The Renaissance of the South is, by now, an old story. From Atlanta to Charlotte to Raleigh-Durham, the metropolitan areas of the Southeastern U.S. experienced unprecedented economic growth during the 1980s and 1990s.
What may not be so well known is the economic resurgence of the Old South’s southernmost state: Florida. From Tallahassee to Jacksonville to Orlando, cities that once were little more than afterthoughts for American companies now find themselves major players on the national and international stage. Add in Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and you have the makings a global competitor that would represent the world’s 15th largest economy.
What”s so significant about the Florida story? Well, if you are a corporate real estate professional, what you want to know is how. How did Florida suddenly jumpstart its economy and become a global player in the highly competitive field of economic development? In short, what is Florida doing right to improve its business climate — the focus of this issue of Site Selection? Read on, and you will see.
The numbers tell the story of Florida’s transformation well: as reported by our writer Frederick Burger in the feature article “A Sunny Outlook Helps Reshape Florida’s Economy”, Florida produced a gross state product of $380.6 billion — the country’s fifth largest — and attracted 58.9 million visitors in 1999. With 15.1 million residents, Florida is the nation’s third most populous state and is on track to pass 23 million people by 2020.
Much of this growth is the natural effect of a surging U.S. economy that experienced record-breaking growth during the last decade of the 20th century. But Florida’s growth can also be attributed to the forward thinking of economic development leaders — from Gov. Jeb Bush in Tallahassee to the front-line people in EDC offices around the state.
Enterprise Florida, the unique public-private partnership that replaced the old Florida Department of Commerce, reported recently that economic development initiatives undertaken statewide attracted 43,000 new jobs and generated more than $335 million in export sales increases in the just-completed 1999-2000 year. Both figures represent record highs for the state. Nearly 8,000 of the new jobs were created by existing Florida companies expanding to service the increase in global trade. Over the past three years, a total of 109,164 jobs were created and retained and Florida companies reported $1.24 billion in Enterprise Florida assisted export sales.
With job growth projected to be 2.9 percent in Florida this year — nearly a full percentage point above the national average — the Sunshine State should expect another record haul in the 2000-2001 fiscal year.
While Florida still has a way to go to catch the economic juggernauts of California ($1 trillion GDP), New York ($651.7 billion) and Texas ($601.6 billion), something ought to be said for the progressive thinking that has transformed Florida from a sleepy retirement/tourist state into a thriving economic engine.
One state leader who has witnessed this transformation first-hand is former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez, now an economic development consultant with the Carlton Fields law firm in Tampa.
“There’s quite a difference between Florida’s economic development efforts of today versus what they were back in 1979, when I was mayor of Tampa,” said Martinez, who now leads the Committee of 100 of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce. “Tampa and the state were prepared to work with Northern companies looking to relocate, but the areas we went to were not all that aggressive in holding on to what they had. Certain states in the Northeast and Midwest were not doing a whole lot to retain the companies they had.
“But that has changed dramatically today,” the governor added. “All 50 states today have aggressive programs to recruit and retain industry. The economic development profession has gotten a lot more competitive. We are all still after the same thing — high-wage jobs and clean industry — but the question is: which area has the tiebreaker?”
Recognizing that change in competitiveness among the Northern and Midwestern states, Florida set out years ago to change its approach to economic development. The result of that effort was Enterprise Florida, a new model of public-private cooperation representing a new focus: improving Florida’s climate for business.
That effort has filtered down to the local level, where county and regional economic development agencies now form partnerships with the private sector to address infrastructure needs that before had been neglected. Perhaps the best example of this is the Tampa Bay Partnership, which under the leadership of Stuart Rogel has turned the Greater Tampa Bay Area into a hotbed of high-tech, telecommunications, banking and finance employers creating thousands of new high-wage jobs every year. Whether it is Chase Manhattan bringing 1,400 jobs to a new 450,000-sq.-ft. (41,800-sq.-m.) office campus developed by Duke-Weeks in East Hillsborough County or Intermedia Communications taking 800,000 sq. ft. (74,300 sq. m.) developed by Highwoods Properties in New Tampa, the I-75 Corridor is rapidly taking on the look and feel of a major office and industrial center.
In our interview with Rogel, the Tampa Bay Partnership chief executive explains how the economic development model has changed over the past 10 years. “We have gone from being almost exclusively dealmakers to facilitators and brokers of a variety of economic development activities and services,” said Rogel. “Our role used to be very focused and narrow and specific. Our focus now, rather than just recruiting businesses, is on how to create as many high-wage jobs in the community as possible.”
That means paying attention to issues such as transportation, water quality and educational resources. That means lobbying local and state lawmakers to address needed infrastructure-funding measures. That means forming alliances with local businesses to support needed changes in public policy. That means bringing companies together with local schools and colleges to make sure that the classrooms of today are preparing the work force of tomorrow.
It’s not an easy job, and the results aren’t always quantifiable. But Florida is clearly benefiting today from the advanced thinking of its economic development leaders. In fact, it’s a good model for the rest of the nation.
— Ron Starner is the editor of Site Selection.
