Winter 2011
Ten Pro-Business Beach Communities in the South
Who doesn't love the beach? The South's Gulf and Atlantic coasts are teeming with people, with an estimated 70 million located within 50 miles of the beach. That's more people than are located in the Northeast or the Midwest as a whole. With that many people, surely there are many opportunities for growing companies in paradise.
With these ten Southern beach communities you will find a very willing and able, aggressive and open for business approach to your inquiry about setting up shop in what really is paradise. Each has different strengths and weaknesses, but the one thing they have in common is they are very pro-business.
Panama City Beach, Fla.
The Panama City-Bay County, Fla. area is located on the Gulf Coast in the heart of Northwest Florida, south of I-10. The location is well-known for its 27 miles of sugary-white sand and emerald green waters, but is beginning to be touted as a mecca for business growth.
The community has a pro-business spirit that permeates all levels of government as well as the private sector. Last year, even with the economic challenges of the U.S. recession, and an unexpected oil spill, the community worked together demonstrating resilience and ended the year with positive job growth.
The area boasts a unique collection of economic assets, including the country’s newest international airport, together with a growing regional Port Panama City with rail connectivity, a research university campus of Florida State University, a new Advanced Technology Center under construction at Gulf Coast College, two growing military bases and the warm hospitality of its residents and businesses.
Baldwin County, Ala.
Baldwin County, Ala. is known though out the United States as a destination tourism community.
With beautiful white, natural sand beaches, emerald Gulf of Mexico waters, incredible fresh seafood, some of the best deep sea fishing in the world and over 14,000 condo and hotel units to host visitors, the tourism reputation is well deserved. But Baldwin County also has extremely aggressive business development and economic diversification goals to complement tourism initiatives. City and county governments are strong partners with the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance and local Chambers of Commerce in these diversification efforts.
A growing aerospace sector, including international aviation firms such as Goodrich Aerostructures, Segers Aero Corporation, Fokker Airinc, and Jamco America provide high pay, high tech jobs to approximately 1,000 Baldwin County residents. In addition to aerospace, Baldwin County’s business clients include millions of square feet of distribution space on or near Interstates I-10 and I-65; precision metal and wood working manufacturing facilities; state-of-the-art back office/call centers; thriving medical and education communities, and huge retail and service industries. Baldwin County, Ala. truly is pro-business and is deserving of its Top Ten Pro-Business Beach Community Ranking.
Pensacola Bay Region of Florida
The Pensacola Bay Area features a rich and diverse business landscape, with established industry-leading enterprises, fast-growing mid-sized businesses and numerous entrepreneurial startups - all in a spectacular setting of beautiful beaches and a historic downtown. It’s the perfect balance of work and play, business and family. Business dollars go a lot further here given Florida’s limited corporate taxes and no personal income tax.
Each year, approximately 5,000 graduates of the local university, two technical institutions, private college and acclaimed state college enter into our workforce. Situated along I-10 with convenient access to I-65, the Pensacola Bay Area also has a deep water port along the Intracoastal Waterway. As home to one of the country’s most dynamic military bases, a cluster of IT and aerospace companies has emerged. With names like GE, Pall, Armstrong World Industries and Solutia, the Pensacola Bay Area is a thriving business hub with an unmatched quality of life.
Onslow County, N.C.
Onslow County’s flat, gently rolling terrain is located in the southeastern coastal plain of North Carolina. Onslow County is home to more than 160,000 people and includes the incorporated towns of Holly Ridge, Richlands, Swansboro, North Topsail Beach and a portion of Surf City, as well as the surrounding U. S. Marine Corps bases. Onslow is widely recognized as having a large and productive workforce, given that Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station provide formal training for over 53,000 Marines and sailors annually.
Additionally, Onslow County has a low tax burden, flexible workforce, low energy and construction costs, and a government that works for business, making it an ideal location for new and existing businesses to grow and prosper. The City of Jacksonville is the County seat and boasts the lowest cost-of-living statistics in North Carolina. Not only is Onslow County a great place to work, it’s also a wonderful place to live. The county is warm and family-oriented in nature and offers a natural playground for the ultimate in outdoor coastal recreation and sports with over 30 miles of beautiful beaches sprinkled with shells, waters teeming with an abundance of marine life, forests filled with wildlife, and rich farmland rich.
Jacksonville, Fla.
