2021 Escambia County Business Journal by Rowland Publishing, Inc.

THE CYBER COAST

2021 Escambia County Business Journal AN 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE SPECIAL REPORT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | DOWNTOWN AND QUINT STUDER | UWF PORT OF PENSACOLA | HURRICANE SALLY RECOVERY | RETIREES

PHOTOS BY BLAKE JONES (REEVES AND LUTH) AND COURTESY OF CENTER FOR CYBERSECURITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA AND PORT OF PENSACOLA

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TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY FloridaWest reaches out to mobile cybersecurity professionals BY STEVE BORNHOFT

n the economic development business, “targets of opportunity” as Scott Luth likes to call them, don’t stand still. They change and come and go in response to market forces, innovation and local, national and global events and trends. Luth, the longtime CEO at the FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance, also has found that narrowly targeted prospecting efforts succeed better than broad spectrum ones. Those considerations were very much in play when FloridaWest began focusing attention on cybersecurity as a source of jobs in 20ı5. “It’s a growth opportunity that complements the military presence here,” Luth said. “Pensacola is known, of course, as the ‘Cradle of Naval Aviation’ and as the home of the Blue Angels, but less well known is the fact that we are the cradle of cybersecurity. Early cryptology

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was taking place here back in the early ı950s, work that was the predecessor to modern-day cybersecurity efforts.” Through recent years, FloridaWest has been instrumental in making Pensacola the capital of the “Cybercoast.” Cybersecurity businesses rely on talent, and for that reason, Luth has been pleased to see schools at all levels in Escambia County add curriculum and programs that will produce the kind of highly skilled employees those companies require. He cited cybersecurity academies in K-ı2 schools, the cyber program at the George Stone Technical School, construction of a new science/ technology building at Pensacola State College and the heralded Center for Cybersecurity at the University of West Florida. Pensacola and Escambia County, then, are “growing their own” even as Luth & Co. work to attract established cybersecurity professionals

from around the country to the area. In that connection, FloridaWest has launched a website, cybercoastflorida.com, and is embarking on a “Remote from Here” campaign that appeals to people with the capacity to work from anywhere. “The campaign has three targets,” explained Sena Maddison, the communications director at FloridaWest. “We think of it as ‘Bring Your Laptop, Bring Your Dog, Bring Your Company.’ ” That is, someone with a job in cybersecurity and living in a cold, expensive locale might be tempted to move to Pensacola and work with the soothing sound of a lightly crashing surf in the background. “If you don’t have a job, there are a lot of great companies hiring here, so just bring your dog and we will find you a job,” Maddison said, adding that FloridaWest has created an express lane for people with security clearances because they are in such high demand. “Or

ST Engineering, an aviation contractor already underway offering maintenance, repair and overhaul services, is proceeding to add a new hangar at the Pensacola airport.

PHOTOS BY BLAKE JONES (SCOTT LUTH) AND COURTESY OF ST ENGINEERING

Scott Luth, executive director of the FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance, was prepared for a dropoff in inquiries but found that he was busier in 2020 than he had been in years.

move your company. You may be tired of high taxes and the business climate elsewhere.” “The military drives our economy and second comes tourism, but one is susceptible to the federal budget and the other is susceptible to Mother Nature,” Luth said. “The sectors in our market that are most resilient are manufacturing and cyber-information technologies.” Luth listed Washington, D.C., the West Coast and, close to home, Hunstville, Alabama, as targets of opportunity for the “Remote from Here” initiative. To the extent that it succeeds, Pensacola will have added to its cyber talent pool and, said Maddison, “these are the kind of people who are entrepreneurial and will start their own companies. We are working with hoteliers and Visit Pensacola to bring them here so they can enjoy the experience of working remotely for a couple of days from the beach.”

Luth noted that cybersecurity businesses “are not capital intensive like a manufacturing plant; most of them are very nimble and flexible. They can pick up and move relatively readily.”

Healthy pipeline Luth said that despite the pandemic, FloridaWest was busier in 2020 and lately than it had been for years. “We have worked lots of opportunities and projects, and some of them are close to a final announcement,” he said. “They are across the board from agri-business to high tech, aviation and cybersecurity. It’s a really good cross-section of industries that are interested in expansion and relocation. And, we’ve got startups coming out of our small business incubator.” Hurricane Sally tore the roof off CO:LAB Pensacola, FloridaWest’s incubator and growth accelerator, which is supported by Pensacola State College. As a result, some

tenants graduated early. Repairs to the facility were expected to be complete in March, Luth said in December. A recent graduate, EBI Management Group, Inc., has distinguished itself, having been selected as one of 50 businesses named to the 2020 GrowFL Companies to Watch list. The honor recognizes second-stage Florida companies that are growing and diversifying the state’s economy. EBI Management Group is a servicedisabled veteran-owned business. A certified professional services company, it specializes in helping the federal government and private businesses succeed by providing enterprise business intelligence. Generally, Luth’s outlook is positive. He noted ongoing expansion by the aerospace contractor ST Engineering at the Pensacola airport and by the Navy Federal Credit Union, in addition to his strong pipeline. “We are looking to attract people to town who will embrace the community when they get here and find their passion,” Luth said. “If your thing is paddleboarding at sunrise, we probably have a group that does that.”

