850 Business Magazine - Winter by Rowland Publishing, Inc.

SPECIAL REPORTS TALLAHASSEE BUSINESS JOURNAL

WAKULLA COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL

They parlayed a $400 loan into global concern.

SOCKIN’ AND ROLLIN’ Business Incubators and Advisers Help Budding Entrepreneurs Get Their Feet Wet

Bay County’s Charles Hilton: An Appreciation

Consultant Steers Employers Away from HR Pitfalls

Pinnacle Award Winners Reflect Diverse Interests

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

More than video. Strategy.

Play to your strengths. Purpose-driven cinematic storytelling for your business. vividbridge.com 4

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850 Magazine Winter 2018

IN THIS ISSUE

19 FEATURE 19

Pinnacle Awards Members of the 2018 class of Pinnacle Award winners

represent sectors of the economy ranging from education to health care, employment, the arts and tourism. The awards, presented by Rowland Publishing and 850 Magazine, are reserved for women in Northwest Florida who have distinguished themselves professionally and as community servants. Each is a bright point of light. By Steve Bornhoft, Hannah Burke, Kari C. Barlow and Erin Hoover

In This Issue

Corridors

08 From the Publisher

EMERALD COAST

115 Sound Bytes 122 The Last Word from the Editor

Departments 850 LIFE 12 Tom VanOsdol, CEO of the Pensacola-based Sacred Heart Health System, sees health care as a right and is mindful of his employer’s core values including, at the top of the list, “service to the poor.”

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Special Reports

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 16 Bill Krizner of the Krizner Group in Tallahassee is a trend-spotter, attorney and consultant who helps businesses avoid HR pitfalls while creating better, more productive workplaces.

118 First Place Partners, a private, grassroots organization dedicated to economic development in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, has attracted a diverse group of business people to serve as board members. Formed in June 2017, the nonprofit has grown in its first year to include 50 members. “We’ve got our feet under us now,” says its president.

Special Sections DEAL ESTATE 80 A recent development in the world of real estate includes the sale of an iconic Apalachicola business, the Gibson Inn, billed as the historic town’s “crown jewel.” Built in 1907, it includes a restaurant and parlor bar.

TALLAHASSEE BUSINESS JOURNAL

WAKULLA COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Florida’s capital city boasts an outstanding quality of life, worldclass universities and the capacity to supply a highly skilled and educated workforce. Increasingly, the seat of state government is becoming governed by a burgeoning spirit of entrepreneurism, facilitated by forwardthinking business incubators and public investment in tired neighborhoods. In the works are a gateway project that will link Tallahassee’s airport and its downtown and eastward expansion of the FSU campus.

Stirrings of economic development are rippling through Wakulla County, a place best known for its parks, its springs and its venues for waterborne recreation. The county’s chief northsouth artery is being widened, a project that officials say will have a dramatic impact by providing boots to industrial recruitment efforts. The county’s largest private-sector employer, St. Marks Powder, has more than 400 people on its payroll and would welcome some industrial company. The county’s Economic Development Council is working to promote awareness of the county’s two industrial parks.

n the Cover: Tallahassee is home to a growing number of small employers. Many of them, like DivvyUp socks, started by graduates of its universities O and clients of its business incubators. From left: Spencer Bluni, Jason MacIntosh and Mitch Nelson. Photo by Dave Barfield 850 Business Magazine

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850 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA

Winter 2018

Vol. 11, No. 2

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND EDITORIAL EDITOR Steve Bornhoft STAFF WRITER Hannah Burke CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lazaro Aleman, Kari C. Barlow, Rosanne Dunkelberger, Erin Hoover, Philip N. Kabler, Rochelle Koff, Michael Moline, Karen Murphy, Audrey Post, Pete Reinwald CREATIVE CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Lawrence Davidson DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut PUBLICATION DESIGNERS Sarah Mitchell, Shruti Shah GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amanda Brummet CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS Dana Long, Brian Stromlund CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Barfield, Matt Burke, Lawrence Davidson, Zac Green, Scott Holstein, Kaitlin Erica Photography, Saige Roberts, Stephan Vance, Kylie Zamarti SALES, MARKETING & EVENTS VICE PRESIDENT/CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton SALES MANAGER, WESTERN DIVISION Rhonda Lynn Murray DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WESTERN DIVISION Dan Parker AD SERVICES COORDINATORS Tracy Mulligan, Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Makenna Curtis, David Doll, Julie Dorr, Margaret Farris, Darla Harrison, Linda Powell MARKETING MANAGER Kate Pierson SALES AND MARKETING WRITER Rebecca Padgett SALES AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Mackenzie Little SALES AND EVENTS ASSISTANT Abby Crane INTEGRATED MARKETING COORDINATOR Javis Ogden CLIENT SERVICES COORDINATOR Charles Shelton OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER Melissa Spear CUSTOM PUBLISHING MANAGER Sara Goldfarb CLIENT SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE/PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan CUSTOM PUBLISHING EDITOR Jeff Price STAFF ACCOUNTANT Jackie Burns ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT Amber Dennard RECEPTIONISTS Natalie Kazmin, Kirsten Terhofter

DIGITAL SERVICES DIGITAL EDITOR Janecia Britt 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE 850businessmagazine.com, facebook.com/850bizmag, twitter.com/850bizmag, linkedin.com/company/850-business-magazine ROWLAND PUBLISHING rowlandpublishing.com SUBSCRIPTIONS A one-year (4 issues) subscription is $20. To purchase, call (850) 878-0554 or go online to 850businessmagazine.com. Single copies are $4.95 and may be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million in Tallahassee, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City, Pensacola and at our Tallahassee office.

850 Magazine is published quarterly by Rowland Publishing, Inc. 1932 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. 850/878-0554. 850 Magazine and Rowland Publishing, Inc. are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. Editorial contributions are welcomed and encouraged but will not be returned. 850 Magazine reserves the right to publish any letters to the editor. Copyright December 2018 850 Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Member of three Chambers of Commerce throughout the region.

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From the Publisher

850 Magazine Turns 10 We look forward to the future of a region with great promise

As you would expect, I have long been a reader of Florida Trend, which consistently supplies credible and valuable business news from a statewide perspective. But I was frustrated by the scarcity of insightful business reporting on the local level. Finally, I resolved to do something about that. That effort has now reached a milestone. The Winter 2018 edition of 850 — The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida, marks 10 years throughout which we have delivered useful, authoritative and compelling business news to our more than 17,000 readers in the 850 region, from Pensacola to Tallahassee and from the Alabama line to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, we have reflected upon the past, documented the present and anticipated the future. We have covered captains of industry and nurturers of nascent small businesses with the potential to bloom and grow. Via 850’s Pinnacle awards program, we have brought to the attention of the region some of the most talented and influential businesswomen in our midst. At present, we are working to make the 850 website more robust and topical than it ever has been while continuing to publish four print editions of the magazine each year. The manner in which we deliver our content has evolved and will continue to do so, but there is this constant: We are committed to serving you as an indispensable source of information. The 850 audience includes the leaders, drivers and influencers of the regional economy. It comprises business owners; CEOs, COOs and CFOs; and legislators, lobbyists and local office holders. Everyone who works on 850 is buoyed, gratified and humbled by the many letters, comments and words of encouragement that we receive from the magazine’s readers. Many of you tell us that you take the time to read 850 from cover to cover, and we regard that as a great compliment indeed. We will pause only briefly to celebrate 850’s 10-year anniversary — no business should fail to celebrate its successes — and, more importantly, we will, at the same time, rededicate ourselves to meeting your desire and what truly is your need for business news and information.

