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hen people think of Florida, most probably envision sandy white beaches, family-oriented theme parks and lots of retirement communities. When business people think of Florida, the hot spots of Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Orlando and Jacksonville readily come to mind.
But what about Northwest Florida — or the region locals like to call “the Panhandle” because of its unique geographic configuration? Chances are, if you’re not already doing business in this region, you probably don’t even know what it has to offer.
Neil Wade, vice president of economic development for The St. Joe Company (www.joe.com), would like to change that. Capitalizing on the resources of Florida’s largest real estate operating company — with total year-to-date revenues of US$664.5 million through Sept. 30, 2000 — Wade says that St. Joe is on a mission to transform the face of Northwest Florida from a sleepy, rural area into a thriving regional economy that competes with better-known areas in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
“My goal is to come up with a strategy that will put Northwest Florida in a more competitive position,” says Wade, who headed statewide economic development efforts in Alabama for 10 years before coming to St. Joe last February. “Our research show that about 85 percent of all site selection consultants know very little about Northwest Florida. I am now working on a regional basis with all of the existing economic development organizations here to raise the awareness level of the region throughout the world.”
Wade should know what he’s talking about. His track record in Alabama included the successful recruitment of high-dollar-volume automotive assembly plants for Mercedes-Benz and Honda. “I also have a background in pulling together corporate leaders and economic developers,” says Wade. “I am now seeking that same level of corporate support here in Northwest Florida.”
The largest corporate partner, by far, is Wade’s own St. Joe Company. The largest private landowner in Florida, St. Joe is engaged in community, commercial, industrial, hospitality, leisure and resort development, along with residential and commercial real estate services. The Jacksonville-based firm also has significant interests in timber.
With large-scale corporate real estate projects already under way in Central and South Florida, St. Joe is now setting its sites on bringing corporate America to places like Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, Destin and everywhere in between. The largest development under way in the region is Tallahassee’s SouthWood, a 3,800-acre (1,539-hectare), mixed-use community with permit approvals for 4,700 homes, more than 2.9 million sq. ft. (269,410 sq. m.) of commercial and office space, and 2.7 million sq. ft. (250,830 sq. m.) of light industrial and distribution facilities.
St. Joe is also in the running for a new Panama City-Bay County International Airport. On Aug. 21, the Federal Aviation Administration approved a feasibility study that recommended moving the airport, and one of the sites being considered is in an area almost exclusively owned by St. Joe.
But Wade is careful to point out that the purpose of his efforts is not simply to find tenants and buyers for St. Joe properties. “My primary goal is job creation throughout Northwest Florida. My focus is on the entire region, not just St. Joe property,” says Wade. “If the region grows, our company will grow as well.”
Part of Wade’s challenge is leveraging the region’s existing strengths. “A lot of people don’t realize that we have four Air Force bases in this region and a corresponding concentration of aviation-related industry,” Wade notes. “There is not a lot of manufacturing here, however, and we would like to change that. Quality of life is a strength, and our educational institutions at both the K-12 level and college level are strong. In fact, our research shows a large concentration of under-employed workers in Northwest Florida.”
In some ways, says Wade, the region’s technological capability is ahead of its traditional infrastructure. “Tallahassee along Interstate 10 has the second largest broadband capacity in the US, and yet we still don’t have a north-south connector highway from Dothan (Alabama) to Tallahassee.”
Wade says the goal of his economic development strategy is threefold: “First we must pull the entire region together under one umbrella. That will be in place by January. Secondly, in 2001 we must raise the level of awareness of the area for high-tech industry and manufacturing. And thirdly, we have to get our house organized. We need a comprehensive Web site. We need to be able to provide the kind of in-depth information needed to make real estate decisions. For example, we have no database of existing buildings. We could use the economic development organizations in the region to participate in this and serve as the filter for the information so that we have some consistency.”
Wade says that his central message is a simple one: “We just want to get up to bat. We want to be considered whenever a corporate real estate executive looks at Alabama, Georgia or Florida.”
If that happens, he says, he will know he’s done his job.