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ADAPTABLE VISIONARY When the world slowed down, Quint Studer sought to strengthen emotional connections BY STEVE BORNHOFT

don’t know when things may go back to normal. Hopelessness is creeping in. It’s almost a definition of trauma.” Locating an entity’s or a person’s position on a stresstrauma continuum is important, Studer said, “because if you don’t assess a problem correctly, you can’t treat it correctly.” In Studer’s book, Building a Vibrant Community, published in 2018, he identified keys to creating a thriving downtown: a program of events that lead people to visit central business districts; restaurants and retail establishments; commercial real estate; and residential developments. The COVID-19 pandemic has had impacts on all four of those areas. On his 1-10 scale, with 1 being minimal stress and 10 being trauma of crisis proportions, Studer said downtowns are “probably an 8.” “Most downtowns are filled with locally owned businesses without the deep pockets of a franchise organization,” Studer noted. “Franchise restaurants tend to be on major thoroughfares, and most of them have drive-thrus. If you’re on busy streets, you can probably handle the COVID pandemic a little better.” To the extent that the pandemic has canceled events and diminished foot traffic, downtown businesses have suffered. “Retail is really taking a hit,” Studer said. “People are getting in the habit of ordering everything online. I read an interview in the Wall Street Journal with a man who, since COVID, has not gone to a grocery store. Everything he has purchased, he got online.” Or may have had delivered. Threatened by online shopping when it was new, retailers responded by improving customer service and the shopping experience.

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Businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist, author and teacher Quint Studer says it’s important for businesses dealing with pandemic-induced downturns to maintain relationships with customers by reaching out and shoring up “emotional bank accounts.” That may be especially important for hard-hit retailers that rely on foot traffic in their battles with online merchants.

PHOTO COURTESY OF QUINT STUDER

uint Studer is a community steward. And a visionary, entrepreneurial businessman who is good about sharing what he knows. To all that he does, he applies a knack for breaking down seemingly complex challenges, believing that there is a lot you can do if you “just reduce an issue to its essence.” He’s a great bullet-list maker. A Wisconsin native, he presents solutions to problems — with a voice that would not be out of place exiting a beer truck driver in Milwaukee — in a manner that is easily understood and retained. As a teacher — Studer is the entrepreneur-inresidence at the University of West Florida — he employs lots of anecdotes. Engage him in conversation for a time, and you are sure to come away with stories you will want to share with others. Of late, Studer has developed a 1-10 scale, patterned after the pain level scales given to hospital patients, that businesses may use in determining whether and to what extent they are experiencing stress or, worse, trauma. For Studer, trauma is more than extreme stress. It’s a different animal. Stress, he said, tends to be short-term. A person, business or organization may ride it out and snap back, achieving a return to normalcy. In cases of trauma, “normalcy” may not be recoverable. Roles may have changed irretrievably. Jobs may have been lost permanently. Market niches may have evaporated. Consider university faculty, Studer suggested. “Their students don’t report to classrooms like they used to,” Studer said in December. “Instruction is virtual and involves new technology. Enrollment is declining and school revenue is going down. They

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“But online players have gotten pretty good with experience,” Studer said. “When I order something online, the receipt of my order is confirmed, a tracking number is assigned, they tell me when I can expect delivery and they update the progress of my package along the way to my door. Retailers are going to have to elevate their game again.” The emotional toll, too, has been greater on locally owned small businesses than franchise operations, Studer suggested. “It’s a lot easier for someone to lay off employees when he is not used to seeing them and doesn’t know their families and is sitting in a corporate headquarters somewhere,” Studer pointed out. “When you’re downtown and you’re running a small business, my gosh, you know these families. You know the kids. You can’t say it’s not up to me. Emotionally, it’s extremely, extremely hard for some of these business owners.” Studer is confident that downtowns will rebound, “but the question for the individual business owner is whether they can last long enough to be part of the comeback.” It’s hard to know. “I think businesses are closing down because even though owners have cut back on staffing and are working their businesses themselves all the time, they get to the point where they run out of cash and can’t pay the rent anymore,” Studer observed. The pandemic has reminded businesses that