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At 850, we have established five coverage corridors: Capital, Forgotten Coast, Bay, I-10 and Emerald Coast. That helps ensure that our coverage does not become concentrated in one area, and we absolutely recognize that each of those sub-regions has an identity that it wishes to preserve and rally around. But it is imperative, too, that we further establish and promote a regional identity for Northwest Florida. Collectively, the region is rich in human and natural resources and assets that include ports, airports, the state capital, universities and transportation arteries. No storm can arrest the winds of change and, in the case of Northwest Florida, those winds are favorable, like a following sea. Over the coming decades, our part of the great state of Florida will experience unprecedented, responsible growth that will be governed by regulations not in place when other parts of the state boomed. It will be led by visionaries at First Coast Partners in Pensacola and the Office of Economic Vitality in Tallahassee, by economic development directors throughout the region and by the St. Joe Company, whose long-range plans extend to years in which today’s millennials will be retiring. Northwest Florida is top of mind among site selectors, business leaders and investors throughout the country and, increasingly, throughout the world. A promising new era for Northwest Florida has begun. At 850, we are excited to keep our finger on the pulse of this growth, and we look forward to a future that can be even brighter if we think, speak and act regionally and become an area with a broadly recognized and powerful brand. Let’s do it!

BRIAN ROWLAND browland@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

As a publisher and entrepreneur, I have a strong appetite for business news and reporting about trends that may affect my operations or even represent opportunities that I might capitalize upon. From both personal and business perspectives, I am highly interested in the economic health and progress of the community where I live and the region that Rowland Publishing serves.

YOUR FRONT DOOR FOR BUSINESS SOLUTIONS Tallahassee-Leon County is maximizing our WORLD-CLASS RESOURCES in the applied sciences, innovation, and two research universities to create the OPTIMAL INFRASTRUCTURE that fosters IDEA GENERATION, BUSINESS FORMATION, and SUSTAINABLE GROWTH.

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P RO M OT I O N

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AFTER THE STORM Protect your interests by consulting people who can help you deal with insurance companies.

Two photographer/storytellers are working to help businesses in hurricane-ravaged Mexico Beach reopen their doors. Alex Workman of Tallahassee and Jeremy Cowart of Nashville interviewed Mexico Beach residents, photographed them lying on an oversized heart reflecting their love of their community and posted their stories to a fundraising website, neverforgottencoast.com. Proceeds will be disbursed as grants to businesses in an effort to resuscitate the local economy. 850businessmagazine.com/MexicoBeach

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES

Learn more at: 850businessmagazine.com/ Legal-Insights

» Deal Estate

Browse residential and commercial real estate opportunities, recently sold properties and dreamy second homes. Sponsored by Beck Properties.

» Blog

Find stories and reports about local business events, happenings and gatherings. Just click on “The 850 Business Blog” on the home page or visit 850businessmagazine.com/Blog.

» Legal Insights

Stay aware of new industry issues and legal updates with these online exclusive articles, sponsored by Matthews & Jones, LLP.

» Flip Books View 850 issues and Business Journals in a digital book format. » Archived Stories Peruse our entire archive of articles at no charge.

LET’S NETWORK! Find 850 Business Magazine on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You’ll also find Rowland Publishing on LinkedIn, where you can join the 850 Business Group for conversations with fellow readers. LinkedIn: Rowland Publishing and 850 Business Magazine pages, and the 850 Business Magazine Group Twitter: @850BizMag

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER Want to know the latest from 850 Business Magazine? Sign up for our e-newsletter and get updates about our website, video previews and additional offers. 850businessmagazine.com/Newsletter-Mailing-List

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Facebook: 850 - The Business Magazine of Northwest Florida Instagram: 850bizmag

PHOTOS BY NEVERFORGOTTENCOAST.COM (MEXICO BEACH) AND STOCKBYTE / GETTY IMAGES PLUS (AFTER THE STORM)

PROJECT AIMS TO HELP MEXICO BEACH REBOUND

In light of the most recent natural disaster to come across the Northwest Florida coast, conversations about insurance companies, policies and process are trending. In the event your home is damaged by a storm, make sure you contact your insurance agent and understand what insurance policies you have in place. In some cases, especially if there is damage that could go undetected during a surface inspection, it might be a good idea to hire a lawyer to help you through the claims process.

850 Business Magazine

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Executive Mindset

The (850) Life CARE AND COMPASSION

A SACRED PURSUIT Ascension Florida’s CEO approaches his job with the sensibilities he acquired as a speech pathologist.

om VanOsdol in June was named chief executive officer of Pensacolabased Sacred Heart Health System. In addition, he serves as CEO of St. Vincent’s HealthCare in Jacksonville, where he resides. The two organizations are part of Ascension, the nation’s largest nonprofit health system. At this writing, Ascension is working to integrate Sacred Heart and St. Vincent’s beneath an Ascension Florida umbrella. VanOsdol and his wife, Kathy, a seminary student, are parents of a son and a daughter. VanOsdol plays the trumpet and the guitar, and plays golf to a 15 handicap. Recently, he met for a sit-down with 850 editor Steve Bornhoft.

Q&A WITH TOM VANOSDOL 

850: Ascension prefers the word, “ministry,” to “hospital” or “health care center.” Why is that? TV: That preference reflects our structure as a ministry of the Catholic Church. And we look at that as something that differentiates us from other health care providers in the way we provide care and reach out specifically to the poor and vulnerable. It goes as deep as the culture we want to cultivate within the ministry. The health of the culture of

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our organization determines its trajectory and its ability to succeed. Culture for me boils down to what it feels like to work for the ministry. 850: Ascension, then, wants to combine an extraordinary level of compassion with clinical expertise. TV: We definitely want to lead with clinical excellence. We want our patients to get the safest, most reliable care that they can get anywhere, but also to get it in an environment of compassion and in recognition that God is the healer and we are the ones who simply get the privilege of participating in the work.

850: You arrived in Jacksonville in December 2015 as chief operating officer at St. Vincent’s and its CEO in waiting. How have you found Florida? TV: I spent about 10 years while growing up in Nashville and, for me, North Florida, in terms of its Southern hospitality, feels a lot like I remember Tennessee. Everyone has been warm and welcoming. Lots of people have moved to Jacksonville from all around the country, so it’s not an insular community and that made my transition to Florida as smooth as it could possibly have been.