The largest city in the United States and the hub of seven Northeast Florida counties, Jacksonville offers a wide range of opportunities for companies looking to relocate or expand.
The renewal of Downtown Jacksonville provides beautiful buildings ready for occupancy. The Cecil Commerce Center, a former Navy Master Jet Base, offers space suitable for manufacturing, aviation and logistics companies. Bustling suburbs, beach communities and surrounding counties supply innumerable choices for locations in office parks and buildings as well as a tremendous amount of developable land.
Centrally located with three time zones to the east and west, Jacksonville is rapidly becoming a significant international business center. With one of the largest - and expanding - Florida seaports, an international airport, major interstates and highways, Jacksonville is known as America’s Logistics Center.
With so many resources, Jacksonville is truly a great place to work, live and play.
Manatee and Sarasota Counties, Fla.
There’s nothing like a recession to rally a community’s business, civic and government leadership to create a friendlier environment for job creation.
On Florida’s Gulf Coast, the communities of Manatee and Sarasota counties have responded with a host of local, performance-based incentives and an aggressive focus on streamlining permitting and regulatory processes.
The result? In the past two years, more than 50 businesses in the two counties have announced plans to add more than 3,000 new jobs through relocation or expansion over the next few years.
“Local elected officials have made it clear that they are focused on helping businesses create more high-impact jobs – now!” said Eric Basinger, executive director of the Manatee Economic Development Council.
Said Kathy Baylis, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County: “We have never had better cooperation locally and regionally for assisting businesses with locating or expanding here. It’s a new day.”
Mobile Bay, Ala.
Despite our reputation as a laid-back Southern community, Mobile Bay is on the move, with businesses enjoying all the benefits of being on the water. The area is blessed with a wealth of natural resources, including an abundance of available land with deep water access, rapid transit time to the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and a noticeable lack of congestion.
To this, Mobile Bay adds a multitude of man-made resources, such as immediate access to major interstates (I-10 and I-65), air cargo services, quick truck turn times at port, full port services with heavy lift for oversized cargo and full-service shipyards.
Also fueling the city’s futures is its prime coastal location, high-quality of life, right-to-work status, ready workforce, employee training programs, and tax and property incentives.
Biloxi-Gulfport on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has a lot more going for it than just the beach. The area is home to military bases, casinos and a diverse group of businesses and industries that have found success in the pro-business environment.
A solid infrastructure and growing intermodal transportation system are among the area’s pro-business attributes. The Mississippi State Port at Gulfport, located five nautical miles from the Intracoastal Waterway, is undergoing a state-of-the-art expansion. The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport recently completed a new air cargo facility. Transportation projects, including the expansion of Seaway Road within Bernard Bayou Industrial Park, are making travel faster and easier.
Global Axis, a new industrial park north of Interstate 10, has received Project Ready status and offers sites adjacent to rail access and Highway 49.
Top it all off with a low cost of doing business, workforce and entrepreneurial programs, and support from the Harrison County Development Commission for a pro-business beach community beyond compare.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
St. Petersburg might just be the poster child for the tenets outlined in the “Richard Florida/Creative Community” movement. It’s easy when you attract smart, innovative workers that expect the best in arts, culture and education.
Recently named as Florida’s first designated Green City, the city’s current growth is being led by a sharp focus on investments in the sciences, services and sunshine. It’s “Ocean Team” is the South’s premier consortium of organizations dedicated to research and innovation in Marine Sciences, Oceanography and Environmental Research. “It’s a great example of a thriving industry cluster, says Chris Steinocher, President of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. “Within walking distance of our downtown waterfront, we have a convergence of engineers, scientists, IT professionals connecting in very tangible ways.”
The Team includes SRI International, the US Geological Survey and Marine Science Center (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service, the Florida Institute of Oceanography, the International Ocean Institute (IOI-USA), Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, the Pier Aquarium and University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP) and the USF College of Marine Sciences.
Palm Beach County, Fla.
Palm Beach County is known as the home to some of the most affluent people in the world. Usually that doesn’t translate into a pro-business environment even without a beach.
But in Palm Beach County you will find a thriving aerospace cluster, as well as clusters in financial services, communications and IT as well as the life sciences.
It is the growth in the life sciences that impresses us the most about Palm Beach. In just a short period of time, this “beach community” has recruited the renowned life science organizations of the Scripps Florida Institute and the Max Planck Society.