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they need to be able as circumstances dictate to quickly pivot and change their business model. Such preparedness may require investments in technology so that a retailer, for example, can shift from in-store to online sales. Always, Studer said, businesses should make it a point to maintain contact with customers. “The Blue Wahoos did not have a season in 2020,” said Studer, who is the majority owner of Pensacola’s Double-A minor league baseball team. “But we have season ticket holders and have tried to come up with regular ways to communicate with them — if you don’t stay in front of your customer, they forget about you. You can’t afford to disappear in a hole.” Studer further recommends that businesses connect with employees and customers by “building their emotional bank accounts.” He offered an example. “At the Studer Family of Companies and the Studer Community Institute, we deal with maybe 10 banks. I got a holiday gift basket delivered to my house by Hancock Whitney Bank, and every item in it was from a local store. That took a lot of work. They could have gone to an outside vendor and just ordered something. “Today, I am feeling very good about Hancock Bank. If somebody came to me today and tried to talk me out of my relationship with them, I wouldn’t budge. They built up their emotional bank account with me.” For multiple reasons, Studer encourages people to patronize locally owned businesses.

“When I first got into baseball,” he said, “I visited some companies whose market leader was local. I would try to sell them a $1,500 sponsorship, and they would say to me, ‘Quint, I’ve got to go to corporate to get permission,’ whereas you can go to a local business owner and he’ll turn that thing around. Plus, his accountant is local, his attorney is local.” The pandemic has ushered in lifestyle and workstyle changes that to an unknown extent will remain permanent. The lessors of commercial real estate and residential units will need to adjust accordingly, but downtown, Studer is confident, will retain its appeal. “People still want to live downtown.” He said. “They want to walk and ride a bicycle instead of sitting in traffic. The hottest market is downtown real estate.” But floor plan preferences have rapidly changed. Studer found that when he developed the Southtowne and Savoy Place apartments in Pensacola, units with two bathrooms and two bedrooms were initially the most popular. Versus each renting a studio apartment, roommates could save money by renting a twobedroom unit and splitting the rent. “But with COVID, everyone wants to live alone in a unit with one bedroom and one bath,” Studer said. “They are willing to pay an extra few hundred dollars for health security and safety.” Owners of commercial office space, Studer said, will have to work creatively with their tenants and be prepared to accept less rent per square foot. The pandemic has dampened enthusiasm for co-work spaces, in particular. “It’s no longer sexy to sit at a big table with everyone,” Studer said.

Though I walk through the valley Studer described a challenging stage in the life cycle of a business and then applied it to the nation as a whole. “In business, you start a business and you’re excited and then, all of a sudden, you realize that it’s going to be harder than you thought,” Studer said. “You hit that valley of despair. “Our country has been in a valley of despair with COVID. It’s going to be a while, but didn’t we all feel a little bit better with the arrival of vaccines? I watched a nurse get a vaccine at a hospital in New York, and somehow I felt better. We will come out of this, but that doesn’t mean people are going to go back to their old habits. Old habits are called old habits because they’re old. New habits — shopping online, eating in more, working virtually — they will hurt the local economy.”

Photography by BLAKE JONES

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDA TREND (CIVICCON)

A favorable climate and the opportunity to dine outdoors have minimized to a degree the impact of the pandemic on Pensacola versus downtowns farther north.

As chief of staff for Quint Studer at the Studer Family of Companies, D.C. Reeves coordinates activities including CivicCon, which stimulates conversation about community issues — even when it has to be conducted virtually.

Raising the civic IQ

Undeterred, the Studer Community Institute (SCI), a nonprofit dedicated to “improving the quality of life for everyone in our community, creating a vibrant place to live, work and play,” is focused in three areas, Studer said.

Early development The institute is working to ensure that all new mothers in Escambia County see a tutorial on early brain development before they leave the hospital. At this writing, about 60% of moms are viewing the video.

In addition, Studer encourages new mothers to sign up for the Boston Basics program provided by Harvard University. That program, for $6 a month, provides parents with regular updates via text messages that list behaviors and skills that a child should be exhibiting at a given age. “The tutorial and the text messages are key,” Studer said. “We’re turning the dial on building child’s brains. If I had a billion dollars to spend, I’d use it to expand throughout the country what we’re doing in Escambia County.”