850: Speak to your personal philosophy as it relates to your job. TV: It’s all about people and relationships. I got into speechlanguage pathology (VanOsdol earned a master’s degree in the subject from Ball State University and later graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University with a master’s in business administration) because I wanted to do something to help other people. I worked one on one with children who had speech and language deficits and with adults who had suffered strokes or traumatic brain injuries or had had their larynx removed. As an administrator, I have the

Photo by LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

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THE (850) LIFE opportunity to influence the care we provide and the relationships we enjoy on a broader scale. I intend that we be respectful, transparent and collaborative in ways that leave our employees feeling like they have the opportunity to flourish and grow. And, as we pursue relationships outside the organization, we want to be a ministry that everyone wants to work with and nobody wants to leave. 850: Do you regard health care as a privilege or a right? TV: Everyone deserves to receive care of the highest quality possible in a compassionate setting. Health care should be viewed as a fundamental human right. 850: Talk about Ascensionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach to indigent care. TV: We have six core values, and the first is service to the poor â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to people who often go without, people who other organizations may choose not to care for. Just in Jacksonville, we did more than $100 million in charity care in the last year. We have programs including our Mobile

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850: As to brand, how would you have people in Sacred Heart service-area communities, including Pensacola and Miramar Beach and Panama City and Port St. Joe, think about their hospital? TV: Our aim ultimately is to have them think about both Sacred Heart and Ascension and to make them aware that their community Sacred Heart hospital is part of the largest Catholic nonprofit system in the country. Their local hospital with its intimate, caring look and feel is backed by the resources of one of the strongest organizations in health care. We want to lead with the local brand but connect it with the overall mission.

advance, there will be more and more cases that can be handled on an outpatient basis, including digitally. Care will evolve to become more convenient and accessible. The relative seriousness and complexity of the health issues faced by patients requiring hospitalization will increase, and our technology and expertise will advance to keep pace with that trend. We definitely see more care being delivered in outpatient settings or the home. As the baby boomers get older and require more care, we believe telemedicine will be an integral part of the health care ecosystem. Supply and demand are not going to match up unless we are able to leverage technology so that you can have a specialist or a primary care physician in one location who can care for patients in a large area including communities where it is very hard to recruit doctors.

850: How will delivery of health care change in years ahead? TV: As pharmacological therapies and medical management

850: What challenges do you face in terms of recruiting doctors and nurses? TV: From the nursing perspective, we have developed residency

Health Outreach Ministry that not just open our doors to the poor and vulnerable, but seek them out in their communities. Indigent care is fundamental to our reason for being.

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programs so we are in a position to grow our own. Where we have had challenges in recruitment, it has been in highly specialized areas such as the cardiovascular/thoracic operating room or the cardiac cath lab. By offering residency programs in concert with local higher-education institutions, we put already talented nurses through an intensive program to prepare them for those specialties. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good for the organization and good for the individuals involved. 850: What about doctors? TV: As to physicians, we are blessed not to have had any real difficulty, and there are two reasons for that. One is that great physicians want to work with other great physicians, and we offer them that opportunity. The other factor is our mission. We find folks that are coming through programs at Duke or other leading medical schools who want to be able to see a cross-section of patients regardless of their ability to pay. They want to work for a faith-based organization that is committed to serving everyone.

ISN’T ANYTHING NEW.

Our Air Force (and Northwest Florida) have been doing it for years. On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle conducted a surprise raid on Japan, just a few months after Pearl Harbor. At the time, no one—including the Japanese—thought the heartland of Japan could be struck. Doolittle’s innovation used land-based bombers launched from an aircraft carrier, a feat many thought impossible. He planned and executed the effort to retrofit sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers to launch from the USS Hornet in only three months. Modifications, flight testing, and training took place right here on Eglin AFB.

That’s innovation. Connect with the Doolittle Institute to learn how your company can benefit from 100+ years of innovation at the Air Force Research Lab and other Federal Laboratories. 1140 John Sims Pkwy E, Ste 1 • Niceville, FL 32578 // (850) 842-4393 • doolittleinstitute.org // A Member of the Defensewerx Family 850 Business Magazine

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Executive Mindset

Management Strategies A QUESTION OF LIABILITY

BUSINESS DELIBERATIONS Which kind of entity should you be?

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BY PHILIP N. KABLER

our “big idea” is proving viable, and you are trying to decide the format in which to establish a for-profit business. Will it be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation or a limited liability corporation? There are three basic elements that answer to that question.

LIABILITY LIMITATION The world of business liability breaks down roughly into two halves: unlimited and limited liability. Unlimited liability means that you could lose pretty much everything you own owing to a loss suffered by the business. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships fall into this category. Owners may mitigate the risk with insurance, personal asset protection and by refraining from signing personal guarantees for loans or leases. Limited liability means that the most you can usually lose is the amount of your investment in the company. Examples are corporations and limited liability companies. Bear in mind that a limited liability entity can be stripped of protection if owners use the company as a personal piggy bank or for fraudulent or illegal purposes.

ILLUSTRATION BY BIZVECTOR / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS AND PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIP N. KABLER

TAXES

Here, we are talking about a world of three parts. One is individual taxation, which applies to sole proprietorships. In essence, all tax outcomes relate personally to an owner and are attended to directly on the owner’s tax return and paid accordingly. Then there is passthrough treatment, which applies to all partnership forms. Tax outcomes essentially pass through the entity and are attended to by the owners on their tax returns. For pass-through entities, it is not just that tax activities are invisible to the companies; rather, those companies report tax-related activities to the owners and the IRS for final disposition and payment by the owners on their tax returns. As a result, there is only one level of tax return at the owner level. Finally, there is dual taxation treatment, which applies to “C” corporations. These are corporations that do not take an “S” election, and “C” double-taxation is, accordingly, the default federal tax format for corporations. In essence, a “C Corp” pays income tax, itself, and then the owners pay a second level of income tax on their dividend distributions.

The brief discussion above does not touch upon the related topics of state and local taxes that may include occupation/ business taxes, income taxes, sales taxes and employment taxes, among the menu of taxes levied on business entities.

FORMALITY All artificial business entities are creatures of statute, meaning that their formation, structure and operations emerge from a state’s code of laws. In Florida, this code is found in Chapter XXXVI, “Business Organizations.” These statutes describe the regulations for creating a business entity and the regulator, which in Florida is the Division of Corporations in the Department of State. Bascially, each artificial entity has to: n File a constituting document, such as articles of

incorporation for a corporation or articles of organization for an LLC, with the state regulator. n Create “rules of the game,” such as a partnership agreement, bylaws for a corporation or an operating agreement for an LLC, which it keeps with its operating documents. Then, the company has to actually observe the terms of the statutes and its constituting document and rules of the game. For example, it may have to notice and convene annual and periodic owner or directors meetings and keep records of its actions. And later file annual business reports and tax returns. The consequences of not doing those core activities can include the piercing of the limited liability veil. In the end, take in input from your attorney and accountant, and also from your insurance agent and commercial banker, and make informed decisions concerning those fundamental questions: Shall I form a business entity? And, if so, which one?

