Jax is Back

Aerospace is everywhere in Florida. Embraer, the world's fourth-largest aviation manufacturer, already had its U.S. headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, and decided in July 2003 to expand its Florida presence with a 200-employee assembly plant on a 10-acre (4-hectare) site at the 17,200-acre (6,880-hectare) Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville. Given the facility's purpose, it was only fitting that the space it will occupy used to be the Cecil Field Naval Air Station.
        "Our Jacksonville facility will play a significant role in our active pursuit of U.S. defense and homeland security market opportunities," Gary Spulak, president of Embraer Aircraft Holding Inc., said in announcing the finalization of the deal. Mauricio Botelho added that this is only the beginning of a "multi-year expansion of Embraer capabilities in the United States on defense-related operations."

Lakewood Ranch Continues to Corral Companies For the developers of Bradenton's 1,273-acre (hectare) Lakewood Ranch, the following ratio has a nice ring to it: 4,000 homes sold, 8,500 new jobs created. Many of those jobs are at large employers like FCCI Insurance Group (800 employees), and many come as the result of national and regional consolidations and expansions. Even after a recent spate of deals that includes new space occupancy by Sarasota-based construction management firm Dooley and Mack, Pittsburgh-based Tollgrade Communications (the result of an acquisition) and a new campus of an Erie, Pa.-based osteopathic college, less than a fifth of the corporate park's 580 available acres (235 hectares) have been developed. Officials with landowner Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and Lakewood Ranch are targeting corporate headquarters for part of that space.

        Opening as soon as July 2004, the plant will be helped along by an $8-million incentive package that includes a free 10-year lease. Renewal options and an option on an adjacent 30 acres (12 hectares) were also part of the goody bag.
        The local aerospace cluster is also getting a boost from a $20-million expansion by Kaman Aerospace Corp., which will create 200 jobs initially when it opens in 2005.
        Helping Jacksonville's image have been a number of factors above and below the radar, resulting in relocations and projects in the city by corporations like Fidelity National, Citi Cards and CSX. Mark Vitner, an economist with Wachovia, says the city is "one of the more aggressive cities when it comes to economic development," especially in its use of tax-increment financing districts.
        Ron Shamlaty, vice president of marketing and communications for APL Logistics, sees things through both a professional and personal prism.
        "You can't compare today to years past," he says, noting the catalyst provided by the city's landing of an NFL football team (the Jaguars) in the 1990s. "I am a native of Jacksonville, which was a sleepy little south Georgia town quite frankly – a couple smokestacks and a Maxwell House coffee plant."
        But while he was away for 21 years, the city saw substantial growth, especially on the waterfront, where shipyards were being converted to commercial properties.
        "It was dramatic," says Shamlaty, "and with the Jaguars, the name got on the map. The world woke up, saw the port, rivers and ocean, and this place is absolutely booming compared to everywhere else."