In 2017, SCI and the Pensacola News Journal combined to launch CivicCon, a series of speaker events designed to bring about an informed public engaged in community conversation. As of the end of 2020, 37 CivicCon events had been held, addressing topics that included fiscal responsibility, social equity and diversity, historic preservation and the benefits of a walkable and bicycle-friendly community. Livestream audiences in the latter half of 2020 averaged more than 12,000 views per event. Due to the pandemic in 2020, only one event was held at a public venue. All the other events were on virtual platforms. “When we did our events in person, the strongest Republican and the strongest Democrat would sit next to each other and agree on parking, walkability or the importance of quality education,” Studer said. “Our pie is only so big, and we’re all in this together.” An informed public benefits the official who is making good decisions, Studer said, because it understands and supports the basis for the action. “And the politician who may not be making the right decision is challenged by a community that asks good questions: Why are we adding traffic? Why aren’t we shrinking our lanes and adding more amenities where people live?”

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Stress vs.

Trauma Qualities of Stress Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry or nervous.

Economic development The strengthening of local businesses, for Studer, is the foundation of economic development. “It’s not all shovel-ready land and incentives,” Studer said. “Those are questionable at times. They can be good, but they can be bad. We want to help businesses develop the skills they need to be successful. Business owners don’t lack passion, but many have not had the experience of running a company. They have never hired anyone, so the first person they hire is their cousin, and it’s a bad hire. They don’t know how to withhold the right amount of taxes or how to negotiate a lease.” EntreCon, SCI’s annual skill-building business and leadership conference, has helped hundreds of businesses that are quietly adding jobs without ribbon-cuttings or other fanfare. “If you add up the jobs that result from growing your own, it far surpasses the jobs that come from bringing someone in from the outside,” Studer said.

Marlins affiliate Owing to the consolidation and reorganization of the minor leagues by Major League Baseball, the Wahoos are newly an affiliate of the Miami Marlins, whose owners include club CEO Derek Jeter and basketball great Michael Jordan. Don Mattingly manages the team. Studer said he will miss the relationship that the Wahoos had with the Minnesota Twins, but looks forward to working with the Marlins whom he sees as a good fit for the Wahoos in terms of company culture.

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“We are very much into diversity and inclusion, and the Marlins were the first major league team to hire a woman (Kim Ng) as their general manager,” Studer noted. Too, Wahoos co-owner and professional golfer Bubba Watson is an admirer of Mattingly. “In 2016, the Wahoos won the Bob Frietas award as the best Double-A team, and we had Bubba, go to baseball’s winter meetings to accept the award,” Studer recalled. “Mattingly is a lefty like Bubba, and Bubba’s father all but wanted his son to be Don Mattingly. “It was the year that the Cubs had won the World Series, and Cubs president Theo Epstein was on the stage with Bubba and other minor league owners who were there to receive awards. Arrangements had been made for Bubba to spend some time with Mattingly, and he had been excited to meet him. Then, when Epstein was called to the microphone, the first thing he said was how thrilled he was to be sitting with twotime Masters champion Bubba Watson.” Watson, said Studer, has done a good job giving the Wahoos a national presence. Studer anticipates that the start of the 2021 minor league season will be delayed to May or early June. “But you have to prepare like it is going to start on schedule,” Studer said. Preparation. Recall that it’s one of Studer’s keys to success. Might Studer have advice for even the likes of Jordan and Jeter about how to lead a major league ball club? All they need do is ask.

Many times, people don’t know how to handle stress, so it worsens. Stress may be life-changing.

Qualities of Organizational Trauma Breaking down of communication Breaking down of trust Diminished productivity Workers feel powerless Workers feel hopeless Shake up in roles and responsibilities Sense of loss Source: Studer Community Institute

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARLINS

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos, recently affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, are now part of the Miami Marlins organization. Majority owner Quint Studer says that the Wahoos and Marlins share a commitment to diversity.

Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health.

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CYBER-HELP WANTED UWF’s Dr. Eman El-Sheikh leads effort to fill critical jobs BY STEVE BORNHOFT

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he National Security Agency, in October of last year, awarded a $6 million cybersecurity workforce development grant to the University of West Florida, which has been selected to lead a coalition of ı0 colleges and universities in efforts to address a critical workforce shortage. “In the United States, we have more than 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs,” Dr. Eman El-Sheikh said in November, “and ı,500 of those openings are here in Northwest Florida. We can’t hope to fill those jobs by focusing solely on academic degree pathways.” UWF’s Center for Cybersecurity, which UWF associate vice president El-Sheikh leads, began blazing other trails years ago when it established its Cybersecurity for All program, whose mission includes up-skilling and re-skilling individuals for cybersecurity jobs. While other schools were more timid, UWF “took an innovative, bold approach to developing workforce programs, and the NSA

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CENTER FOR CYBERSECURITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA

Associate vice president Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, the director of the UWF Center for Cybersecurity and a professor in the Department of Computer Science, is playing a role in providing the Emerald Coast with a second identity: Cyber Coast. She is pictured here with students Justin Fruitticher and Caroline Krause.

grant recognizes our leadership in that area,” El-Sheikh said. “The grant is a huge opportunity for Northwest Florida and a huge honor and responsibility for UWF.” The development of a national cybersecurity workforce program will particularly involve recruiting military veterans — and military personnel and first responders in transition — and preparing them to take on cybersecurity roles. “Many institutions would rather stay in the comfort zone of academic degree programs,” said El-Sheikh, who credits UWF president Martha Saunders with leading the school to do more.