Philip N. Kabler is an incubator resource for the Santa Fe College Center for Innovation and Economic Development and has taught various courses at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and at the UF Warrington College of Business (undergraduate and graduate). Kabler is a partner at the Law Firm of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A. He is also a member of the Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee and the immediate past president of the North Florida Association of Real Estate Attorneys. And, he is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

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PINNACLE AWARDS

THE CLASS

OF 2018

PINNACLE AWARD WINNERS REFLECT THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY SERVICE In August, Rowland Publishing and 850 Magazine presented Pinnacle Awards to some of the most distinguished and accomplished women in Northwest Florida. The awards, presented annually, are reserved for women who have excelled both professionally and as community servants. This year’s awards presentation, held at the Holley Academic Center at Florida State University-Panama City, was the fifth in program history. Debbie Calder, executive vice president at Navy Federal Credit Union, served as keynote speaker. Following are profiles of the Pinnacle Award winners for 2018.

A LIFE OF SERVICE WELL LIVED

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY REISS

Behavior analyst dedicated herself to the disabled

ANDY AND DR. MAXIN REISS

Rowland Publishing and 850 Magazine celebrated the contributions made by the late Dr. Maxin Reiss on behalf of people living with disabilities by presenting her husband, Tallahassee restaurateur Andy Reiss, with a Pinnacle Award in her honor. Dr. Reiss died in July; she had battled uterine cancer. She devoted her professional life to helping individuals with special needs live more independent and fulfilling lives through the science of behavior analysis. After receiving her doctorate from Florida State University, she co-founded Behavior Management Consultants (BMC) in Tallahassee in 1980, and later became its president and chief executive officer. She was driven to preserve the dignity of every individual whose life she touched. In her memory, her family has established the “Maxin L. Reiss Memorial Fund for Improving Lives Through Behavior Change.” All proceeds benefit individuals with developmental, behavioral or mental health needs, who otherwise could not gain access to the skills of professional behavior analysts. Donations may be sent to the attention of Alyson Goodman at Behavior Management Consultants, 1339 E. Tennessee St., Tallahassee, Florida 32308.

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PINNACLE AWARDS

Stacey Kostevicki Executive Director, Gulf Coast Kid’s House, Pensacola

— Kari C. Barlow

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PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Stacey Kostevicki discovered a passion for community service as an undergraduate at Florida State University when she took a course on death and dying and had to write her own obituary. Kostevicki, who grew up in Gulf Breeze, remembers it this way: “When you’re 19 or 20 years old and you’re asked to write your own obituary, it’s pretty profound. It was a defining moment for me to know that whatever I did, I wanted to make sure that I left some kind of good impact.” As part of that class, Kostevicki was also required to volunteer — something she’d never done before. She started helping out with fundraising at a grief-and-loss counseling center in Tallahassee, and soon the experience opened her eyes to the value of nonprofit organizations. “It just kind of inspired me to want to do more and to have a career where at the end of the day you felt like you had done something bigger than your job,” she said. Since then, Kostevicki has worked in a variety of nonprofits, promoting the arts, mobilizing Florida communities against child poverty and hunger and providing families with child care subsidies. In 2010, she took the helm at Gulf Coast Kid’s House, a children’s advocacy center that brings together the professionals and resources needed for the intervention, investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases in Escambia County. “I like the mission-driven work,” Kostevicki said. “I also like that you have to be really innovative and creative to further your mission. You never know what the day is going to look like in this world, and that’s exciting.” And Kostevicki still makes time to volunteer, serving as a member of Impact 100 Pensacola, Cordova Rotary and United Way of Escambia County. “If it’s meaningful,” she said, “you make the time.”

PINNACLE AWARDS

Kelly Dozier Senior Vice President and Chief Community Officer, Mad Dog Construction, Tallahassee

Kelly Dozier started at Mad Dog Construction as a designer with an eye for aesthetics, and she calls her 30-plus-yearcareer there “a perfect match.” From its founding, Mad Dog has been on the cutting edge of environmentally friendly construction. Dozier worked her way up to managing projects as design director, and then ran the business end of the company as general manager starting in 1993. The Urbangreen project — a former physicians’ office located across the street from Mad Dog Construction headquarters — was Dozier’s brainchild. Completed in 2010, the building was Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certified, as the product of a challenging process that awards points to construction that incorporates sustainable elements such as high-efficiency electrical and plumbing equipment and the use of locally sourced and recycled materials. “I wanted to have a laboratory for us to learn LEED standards and to find out what might be economically feasible for our clients,” Dozier said. As the building’s owner, she was also Mad Dog’s client during the construction. Dozier currently serves as Mad Dog’s chief community officer, focusing on the company’s presence in the region. “Our principles have always been community-oriented,” she explained. “When I first started, we had more time than money, so we all volunteered.” Today she serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Board, and she is president of LeMoyne Arts. Dozier’s parents were both accomplished economists, educated at the London School of Economics. The family moved to Tallahassee from Israel when Dozier was 6 years old so her father could join the faculty at FSU. “My parents collected art. It covered our walls growing up. When I found out that we had a local art festival, I jumped in with both feet,” she said. It was her mother who inspired her to succeed and also to do good, Dozier said. “My mother had a distinguished career and also kept house. She was involved in local politics in Leon County. She was a tough woman who stood up for herself. “My husband (Laurie Dozier, a Mad Dog founder), our partner Shawn Roberts, and I see Mad Dog as a vehicle to give back to the community. It really is our passion to make things better,” she said.

— Erin Hoover

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

PINNACLE AWARDS

Marcia Hull As a child, Marcia Hull endured tap, piano and ballet lessons. They mostly didn’t take, and Hull insists to this day that she has no artistic ability. But that’s not to say that she fails to appreciate art and the importance of its impact on audiences. There’s a quote by one of her favorite painters, Edgar Degas, that serves her as a guiding principle: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” For 20 years, Hull has enlightened the Destin community through creative festivals, concerts and art education. It’s the latter, she said, about which she is most passionate. “Growing up, I was very shy,” Hull said. “But my parents introduced me to the world of art and culture at a very impressionable age. It helped me with my self-esteem and also gave me the opportunity to have a well-rounded education.” Mattie Kelly extends its workshops, camps and live performances to students, underprivileged families, people living with special needs and wounded veterans. Hull believes that outreach is at the heart of the organization’s mission. After working in the oil industry, real estate, public relations and various corporate jobs, Hull was introduced to nonprofit work in 1998. Destin’s late first lady, Patricia Mcllroy, who was married to Destin’s first mayor, Bob McIlroy, invited her to a Mattie Kelly fundraiser, and she knew she had found a home. “Patricia led with such class and grace,” Hull said of Mcllroy. “Then, when I applied for director of Mattie Kelly, I had an interview with Beverly McNeil. She was and continues to be a visionary and Christian sister to me. When you surround yourself with people who have strong ethics and want to give back, it inspires you.” That’s why, for over 25 years, Hull has been a Destin Rotarian, observing the motto: “Service above self.” She is active, too, in chambers of commerce. “I get up with a blank page every day,” she said. “I wonder, how can I fill it up? What can I accomplish, and how much money can I raise? I may not be artistic, but I’m not shy about asking for funding for something that touches the soul.”

