% of gross regional product and fueling close to $1 billion in military construction from 2009-11. Buildup includes the initial training center for the Air Force’s new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter plane, an Eglin Air Force Base cantonment for the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group and new housing and administrative quarters at Hurlburt Field. The influx of military personnel and families to follow will total about 11,000.

Business to Watch

» Fort Walton Machining grew its workforce last year by 24%, adding 32 workers, and by the end of January had added 15 more to meet growing demand, says President Tim McDonald. The company also added a metal-finishing division. Its core competency: Shaping raw materials to finished products, mainly for defense aerospace, and crafting components for air framers.

Fort Walton Machining
Fort Walton Machining, which shapes raw materials into finished products, has been adding workers.

Apalachicola/Franklin County

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that closed Hexaport’s GreenSteel Homes manufacturing plant at Carrabelle was a major 2009 setback. The venture, launched in 2007, originally was touted to produce 300 jobs. “We’re working to find a new outlet — such as Haiti — for Hexaport’s low-cost housing product,’’ says county planner Alan Pierce. Another negative: Winter rains clobbered the seafood industry.

Spalach Outfitters
Tom Morgan and Sharon Baggett opened Apalach Outfitters clothing and fishing gear in March.
Business to Watch

» Tom Morgan, former commercial division president for St. Joe Co., has opened Apalach Outfitters in downtown Apalachicola — “a cool and historic place with a robust tourist market’’ — where he sees a void for the clothing and fishing gear his store sells.

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Holmes/Washington Counties

Job growth in Holmes County generally has stalled because of the recession; however, some local specialty tool and parts manufacturers saw sales increases over the past year, says Holmes County Development Commission executive director Jim Brook.

Recently announced plans by Orlando-based Tavistock Group to develop Spring Ridge, a 1,700-acre master-planned community at Sunny Hills, could create a substantial long-term economic boost for Washington County; planning and marketing of the first 75 acres is under way. Startup plans also have been signaled by two manufacturers: Pipe producer The Concrete Co. and bedding manufacturer Enola Manufacturing Services, which have estimated they’ll hire 150 and 30 workers, respectively, within three years.

Business to Watch

» Northern Trust, representative for some 55,000 acres known as Moody’s Pasture and owned by the Knight newspaper family, recently began the process of state-required review for a proposed development. The land, most of it in Washington County, “will be the ultimate game-changer over the next 50 to 75 years for Washington County,’’ says Ted Everett, executive director of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

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Jackson/Calhoun/Liberty Counties

A high percentage of government employment in Jackson County, around 41%, has helped the county fare better than many areas, says Bill Stanton, executive director of the Jackson County Development Council. A Family Dollar distribution center at Marianna has added workers, says Richard Williams, executive director of Chipola Regional Workforce Development Board.

Last year’s grounding of the proposed Sky project, a 571-acre European-style community near Clarksville, curtailed an anticipated source of growth for Calhoun County.

Liberty County in December, meanwhile, boasted the lowest unemployment rate in the state, a product of stable industries, says Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Johnny Eubanks.

Business to Watch

Twin Oaks Juvenile Development, based in Bristol in Liberty County, is building a private juvenile justice facility in Graceville in Jackson County, to provide education and vocational training for girls placed under court order. It will employ 35 at full operation by midsummer. The 11-year-old business operates seven similar centers in the region.

Walton County

Several manufacturing companies generated increased sales in 2009 despite the economy, says Bill Arnett, executive director of the Walton County Economic Development Alliance. Among them: Magee Industries, a multiple-company enterprise at Magee Industrial Park at Freeport manufacturing chemicals and plastics, which has turned away business for lack of space, says President and

CEO John Magee. He’s now doubling factory size with a new 30,000-sq.-ft. building and will add 20 employees by year-end.

Business to Watch

» Florida Transformer, a power distribution equipment service and repair company in DeFuniak Springs, last year began a service decommissioning electrical distribution equipment; it hired six employees for a total of about 145. “We saw an opportunity to provide a new service we’d been looking at for some time, and construction costs were down,’’ says general manager Ron Shaw. Another expansion could come in 2010 or later.

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Santa Rosa County

New and expanding businesses made 2009 an upbeat year, projecting some 800 new jobs and nearly $150 million in investment. Largest among newcomers is the Geo prison opening in July, with 470 jobs. Next planned major industry lure: The Whiting Aviation Park, a 269-acre development adjacent to Whiting Field Naval Air Station with runway access. The County Commission recently allocated $490,000 for infrastructure and hiring of PBS&J for master-planning.

Even single-family home sales managed a gain for the year, rising by .6%.