“We were interested at UWF in having a bigger impact through strategic partnerships and innovation. We have been willing to do things that involved risk and were experimental, but somebody’s got to go there if we are to stay ahead of threats.” UWF Center for Cybersecurity extracampus activities have included a partnership with the state Department of Management Services whereby it provided cyber-training across all state agencies. The center has worked with elections officials statewide and has conducted cybersecurity camps, funded by the NSA, for students and adults. Via its Cybersecurity Ambassadors Program, it sends top UWF students into the community to promote awareness of cybersecurity issues and the need for good cyber-hygiene. “Threats to cybersecurity grow in numbers and complexity daily,” El-Sheikh said. “The pandemic has created new vulnerabilities because so many people have transitioned to working and learning remotely. Employees may access confidential data or networks without secure connections or may not have a secure network environment at their home.” El-Sheikh said high-speed evolution in the way we communicate and interact with schools and workplaces will bring about permanent parts of a new normal. That, she said, makes creating more secure cyber-environments and communities imperative. About that work there is relentless urgency. “We don’t have time to reinvent the wheel, so we seek out and develop strategic partnerships that will spur innovation,” El-Sheikh said. “We are moving fast, but so are our adversaries. The new tools and technologies that we are employing, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, they, too, are employing.” A popular perception to the contrary, cybersecurity jobs are not limited to coding alone at a computer. Cybersecurity, El-Sheikh said, is a team sport that relies on skills such as communication, problem-

solving and critical thinking that are important to many fields of endeavor. Many of the ı,500 Northwest Florida job openings are tied to the region’s military installations, but important cybersecurity work is also taking place in the private sector. El-Sheikh cited as an example work ongoing at the Navy Federal Credit Union in Pensacola. There are openings for programmers, vulnerability and intelligence analysts, and security managers and administrators. Among cybersecurity students at UWF, many take advantage of the Cybercorps Scholarship for Service program that awards scholarships plus stipends to students in exchange for commitments to work post-graduation for a federal government agency. Born in Egypt to educator parents, El-Sheikh grew up substantially in Michigan. She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in computer science at Michigan State University. She is passionate about leading other women to consider careers in cybersecurity, and the center has established a Women in Cybersecurity Florida affiliate and a Women in Cybersecurity student chapter. At present, women hold only about ıı percent of cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. The nature of the Emerald Coast is a key to attracting top cyber talent to the region, El-Sheikh said. “A lot of cyber and defense work takes place in the Washington, D.C., area, but once those individuals realize that they could operate out of here, they’re not going to go back,” she said. “I was a perfect example of that. I somehow gave up Michigan winters for Pensacola Beach.” El-Sheikh has been at UWF for nearly 20 years and began there as an assistant professor of computer science. She was attracted in 20ı4 to the opportunity to head up the newly established Center for Cybersecurity because she had a keen interest in helping to address challenges with implications for regional economic development and national prosperity and security. “Many are aware that Pensacola is the cradle of Naval aviation, but they may not know that Pensacola is also the birthplace of cryptography, which is fundamental to cybersecurity,” El-Sheikh said. “The region has a long history of work in cybersecurity, and we are building on that.”

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WIND IN ITS SAILS Turbine business boosts activity at Port of Pensacola BY BOB FERRANTE

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to businesses with deep roots in Pensacola have weighed in on a fundamental question: Where should the port focus its efforts? “We do want to be a viable deep-water port,” said Clark Merritt, the deputy port director. “And we do support local and regional businesses in the importing and exporting of products and materials.” Despite it modest size, the Port of Pensacola has seen phenomenal growth in the last year. Wind turbine components have helped fuel the port’s surge.

Consider these numbers, comparing 20ı9 to 2020: 534 percent increase in wind turbine generators ı43 percent rise in wind turbine nacelles ı09 percent expansion in “break bulk” cargo 47.5 percent rise in the number of vessels in port 28.6 percent increase in total cargo

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PORT OF PENSACOLA

he Port of Pensacola is not a place where cruise ships berth. It is not a big container port. Because of its size, Pensacola is not a destination comparable to Tampa, Mobile or Houston. But the Port of Pensacola has a significant role to play in connecting small businesses and multinational corporations to global trade routes — from China and Brazil to the Bahamas and Israel. Still, everyone from the mayor to port officials

Blue Origin is a Port of Pensacola tenant engaged in the development of a landing platform vessel, represented here by a rendering, that will serve as a landing pad for first-stage rocket boosters.