— Hannah Burke

WINTER 2018

850businessmagazine.com

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Chief Executive Officer, Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation, Niceville

PINNACLE AWARDS

Cecile Scoon Attorney, Peters & Scoon, Panama City Cecile Scoon’s mother, Thelma, grew up in rural Virginia when it was dangerous for any person of color, especially a woman, to leave her home at night. Black heads of households always had a rifle within arm’s reach because, as Scoon said, “When things happened, and they did, they had to defend the family. The sheriff wouldn’t come; he was probably part of the group.” Scoon’s childhood was vastly different. Thelma married Casimir Edgar Norbert Scoon, who became a Peace Corps director, and the couple moved to Antigua, near Grenada, where the Scoon family is prominent. There, Cecile said, “Race is of no consequence. Everyone is brown or black, so it falls away.” Scoon moved with her parents from the islands to the United States when she was 15. Four years later, as a student in an African-American history class at Harvard University, she gained her first inkling as to what life for the young Thelma Scoon had been like. “In class, I heard about these incredible trials that AfricanAmericans had been through, and I was literally cringing and squirming in my seat. My head blew up when I realized that my mother and my father had been through what was being discussed,” Scoon recalled. Later, Thelma would tell her daughter she didn’t want her to be filled with hate. Said Cecile, “She recognized that I was operating in a world where most of the people were white and was concerned about how I would feel about them if she told me about all that she had been through.” Thelma Scoon was characterized by an enduring, uncompromised generosity of spirit. So, too, is Cecile, as reflected by her law practice as a civil rights attorney and by her volunteer work. Scoon received a Visual and Environmental Studies undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1981. After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984, she spent five years as an active duty Air Force JAG, serving as a prosecutor in military court martials. In 1990, she became the first black woman to practice law privately in Bay County, Florida. Scoon is the president of the Bay County League of Women Voters and first vice president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. She is active with the Bay High School Foundation. She is a board member at the Chautauqua Adult Program, which serves disabled persons after they age out of guaranteed public education. And, for many years, she was a school volunteer who became so familiar at Oakland Terrace Elementary School, Jinks Middle School and Bay High School that folks assumed she was a faculty member. “It made me think that I should be in a classroom instead of a courtroom,” she said. Truly, she is a teacher and a counsel or both.

— Steve Bornhoft

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

PINNACLE AWARDS

Paula S. Fortunas For Paula Fortunas, few achievements have meant more than seeing her efforts translate to the greater good. Over the course of her distinguished career, Fortunas has served two critical community institutions in Tallahassee, as Florida State University Foundation CFO and vice president for Planned Giving, and later as president and CEO of the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) Foundation and as a vice president and member of the TMH leadership team. A keen ability to see projects through to fruition is evident in Fortunas’s trophy case — from national lifetime achievement awards from the higher education community, to prestigious honors from FSU, to multiple local and regional citations for excellence. Fortunas was saluted as the TMH officer who forged the first comprehensive research agreement between FSU and TMH, resulting in a robust research agenda that is ever expanding. What matters most to Fortunas is the positive influence of her work on the lives of those served. “Whether it is groundbreaking bench-to-bedside research, funding for those patients, families and students experiencing financial need, academic scholarships or the acquisition of sophisticated life-saving equipment, the common denominator is the deserving people who benefit,” Fortunas said. FSU President John Thrasher has praised Paula’s work to help establish the College of Medicine, among other achievements. Mark

WINTER 2018

850businessmagazine.com

O’Bryant, TMH President and CEO, has credited her with helping to forge stronger relationships with academic partners and an eight-fold increase in gifts and grants to TMH, which enabled the hospital to better serve the region. In retirement, the Florida native devotes her time to activities within her Christian congregation and to spending what she describes as “precious time” with her 6-year-old grandson, Sheldon. Fortunas also serves on boards at FSU, such as the College of Social Sciences DeVoe Moore Center, the College of Nursing and the College of Medicine, and on community boards including the Capital Medical Society Foundation, the Artist Series, the LeMoyne Center for the Arts, and the Word of South Festival. In speaking of the women who inspired her, Fortunas said, “First and foremost my mother, Pauline Kemp Slappey Gay, who instilled in me the value of purposeful work and service ethics. She lived the Golden Rule and, to the best of my ability, I have learned from and followed her fine example.” Other mentors and role models noted by Fortunas for their integrity and commitment to mission are Pat Winthrop-King, Charlotte Maguire, Sally McRorie, Frances Cannon, Marie Cowart and Virginia Glass, “crusaders by virtue of their accomplishments.” The same could be said of Fortunas, who reflected upon her own career: “There’s nothing more satisfying that seeing gifts in action, evidence of lives changed for the better.”

— Erin Hoover

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Retired President and CEO, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) Foundation; retired TMH Vice President

PINNACLE AWARDS

Jayna Leach Vice President/Marketing, Visit Panama City Beach Jayna Leach is so well established in Panama City Beach that no longer does she sleep fitfully worrying that, tomorrow, it will be time once again to return to Lake Martin in Alabama. But, for years, that was her fear. She made Panama City Beach trips with her parents, Donna and Wayne Montgomery, summer after summer, beginning when she was age 2. And whenever Dad packed up the car and headed for the state line, she sobbed. “My mother introduced me to Panama City Beach and that, for me, was love at first sight. Now, she can hardly believe what I’m doing for a living. It seems like destiny.” Leach attended Northwest Florida State College and then began to climb rungs in the hospitality ladder. Her first job in the industry was working the reception desk at the Holiday Inn in Fort Walton Beach. At the age of just 24, she became the director of marketing at the Boardwalk Beach Resort, succeeding Cil Schnitker, whom she counts as her chief mentor. She moved from the Boardwalk to a job with Visit Panama City Beach, the promotional arm of the PCB Convention and Visitors Bureau. After nine years there, she worked for Sterling Resorts, where two of her marketing campaigns won coveted statewide Flagler Awards. She rejoined Visit Panama City Beach three years ago as vice president for marketing. Dan Rowe, the president and CEO at Visit Panama City Beach, says about Leach, “She is one of the most talented marketers I have ever had the privilege of working with. She is invested in the community and dedicated to making it a world-class destination.” When city and county officials

enacted ordinances prohibiting alcohol consumption on beaches in the month of March, effectively pivoting Bay County away from Spring Break, Leach was instrumental in attracting replacement business while simultaneously working to make Panama City Beach attractive to visitors year-round. Doing so involved the launching of new spring events including UNwineD, a festival aimed at young professionals, and the music festival SandJam, designed to attract young adults and families. By focusing on young families with a Preschoolers in Paradise promotion in August 2018, Leach and Visit Panama City Beach brought about a 25% percent increase in visitation versus August 2017. Her Beach Home for the Holidays campaign has led visiting families to make Panama City Beach central to new Thanksgiving traditions. It comes as no surprise to find that Leach, along with her husband Todd and daughters Summer and Autumn Grace, like to “stay-cation.” “The more I travel, the more I appreciate where I live,” Leach said. “I love Panama City Beach — the product and the destination.” Through the years, Leach has been a key player at the Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce, serving on its executive board and as its chairwoman. From its inception, she has been a member of the chamber’s Women’s Symposium Committee, which heads up a highly successful annual event that explores issues including work-life balance. That balance, she will concede, may be easier to strike when you live in Vacationland.