Businesses to Watch

» Technology firms AppRiver and Avalex Technologies are jointly building a $12-million technology building, an addition to Quietwater Office Park in Gulf Breeze. AppRiver estimates the combined expansion, which includes the move of Avalex from Pensacola, could generate as many as 300 jobs in Gulf Breeze over the next five years. AppRiver, with 114 employees, expects to hire 30 more this year; Avalex, currently with 52, will hire 10 this year.

Gulf County

Sacred Heart Hospital
Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf opened last month at Port St. Joe.
The March opening of Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf at Port St. Joe is providing emergency, surgical and in-patient care for the area, along with 110 jobs. The Pensacola-based non-profit healthcare system will open an adjacent medical center this summer.

The county lost some 77 jobs last summer when Arizona Chemical closed its Port St. Joe plant and transferred operations to refineries in Panama City and Savannah, Ga.

Business to Watch

» Atlanta-based Biomass Energy Holdings is building Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center, a 47-megawatt electric generating plant, to be powered by wood chips and energy crops and employ 25 to 30. Construction, costing just under $200 million, will take 18 months and employ 200. Power will be sold to Progress Energy.

Who’s Hiring

» The Trane Co. plant at Lynn Haven could increase its workforce by 150 as it transfers some of its operations from a plant at Fort Smith, Ark.

» Sunshine Aero Industries in Crestview will add about 10 employees for expanded flight-test services for the military and aerospace industries once its new $3-million hangar is completed.

» Qwest Air Parts of Memphis, specializing in disassembling retired commercial airliners, will be hiring five to 10 workers this spring to staff the new warehouse operation at Crestview.

» Jobs
MSA Jan. 2009 Jan. 2010 % Change Jobless Rate
Fort Walton/Crestview/ Destin 88,399 87,343 -1.2% 9.2%
Panama City/Lynn Haven 78,299 78,348 +.06% 11.9%
Pensacola/Ferry Pass/Brent 188,110 186,917 -0.6% 11.5%
Source: Agency for Workforce Innovation
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» Homes
Single-family existing-home sales by Realtors
MSA Jan. 2010 Sales 1-Year Change Jan. 2010 Price 1-Year Change
Fort Walton Beach 143 +21% $201,400 +7%
Panama City 71 +22% $158,900 -3%
Pensacola 157 -3% $143,900 +2%

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» Population Totals
+ 2.4% or higher ?? -1.0%-2.4% ??- 1.0% or less
? ? Average Annual Growth
County 2010 2006-2010 Trend
Bay 168,205 0.65% -
Calhoun 13,888 0.94 -
Escambia 308,705 0.20 -
Franklin 11,445 0.65 -
Gulf 15,915 0.36 -
Holmes 19,916 1.03 -
Jackson 50,231 0.63 -
Liberty 8,375 1.93 -
Okaloosa 185,652 0.38 -
SaNta Rosa 161,465 2.82 +
Walton 57,976 3.06 +
Washington 24,974 2.82 -
Florida 18,910,672 1.21% -

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» Population by Age
? Years of Age (2010)
County 0-14 15-19 20-39 40-64 65+ TOTAL
Bay 19.0% 5.9% 24.9% 34.7% 15.4% 168,205
Calhoun 17.0 5.1 31.1 30.0 16.8 13,888
Escambia 18.6 7.2 26.1 32.2 16.0 308,705
Franklin 14.7 4.8 29.3 34.6 16.6 11,445
Gulf 12.7 5.1 31.6 34.4 16.2 15,915
Holmes 17.1 5.8 29.5 30.8 16.8 19,916
Jackson 16.3 6.1 28.9 32.2 16.5 50,231
Liberty 17.2 5.2 35.5 31.4 10.8 8,375
Okaloosa 19.7 6.3 24.1 35.2 14.7 185,652
Santa Rosa 18.3 6.0 26.6 36.0 13.1 161,465
Walton 17.2 5.5 26.7 34.3 16.2 57,976
Washington 16.9 5.4 29.7 33.4 14.5 24,974
Florida 17.9% 6.1% 25.4% 32.9% 17.6% 18,910,672

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» Per Capita Income
? ? Source of Income
County Per Capita Income 2010 Labor Property Transfer
Bay $35,301 69.5% 16.8% 13.8%
Calhoun 22,690 63.2 10.3 26.5
Escambia 32,998 67.8 17.4 14.8
Franklin 27,854 51.3 28.0 20.6
GUlf 24,922 57.3 17.0 25.7
Holmes 25,619 58.7 10.9 30.4
Jackson 26,177 59.2 11.1 29.7
Liberty 26,921 76.9 7.4 15.6
Okaloosa 40,903 70.6 21.4 8.1
Santa Rosa 33,273 69.8 15.5 14.7
Walton 29,360 63.7 22.8 13.6
Washington 24,501 59.6 10.4 30.1
Florida $39,927 62.2% 26.5% 11.3%