Ports make money on cargo handling and dockage, Merritt said. The Port of Pensacola has been able to diversify, finding multiple avenues to increase cargo and vessel days in port. And revenues have jumped, from $ı.26 million in 20ı8 to $2.4ı million in 20ı9 and $2.97 million in 2020. “We’re an enterprise,” Merritt said. “We don’t take any general tax revenues that come to the city; we are supposed to be completely self-sufficient. And so additionally we carry no longterm debt and haven’t for years.” The port has been a key player in Pensacola’s business infrastructure, connecting with CSX

rail lines, Interstate ı0 and the international airport to distribute a variety of products. Multinational companies like GE Wind Systems, International Paper and Georgia Pacific have been major players, with the port connecting those businesses to customers and suppliers around the world. The port also has a variety of tenants, from Cemex to Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services and Blue Origin. From its beginnings in the ı740s when ships exited the port with loads of lumber and wooden ship masts, the Port of Pensacola has reinvented itself. The 55-acre facility has eight berths, seven warehouses and more than 250,000 square feet of available storage area. In recent years, wind energy has led to the port’s boom. GE’s wind energy plant is less than ı0 miles from the port. “Offshore wind energy components have been our primary cargo for the past 2 ı/2 years,” Merritt said. “We handle a majority of their large components through the port, either to be stored here and dropped off by truck or handled by one of our tenants.” In conversations with GE, Merritt said port officials pointed out the advantages of having wind-energy components from Asia come to Pensacola instead of going to Houston where

they were loaded onto ı8-wheelers for a 525mile trek to the east. “Anything further away costs more diesel, more truck time,” Merritt said. “The wind energy line of business across the world is skyrocketing. It’s a trend everywhere.” Port tenant Blue Origin, a company created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, employs between 60 and ı25 people at various times on a 637-foot cargo vessel that works in the recovery of rockets launched from Cape Canaveral or Houston. The port is also home to an oyster farming facility that improves Pensacola Bay’s water quality. Streamline Boats will also be redesigning a ı00,000-square-foot warehouse at the port and preparing for the manufacture of high-end boats. And port officials look to strengthen existing maritime repair business. The Port of Pensacola’s strategic location in the Gulf, availability of warehouses, skilled workforce and economic development incentives have helped spark a boom. Even during the pandemic, it remained active — more so than any prior year — with the port buzzing with full-time and contract employees. The vision for the decade ahead continues to develop and is bright. “Our 2020 numbers are really good,” Merritt said. “Even with COVID, we’ve been very fortunate as a port to have a great year.”

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ReliantSouth: A Commercial Contractor You Can Trust

hen businesses have commercial construction needs, they often rely on the construction professionals at ReliantSouth Construction Group, a full-service, commercial general contractor/ construction management firm. Led by professional engineer Richard Dodd, ReliantSouth has successfully completed numerous projects throughout Northwest Florida and the entire Southeast. Having started his construction career 37 years ago in Northwest Florida, Dodd has been leading successful and award-winning construction companies for 30 years. When asked about the primary mission of ReliantSouth, Dodd stated: “Our mission is quite simple. We provide solutions

and value to our clients while working collaboratively with all of our stakeholders.” Though the past two years have dealt some unexpected hardships, ReliantSouth has both persevered and excelled. Between Hurricane Michael and a global pandemic, contracting has been anything but ordinary. The ReliantSouth secret? Perspective. “Life is truly a gift and should be appreciated all the time,” Dodd says. “Perspective makes you appreciate the little things.” ReliantSouth takes pride in adapting to circumstances, remaining steady in uncertainty, and building quality projects that exceed client expectations. ReliantSouth is blessed with a rich legacy and is composed of seasoned, integrity-filled construction professionals who have worked together for years.

Longtime client of ReliantSouth and owner of Sonny’s BBQ, Wayne Lindsay, shared the following: “I have been in the restaurant business for 35 years. Once I found ReliantSouth, I knew I could quit looking for a contractor who was honest and had my best interest at heart. They do business the right way. Their attention to detail is second to none.” With a proven track record like that, ReliantSouth was entrusted by Bay District Schools to build their new $37 million elementary school in Panama City Beach. It is ReliantSouth’s continuous mission, hardships and all, to provide their clients with solutions, value, and trust. Whether a client needs a general contractor, a design-builder, or a construction manager, ReliantSouth has the expertise to make a dream become a reality.

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The Pensacola Bay Bridge, often referred to as the Three Mile Bridge, sustained heavy damage due to Hurricane Sally, resulting in significant disruption of traffic patterns.