— Steve Bornhoft

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

PINNACLE AWARDS

Debbie Ritchie While growing up in Chattahoochee, Debbie Ritchie can’t remember a time when her family wasn’t working on behalf of their small community. From church bake sales to marching band car washes, serving for the greater good was a constant. “My dad always said to us and still does — o those whom much is given, much is expected in return,” she said. “That was something we were taught.” Ritchie learned the lesson well, going on to serve in the Florida House of Representatives before moving to Pensacola where she has supported many different causes since the late 1990s. She started with her daughters’ school, heading up the Cordova Park Elementary PTA, moving on to the Escambia County School District PTA and championing the Pensacola Children’s Chorus. In 2004, she was the founding president of Impact 100 Pensacola Bay Area, a groundbreaking organization that has invested some $10.4 million in the community through 98 grants to local nonprofits. Ritchie is also a past chairman of the board of directors of Gulf Coast Kid’s House and helped steer that organization through a critical expansion to improve Escambia County’s response to child abuse cases. Ritchie’s professional path also reflects her passion for giving back. For the past 12 years, she has worked on health care improvement at Studer Group in Pensacola, joining the company in 2006 as chief operations officer and taking over as president in 2016. “I have a passion for doing purposeful work,” she said. “We are all impacted by health care. I want to make sure everyone has the same access to quality, compassionate care.” When serving the community, Ritchie said, no matter what the cause is, she always receives far more than she gives. “When you get involved in giving and service, you just build a bigger heart of gratitude,” she said. “And as a result, good things come to you, I believe.”

— Kari C. Barlow

WINTER 2018

850businessmagazine.com

PHOTO BY STEPHAN VANCE (RITCHIE) AND LAWRENCE DAVIDSON (HOOD)

President, The Studer Group, Pensacola

PINNACLE AWARDS

Laurie Hood Founder and President, Alaqua Animal Refuge, Freeport

When Laurie Hood was a little girl in Louisiana, she went doorto-door with a petition aimed at stopping neighborhood kids from killing songbirds. Today, she lobbies for national animal welfare causes. She arms herself not with the disarming demeanor of a child, but dons a bullet-proof vest and sheds caution in joining law enforcement officials working animal cruelty cases. For the animals thus rescued, she is a savior. For the animals’ adoptive families, she is a benefactress. In 2007, Hood founded the Alaqua Animal Refuge, Walton County’s first no-kill shelter, after visiting an organization where she was told she would have to pay $900 in adoption fees to prevent the euthanizing of a border collie and her eight puppies. Fees were waived only in the case of official rescues. If you know Hood, you wouldn’t be surprised that she immediately went home, acquired the proper official paperwork and charged into that facility the next day with her horse trailer in tow. Not just nine, but 38 animals, were given a second chance at life that day. More than 15,000 animals have been adopted through Alaqua, where up to 100 animals are received in a day. It is the Emerald Coast’s largest nonprofit organization with over 400 volunteers. “I ask each volunteer what brought them here,” Hood said. “The obvious answer is animals, but when you dig a little deeper, you find out that they just recovered from cancer, had a death in the family or suffered any number of tragedies. This is what heals them.” Hood has created numerous animal therapy and rehabilitation programs for elderly, injured and mentally impaired persons. Outside of Alaqua, she is district leader in Northwest Florida for the Humane Society of the United States. She serves as vice chair for the Committee to Protect Greyhounds in Florida and is a founding board member of the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center in Freeport. Recently, she was featured on the National Geographic channel’s program, “Animal PD.” Her selfless spirit, she believes, is hereditary. “My grandmother never had a bad word to say about anyone,” Hood said. “She taught me patience and to respect everybody, regardless of their circumstances. At 80 years old and in a wheelchair, she was still involved in service work.” Her mother, Hood said, always encouraged her to follow her heart. In doing so, she has heartened thousands.

— Hannah Burke

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

PINNACLE AWARDS

Kim Bodine As a new graduate of Florida State University, Kim Bodine went to work for a strong, decisive and imposing female leader for the first time. Lana Jane Lewis-Brent of Sunshine-Junior Food Stores loaded Bodine up with responsibilities, gave her a company car and put her on the road as a member of the sales division. She learned a lot in a hurry, designed incentive programs for employees and became a district manager in charge of 14 stores. The latter role was a considerable logistical challenge in a pre-cell phone era. “All we had was a beeper,” she recalls. “I spent a lot of time on the road. I’d stop at rest areas by myself and didn’t even think about it. I guess I was too young to know it was dangerous.” And, she had no fear of work, owing in large part to the example of her mother who worked as a General Schedule employee for the military for 37 years, many of them while raising four children. “I was fortunate to have parents who loved me unconditionally, worked very hard and were focused on their family,” Bodine said. Sunshine-Junior was headed for bankruptcy while Bodine worked there, forcing her to look for a new job. She accepted a position as a case manager with the old federal Job Training Partnership Act program. Early in Bodine’s workforce career, Cheryl Flax-Hyman of then-Gulf Coast Community College served her as a mentor,

WINTER 2018

in particular introducing her to the perils of politics. “Cheryl showed me where the landmines were,” Bodine said. “She has quiet confidence. She is a good listener and, in her own way, another strong leader.” Now 26 years later, Bodine remains a workforce developer as executive director for CareerSource Gulf Coast, which serves clients in Bay, Gulf and Franklin counties. For Bodine, there was a tie between convenience store management and workforce duties. At Sunshine-Junior, she got to know single-parent, female store managers, who were smart and capable and worked long hours but struggled to make ends meet. They just needed opportunities to better their circumstances. That was where JTPA could be helpful. So, as much as she is a workforce developer, Bodine is a human resource developer, on the job and in the community. She is a founder of Alignment Bay County, whose mission is to inform residents about issues while championing the success of young people. She has found that too many well-off parents tend to assume that all kids are like those seated at their kitchen table. She is vice chair at ARC of the Bay, an organization that is working to put disabled people to work. And, she is on the board at the Healthy Start Coalition. “We’re learning more about what children and disabled persons are capable of doing,” she said.

850businessmagazine.com

— Steve Bornhoft

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Executive Director, CareerSource Gulf Coast, Panama City

PINNACLE AWARDS

Julie Sheppard Executive Vice President/Chief Legal Counsel, Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola

Julie Sheppard often jokes that she’s not a scientist — she just plays one at work. But given her roles at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, she’s not far off. Whether asking big social questions or researching futuristic technology, the IHMC team is continually tackling one major challenge after another. It’s work that requires collaboration, creativity and the freedom to fail — factors Sheppard considers critical in breaking new ground. “I like being part of a team, a strong team where you can learn from each other and brainstorm because none of us has all the answers,” she said. “I’ve learned most of what I’ve learned by making mistakes. … That’s what innovation is all about.” Sheppard, who served as the first in-house counsel for the University of West Florida from 1996 to 2002, said she has always been drawn to strong leaders who are willing to take risks and find creative solutions to problems. She has applied that same attitude to community service in the Pensacola area. In addition to being a past president and board member of Impact 100 Pensacola Bay Area, Sheppard serves on the boards of the Pensacola State College Foundation and Legal Services of Northwest Florida. She was on the advisory board of the Pensacola Young Professionals and is the current chairman of the Studer Community Institute — a nonprofit dedicated to understanding early brain development and improving quality of life. Sheppard, who grew up in the small coastal town of Newberry, Massachusetts, said she has come to believe strongly in collective philanthropy, supporting a variety of causes to build well-rounded communities and surrounding herself with positive people. “I would encourage young people to make time for relationships,” she said. “That’s what really makes life so enjoyable.”

