Florida Markets to Watch in 2005     BREVARD COUNTY: Called "The Space Coast" by local economic developers, the Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay market on Florida's East Coast has attracted fans of the American space program since the 1950s. Now it's attracting next-generation NASA suppliers and defense contractors who are spending big bucks to build new facilities. Walt Johnson, executive director of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, says the Kennedy Space Center is the dominant employer in Brevard County, employing more than 16,000 people at NASA and at contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Knight Enterprises, a manufacturer of small ordnance, recently took over a former McDonnell Douglas building and is operating three shifts six days a week at the plant.       LAKEWOOD RANCH: With more than 20,000 acres (8,100 hectares) in Manatee and Sarasota counties, Lakewood Ranch is the largest mixed-use, master -planned community in FCCI Insurance Group employs more than 700 at Lakewood Ranch. Florida. It's also the fastest growing. At 4,500 homes and 3.2 million sq. ft. (297,280 sq. m.) of office space, the development has surpassed all goals of its founders. John Swart, president of Lakewood Ranch Realty Company, says the signature corporate project in 2004 is the new 110,000-sq.-ft. (10,219-sq.-m.) facility of Edwards Systems Technology. The $15-million project, slated to open in late 2004, will create 170 jobs. The Connecticut-based company develops and manufactures fire-detection systems for casinos, hotels and other large commercial buildings. Gemesis, a manufacturer of cultured diamonds, opened a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787-sq.-m.) factory that employs 22 workers.       POLK COUNTY: Many corporate executives know that Lakeland is the headquarters home of Publix Supermarkets. What most don't know is that the Lakeland-Winter Haven market is growing in the services and distribution sectors. On June 28, 2004, Verizon opened a 275-job call center in downtown Lakeland. Verizon will hire 1,000 new operators in eight states. Lakeland is the only site in Florida. In the past year, Polk County has seen its unemployment rate drop from 5.4 percent to 4.7 percent. Local companies created 4,200 new payroll jobs between April 2003 and April 2004, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. Service industries generated 3,500 of those jobs. Manufacturing employment in Polk increased by 300 jobs, including jobs in modular home manufacturing, machinery, mining, medical and rubber products. Jim DeGennaro, director of business development for Polk, says the county will prosper even more as U.S. 27 is widened from four to six lanes from Interstate 4 in Baseball City south to State Road 60 in Lake Wales. "This route will become a primary distribution hub for the entire state," he says.       MIAMI-DADE COUNTY: The Beacon Council scored a coup in March 2004 when it snagged the corporate headquarters relocation of Kraft Foods Latin America. The company moved its offices in June to Coral Gables from Rye Brook, N.Y. The move brought a $2-million facility investment and 107 jobs to Miami. The average annual salary is $76,000. "The move of our regional headquarters to the Miami area brings us closer to our markets in Latin America, which enables us to focus even greater energy on delivering superior products and service to consumers in the region," said Gustavo Abelenda, group vice president and president of the Kraft Foods Latin America Region. Frank Nero, president and CEO of the Beacon Council, says the Kraft move "underscores Miami-Dade County and South Florida's status as the business center of the Americas." Nero's next target is even bigger: the secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Miami is competing with Atlanta, Houston and several cities in Latin America for this prized project.       BRADENTON-SARASOTA: Marketing itself as "South Tampa Bay," the Bradenton-Sarasota market on Florida's Gulf Coast is changing in more ways than one. Long known as a retirement mecca for the affluent, the South Tampa Bay area is becoming a hotbed for entrepreneurs and high-tech startups. Kathy Baylis, vice president of the Sarasota County Committee for Economic Development, says the market of 700,000 people targets creative services companies, specialty manufacturers, high-tech firms and life and environmental sciences employers. Typical of these employers is VenVest, a venture capital firm founded by a plumber who created a unique customer-service solution. "He came here from St. Louis and will have close to 200 employees by the end of this year," Baylis said. "He made a lifestyle choice to come here."       PALM BEACH COUNTY: Thanks to last year's announcement by The Scripps Research Institute and its commitment to build a 364,000-sq.-ft. (33,816-sq.-m.) research complex in Sarasota Technology Park is home to a technology center from Cendant subsidiary Jackson Hewitt. . Palm Beach County, the entire Southeast Coast of Florida is poised to become a global player in biotechnology research and development. Scripps Florida is projected to create 6,500 jobs, generate $1.6 billion in additional income to Floridians and boost the state's gross domestic product by $3.2 billion in the next 15 years. "Scripps' commitment to expand into Florida marks a milestone for the Sunshine State," Gov. Jeb Bush said in May 2004. "Scripps Florida will be the catalyst for exponential growth going forward, complementing the foundation already in place here in biotechnology, pharmaceutical design and manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, health care, and overall research and development."       LAKE COUNTY: Nestled in the foothills of Central Florida north of Orlando, Lake County may seem to the casual observer to be a throwback to Old Florida. Jackie Kelvington, spokeswoman for the Lake County Department of Economic Development, says that image is no longer true. "Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park in Eustis is bustling with multi-million-dollar activity," she said. RA Siegle Co., a wholesale flooring business, is building a $1.8- The 700-acre (284-hectare) Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park in Eustis is in the midst of multiple new facility investments, including this one from C&C Concrete Pumping. million, 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) facility in the 700-acre (284-hectare), county-owned park near U.S. Highway 27 and the Florida Turnpike. The plant will serve as a primary distribution center for the company's flooring products. "The logistics and infrastructure of the distribution system here are phenomenal," says Kerry Lenz, Florida president of RA Siegle. "We can easily get our trucks anywhere in the state." In addition, C&C Concrete Pumping completed construction of a $1-million, 10,000-sq.-ft. (929-sq.-m.) building in the park and hired 20 new employees; West Orange Door opened a new $2-million, 20,000-sq.-ft. (1,858-sq.-m.) manufacturing plant on site; and The Boat Tree Group is building two 24,000-sq.-ft. (2,230-sq.-m.) facilities in Ford Park. Other distributors in the park include Goodyear, Home Depot, Circuit City, Domino's Pizza, Sprint and American Hotel Register.       PINELLAS COUNTY: The white sandy beaches of Clearwater and St. Petersburg make Pinellas County a natural draw for spring breakers. On Aug. 4, 2004, the county on Florida's Gulf Coast attracted something even more significant for economic development: one of the largest art production plants in the country. Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc., a Largo-based affiliate of Cox Target Media in Atlanta, selected St. Petersburg for a $50-million, 500,000-sq.-ft. (46,450-sq.-m.) manufacturing facility. The direct-mail coupon distributor will break ground on the project in the first quarter of 2005 and expects to begin production in early 2007. The national site search was conducted for Valpak by CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Global Corporate Services Group in Atlanta. CBRE studied sites in Indiana, Ohio and eight other Southeastern states before selecting Florida.       ST. LUCIE COUNTY: Part of Florida's Research Coast, this county in Southeast Florida is the spring training home of the New York Mets and is also one of the fastest-growing job markets in the state. Since March 2003, St. Lucie has added 2,626 jobs. The county's efforts have been bolstered by a $1.5-million research grant for the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution and a $10-million plan for a 400-acre (162-hectare) expansion of a research park west of Fort Pierce. The property acquisition would allow creation of facilities including an incubator building, animal science center and biotechnology facility. County Administrator Doug Anderson says the largest corporate project this year is a Wal-Mart distribution center opening in September 2004 and employing 1,200 workers.

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