STORMING BACK Pensacola recovery from Hurricane Sally proceeds quickly BY HANNAH BURKE

s of Dec. 9, 2020, Escambia County contractors had hauled 76,868 loads of Hurricane Sally-related debris from Pensacola neighborhoods and downtown businesses, transporting a total 3,933,057 cubic yards of downed signs, limbs and building material. “That’s 6ı6 football fields with debris stacked three feet high,” said Escambia County Emergency Management Manager Eric Gilmore. “That’s enough debris to fill 85 percent of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.” Gilmore said Escambia County reported 444 items to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA), with an estimated total of more than $ı36 million. But debris removal, whose total estimate accounted for less than half of that report, was only one of the weighty consequences inflicted by the Sept. ı6 storm.

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Fifteen years to the day of Hurricane Ivan’s landfall, Sally, a Category 2 hurricane, walloped Escambia County with 92 mileper-hour winds, two feet of rain and a 5-foot storm surge. The blow provided echoes of Ivan, one of the area’s most catastrophic storms, as floodwaters washed over Downtown Pensacola and Perdido Key. Homes in neighborhoods in Cantonment, including Bristol Park, became waterlogged homes as the storm surge overflowed nearby Eleven Mile Creek. Of course, the threat of hurricanes in Northwest Florida never recedes for long. Annually, Gilmore said, Escambia County conducts a hurricane preparedness awareness campaign from June through November, furnishing residents with emergency management and planning tips. “Operationally, the county brought in five high-water vehicles pre-storm, along with

a swift-water rescue team,” Gilmore said. “Messaging went to the public that this would be a flooding event days before it arrived. During the storm, water rescues took place and public information continued via news releases, press conferences and social media.” Gilmore said Emergency Management’s long-term recovery group, comprising nonprofits and volunteer organizations, has been instrumental in Escambia County’s recovery. Too, Emergency Management quickly began working with its partners and FEMA to provide residents with federal and state assistance. Per FEMA’s December 2, 2020, Hurricane Sally Recovery update: 7,227 individuals and households were approved for $29.4 million in FEMA assistance, including $22.9 million approved for housing assistance and $6.5 million approved for other disaster-related needs. ı3,3ı7 home inspections had been completed. $66.6 million in SBA loans were approved.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND COURTESY OF MYESCAMBIA AND ESCAMBIA COUNTY

4,465 claims had been filed with the National Flood Insurance Program in Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties; $ıı2.8 million had been paid. Gilmore said damage assessments in Escambia County cities took place as soon as it was safe for teams to begin their documentation work. “Escambia County Building Services and Development Services performed ı,626 damage assessments that were declared minor, major or destroyed,” Gilmore said. “They performed joint damage assessments with FEMA and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) over four days and late into the night to confirm damage for individual assistance. Within only a few days following the storm, the engineering department had the entire traffic signal system operational.” Pensacola bridges, said Gilmore, sustained heavy damage. The Bob Sikes Toll Bridge suffered heavy storm erosion following Sally, as water destabilized a layer of sediment backing in its support beams. While deemed safe to cross, a temporary five-mile-per-hour speed limit was enacted to reduce vibrations. Repairs were made in about three weeks. Far worse was the damage to the Pensacola Bay Bridge, also known as the Three Mile Bridge, connecting Gulf Breeze and downtown Pensacola. Repairs to that bridge were expected to take six months. Pensacola Bay Bridge construction barges, knocked loose by Sally’s 90 mile-per-hour gusts, collided with the structure, taking with them a portion of the bridge. Skanska, the company leading construction of the Pensacola Bay Bridge, released a statement

claiming they had “made all the appropriate preparations for the storm,” and that, “it was neither safe nor feasible to attempt the removal of barges and other equipment in the brief period between the storm’s sudden intensification and landfall.” Residents took to social media to report locations where marooned barges ended up, including NAS Pensacola, the Pensacola Graffiti Bridge and private properties. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced that four barges became lodged themselves beneath the bridge, thus closing it for repairs. According to a November 2020 FDOT report, “construction crews are working around the clock to repair the stormdamaged Pensacola Bay Bridge and restore traffic for this vital transportation link by March 202ı.” Meanwhile, detour routes were established as State Road 28ı/Garcon Point Bridge (I-ı0, Exit 22) and State Road 87 (I-ı0 Exit 3ı.) The FDOT reports the bridge will reopen without weight restrictions and a 75-year design life. For Gilmore, it’s all about building back stronger. Escambia County, as it pieces its community back together amid a global pandemic is nothing if not hardy. “It’s hard to recover when, before the storm, you had lost your job and were just barely making it day to day,” said Gilmore. “But this community is very resilient, and I have seen so many times neighbors helping neighbors. I think we’ve come a long way in a short time to recover from Sally.”