— Kari C. Barlow

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

PROMOTION

↑ Rowland Publishing’s Vice President/ Corporate Development McKenzie Lohbeck (left) and publisher Brian Rowland (right) presented the special posthumous Pinnacle award to Andy Reiss, Dr. Maxin Reiss’ husband. Baker Wright (not pictured) of Tallahassee offered a remembrance of Dr. Maxin Reiss. Dr. Reiss was a behaviorist and humanitarian who dedicated her career to helping people with disabilities live independently.

Thank you to all the sponsors who made this event possible PRESENTED BY 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE

congratulates

THOMAS HO WELL FER G USO N P.A . C PA s

Julian Dozier on his admission as a Shareholder.

Julian’s contributions demonstrate the depth of talent embodied in our ﬁrm, and we are proud to welcome him as a member of our shareholder group. His work with the Florida Institute of CPAs, Leadership Tallahassee, and the Tallahassee Symphony demonstrates his continual commitment to being a STRONG LEADER, BOTH IN OUR PROFESSION AND IN OUR COMMUNITY. WINSTON HOWELL

Managing Shareholder

We understand what counts. 850.668.8100

Tallahassee

Tampa

www.thf-cpa.com

congratulates

THOMAS HO WELL FER G USO N P.A . C PA s

Brian Walgamott on his admission as a Shareholder.

We are proud to have Brian join our shareholder group as he continues to bring the level of leadership and quality service expected by our ﬁrm and our clients. His work with the Florida Institute of CPAs and Big Brothers Big Sisters proves his dedication to his professional growth as well as THE BETTERMENT OF OUR COMMUNITY. WINSTON HOWELL

Managing Shareholder

We understand what counts. 850.668.8100

Tallahassee

Tampa

www.thf-cpa.com

850 Business Magazine

WINTER 2018

2019 TALLAHASSEE BUSINESS JOURNAL A N

8 5 0

B U S I N E S S

M A G A Z I N E

S P E C I A L

R E P O R T

STOUT BUSINESS CLIMATE Floridaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capital, thirsty for quality experiences, is fertile ground for entrepreneurial ambitions

PR News

PR Firm Year of the

Sachs has blossomed into one of the foremost public relations, public affairs, digital and crisis firms in the southeast.

- PR News

850.222.1996

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sachsmedia.com

Tallahassee  Orlando Boca Raton  Washington, D.C. 2 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

CONTENTS

Planners see Tallahassee’s “Arena District” as well suited for projects that would increase the city’s capacity to host large conferences.

26 06 SMALL BUSINESSES

Startups are taking root, expanding operations, adding employees and bolstering the local economy.

13 C OMMUNITY

RENDERING COURTESY OF DESIGN DISTILL AND SASAKI ASSOCIATES LLC

REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY By making

initial investments in struggling neighborhoods, agency succeeds in spurring private-sector activity.

20 C ISSY PROCTOR

Florida’s executive director of the Department of Economic Activity helps businesses recover from punishing storms.

23 T HE CURRENT

AGENCY Digital

marketer and brand builder powers up businesses, one logo and website at a time.

16 R EAL ESTATE MARKET 26 F SU ARENA Land costs are high, making it difficult for builders to meet the demand for houses that middle-income earners can afford.

DISTRICT Eastward

expansion of campus may be the future home of hotel, conference center and a new college.

29 THE GATEWAY

PROJECT The road from Tallahassee’s airport to downtown will route new arrivals to town past impressive community assets.

32 CAPITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

Hospital, under the leadership of a new CEO, plans to open two emergency facilities in the year ahead.

35 E CONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT

Promoters of Tallahassee emphasize its high quality of life, schools and universities and highly trained human capital.

38 TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE

With the arrival of the M.T. Mustian Surgery Center, TMH will join an elite group of world-class hospitals.

41 J IM MORAN SCHOOL Entering its second year, the school is churning out a singularly dynamic and ambitious product: entrepreneurs.

44 R EINVESTING IN

SOMO By repurposing existing structures, investors along South Monroe Street are seeing to the neighborhood’s revitalization.

ON THE COVER: For the Ross family of Tallahassee, life revolves around beer, but in a good way. Family members including, from left, Jesse, Connor, Laura and Jordan form the nucleus of Lake Tribe Brewing. PHOTO BY DAVE BARFIELD

2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 3

If you’re ever diagnosed with cancer, If you’re ever diagnosed with cancer, you’re ever diagnosed with cancer, you’llIf want access to cutting-edge treatments. you’ll want access to cutting-edge treatments. you’ll want access to cutting-edge treatments. Like the international clinical trials we offer. Like the international clinical trials we offer. Like the international clinical trials we offer.

How do you fight cancer? You fight it right here at home. How do you fight cancer? You fight it right here at home. How do you cancer? You fight right here at center. home.TMH offers an international A clinical trialsfight program is an essential partitof a true cancer

Anetwork clinical of trials program an provide essential part of a true for cancer center. TMH offers an international clinical trials is that the opportunity patients to receive new and cutting edge A clinicaloftrials program is anprovide essential part of a truefor cancer center. TMH offers an cutting international network clinical trials that thebetter opportunity patients to receive new and edge treatments with the benefit of finding ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Paving network of clinical trials that of provide the opportunity patients to receive and cutting edge treatments the benefit finding ways tofor prevent, diagnose andnew treat cancer. Paving the way forwith progress, clinical trials are better how we advance healthcare and ultimately, save more lives. treatments the benefit finding better to prevent, diagnose and treatsave cancer. Paving the way for with progress, clinicalof trials are how weways advance healthcare and ultimately, more lives. the way for progress, clinical trials are how we advance healthcare and ultimately, save more lives.

TMH.ORG/Cancer TMH.ORG/Cancer TMH.ORG/Cancer

4 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

THANKS A BILLION!

Raise the Torch donors gifted

$1,158,665,865 in support of our Seminole communityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; exceeding our goal and proving that together we can achieve anything.

See what else weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve accomplished at raisethetorch.fsu.edu 2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 5

SMALL BUSINESSES

FLEDGLING BUSINESSES TAKE FLIGHT

Entrepreneurs draw upon experience of others BY PETE REINWALD

EDITOR’S NOTE: Business incubation is a significant factor in job growth in and around Tallahassee. Following, we profile three businesses that benefitted from local entrepreneurial expertise and encouragement made available by Domi Station at critical stages in their development. Domi is a nonprofit startup incubator and co-working space offering programs, resources and events that help entrepreneurs start and scale sustainable companies.