Escambia County Hurricane Sally Preliminary Damage Assessments Debris Removal

$65,380,683 Emergency Protective Measures

$9,037,738 Roads and Bridges

$5,176,209 Water Control

$2,249,200 Buildings and Equipment

$16,586,457 Parks and Recreation (Includes Bridges)

$37,996,172 Efforts to build back Pensacola following Hurricane Sally have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Escambia County Emergency Management

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GOLDEN YEARS Retirees are adding to Pensacola’s vitality and success story BY THOMAS J. MONIGAN

ensacola has generated a lot of history in the centuries since Tristan de Luna made it Spain’s first New World settlement in 1559. Among the most notable developments in the 20th century were the establishment of the Naval Air Station in 1913 and the arrival of the Blue Angels in 1955.

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Since the 21st century began, there have been dramatic improvements in and around the downtown area. As a result, Pensacola’s population has grown in the past 10 years from 450,947 to 509,995, according to the website World Population Review. That’s an increase of more than 11 percent. Persons of age 65 or older comprised 17.3 percent of the city’s population in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2018, Where to Retire magazine featured Pensacola on its cover and ran a highly complimentary profile of the city. U.S. News and World Report listed Pensacola as one of the top 25 places to retire in the United States. Attention like that led developer and entrepreneur Quint Studer, whose major projects have included Community Maritime Park and the Southtowne Apartments, to ask in commentary published by the Pensacola News Journal column last November: “Can

this be Pensacola’s golden era? The answer is yes. Will it be? That is the question we all need to answer.” Maritime Park contains the Hunter Amphitheater, exhibition grounds, the Rotary Centennial Playground and the Blue Wahoos baseball stadium. Built between 2009 and 2012 at a cost of $53 million, the CMP was honored in 2016 with an “open space” category award from the Urban Land Institute. Southtowne, built on the former News Journal site, includes 259 units on six stories. What would Studer, a Wisconsin native, advise someone who is approaching retirement and thinking about moving south to Pensacola? “What I like about Pensacola is you get courtesy, kindness and sincerity in addition to great weather,” Studer said. “Not everybody wants one climate all the time. So, if you love three seasons, if you love a

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VISIT PENSACOLA

Mayor Grover Robinson of Pensacola says that the city has much to offer retirees, including recreational opportunities, a waterfront location and a “wonderful culture.”

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community that’s on the way up, it’s really sort of a renaissance-type community. So that’s what I’d say. There’s something here that you’ll find that you can enjoy.” Mayor Grover Robinson is a seventhgeneration Pensacola resident who has served as chairman of the Escambia County Commission. “We’re blessed with a waterfront location and certainly abundant sunshine and good temperatures, but in addition we have wonderful buildings, a wonderful community and just a wonderful culture that all make this a great place to live,” Robinson said. “We have people telling other people, ‘You want to come on and live here’ and retirees are an element that helps make us successful,” Robinson said, adding, “At the same time I don’t think all retirees are looking to be in a community that’s all retirees. I think Pensacola has all ages and all working groups, and I think that helps attract more people, retired or otherwise.” Robinson said Pensacola is exceptionally well focused on civic engagement and involvement.

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all over the world,” Thomson said, “but a “That’s something that’s also been number of folks I have talked to have said, a very strong attractant, especially for ‘We knew once we were in Pensacola, we retirees, to have a community that has so would be coming back once we finished much civic participation,” Robinson said. our service.’ ” “That’s part of what Quint has added to our “Bringing new residents to Escambia community.” County is a plus to bolster our economy,” Todd Thomson, CEO of Pensacola’s said Nicole Stacey of Visit Pensacola. Chamber of Commerce, spoke to the “Retirees are part of that impact of NAS Pensacola. growth, and we welcome “There’s a $9 million them. The Pensacola Bay a year impact between area is a place we hope many Escambia and Santa Rosa will call home for various counties, so the military is reasons — the miles and important to our economy miles of beautiful beaches, as well as the protection our vibrant downtown, of our nation,” Thomson the variety of arts, culture, said. “We look for that to history and museums. increase with the Coast “It is a community full of Guard and their new pride and hospitality and cutters coming to NAS While it is our mission to invite guests one that welcomes all with Pensacola.” to visit, I think we are open arms. While it is our Many people who serve always hopeful they mission to invite guests to in Pensacola in the course will love our city so visit, I think we are always of their military careers much they will want to call it home.” hopeful they will love our eventually make it their city so much they will want permanent home. — Nicole Stacey, to call it home.” “They may have served Visit Pensacola

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VISIT PENSACOLA

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