A Socially conscious DivvyUp has contributed socks to homeless shelters in 26 states. Customers dictate designs by choosing a template and uploading a photo of a pet or loved one. 6 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

trip to a Tallahassee homeless shelter has spawned tens of thousands of socks and a business with sole. DivvyUp, the product of an effort to do good, hardly takes the competition in stride. In less than five years, it has gone national. “Our vision is to be the No. 1 custom-sock company,” said Jason McIntosh, a company co-founder along with Mitch Nelson and Spencer Bluni. DivvyUp calls itself an ondemand custom-sock company. You choose an online template, upload a photo of a loved one

or a pet — and, boom, you have bounce in your step because you have caused a new, specialized pair to be sent to a local homeless shelter. That’s the result of the company’s giving component. Customers usually receive their orders within about 10 days, the company said. In early August, prices started at $24 a pair. “We have a focus on custom pet socks,” McIntosh said. “Put your dog on socks, put your cat on socks. Our goal is to expand to anything you can imagine.”

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS AND COURTESY OF THE CUSTOM SOCK COMPANY (CAT)

MODELING WHAT THEY MAKE: (left to right) Spencer Bluni, Jason McIntosh and Mitch Nelson of DivvyUp socks enjoyed some down time at the business incubator Domi Station. DivvyUp contributes a pair of socks to homeless shelters for every pair purchased.

Buyers can imagine. “These socks with my toddler’s face were a huge hit for Father’s Day,” Julie Shackleton of San Francisco wrote on the company’s Facebook page. “They bring a laugh every time my husband wears them.” DivvyUp got its start in early 2014 in Florida State University’s entrepreneurship progam. The company recalled it this way: A class project required students to get into groups and start a small business. A group that included McIntosh and

Nelson focused on starting a venture that would help the community. The group struggled with its first idea and eventually found its way to a homeless shelter, since demolished, on West Tennessee Street. “We simply asked the receptionist, ‘What can we do to help?’ ” McIntosh said. The receptionist’s response: Homeless clients need clean socks, which people tend not to donate. The students got a $400 loan from their professor and bought what they called “fun socks” to

sell. For every pair they sold, a pair would go to the mission. Within about six weeks, they gave 160 pairs of socks to the shelter. “They’ve always been very kind and generous,” said Susan Fiorito, director of Florida State’s Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship. “I hope they have a world of success.” In working to gain traction, DivvyUp took full advantage of educational resources, mentors and connections at Domi Station, said the incubator’s executive director, Antonio Montoya.

“After pivoting their business model several times, DivvyUp hit an untapped market in 2017 and grew exponentially, selling over 200,000 pairs of socks worldwide and gifting another 200,000,” Montoya said. “DivvyUp clearly demonstrates the success that is possible by playing the long game. Now, it hopes that its model will be replicated by others who will benefit from their entrepreneurial experience in creating more success stories.” The company says it worked with leaders in the homeless community to create a sock that includes, among other features, dark materials to hide wear and antimicrobial treatment to prevent infection. DivvyUp has donated socks to shelters in 23 states, including 11 in Florida. Sara Jean Hargis of the Big Bend Homeless Coalition said most coalition partners suffer from severe funding shortages, and their clients appreciate the DivvyUp donations. “We really enjoy objects like this that are super practical,” she said. DivvyUp now has its own 17,000-sqare-foot production facility, which employed 26 people this past summer. That number may triple this holiday season, McIntosh said. DivvyUp emphasized its commitment to giving away a pair of socks for every pair it sells but said it has shifted its marketing approach. “We thought we should be offering customers true value,” McIntosh said. “We stopped leading with the giving and started leading with the value proposition. It allows us to do good behind the scenes.”

2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 7

SMALL BUSINESSES

A beer brand that trumpets American Indian themes believes it’s blossoming in a city that cherishes its Seminoles. Tallahassee’s Lake Tribe Brewing prods you to “Find Your Native Spirit” through offerings such as Long Paddle lager, Old Chief IPA and Pow Wow Session IPA. Its logo flaunts a flame, and its Facebook page encourages visitors to “Join the Tribe.” Yet the company’s founders said they never sought to seize a Florida State University-related opportunity. “That wasn’t our intention when coming up with the brand,” co-founder Jason Ross said. The company’s name and theme instead stem from the founding family’s experiences from years of camping with other families as part of the YMCA’s old Indian Guides — now Adventure Guides — program. The camping group called itself Lake Tribe, and it continues to get together, sharing an appreciation for good beer and the great outdoors, the company said. “It’s just a unique experience,” Ross said of entrepreneurship and the business. “It’s almost like a counterculture to the fastpaced lifestyle and bringing it back to enjoyable beer and

the amazing ingredients that you can try with beer and the amazing flavors. It’s all about restraint and enjoying things.” Jesse Ross, Jason’s brother, said he and his brother and father consider themselves especially big fans of beer and craft breweries. During a visit to a brewery around 2010, he said, “My brother and I started thinking, ‘Why not us?’ ” They brewed a batch, liked what they tasted and, about four years ago, started Lake Tribe Brewing Co. Jesse is president and chief brewer, Jason head of marketing and Connor, their father, head of operations. Lake Tribe, which employs about 10 people, joins a growing Tallahassee craft beer industry that also includes Deep Brewing Co., GrassLands Brewing Co., Ology Brewing Co. and Proof Brewing Co. The company insists it doesn’t see the others as competitors, emphasizing that fellow brewers tend to help rather than hurt each other. “I think it’s very much a camaraderie,” Jason Ross said. “We go to their events, and they go to ours. I think it’s the concept that the rising tide raises all ships.” Lake Tribe believes that its Native/natural theme raises all sips. In a salute to their father, the company created Red Cloud

8 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

STEPPING UP: Lake Tribe Brewing began by crafting a beer named with a nod to Connor Ross, its president of operations, in the foreground in photo. It has now produced 50 recipes. Top row, left to right: president and chief brewer Jesse Ross, operations manager and brewer Tyler Yorski and Jordan Ross.

IPA. Connor Ross had gone by “Red Cloud” in the YMCA Indian Guides program. “That was the very first beer that we brewed,” said Jesse Ross, who noted his and his father’s appreciation for IPAs. “It kind of naturally came out with a red hue and a little cloudiness. It kind of feels and smells like you’re walking though the woods.” The company says it has generated about 50 beer recipes and keeps 10 to 14 on tap. It began canning this past summer, beginning with Red Cloud IPA and Beckster’s Satsuma wheat ale, which it touts to include “locally grown Satsuma oranges.” Its brewery, near Capital Circle Northwest, includes a colorful,

high-ceiling taproom, where customers can watch sports programming projected on a wall. The site also features a woodsy seating area that includes new picnic tables, a bean-bag game area and space for a band; Lake Tribe often features live music on Fridays or Saturdays to accompany taproom hours on those days. The company recently decided to expand taproom hours to Thursdays. Along with the other Tallahassee breweries, Lake Tribe aims to keep them coming. “In our region, we’re just having fun teaching people about craft beer,” Jason Ross said. “I think we’re just starting to see what it can be, how much beer there is to go around.”

PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD

LAKE TRIBE BREWING

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SMALL BUSINESSES

They stood out, plane and simple. Around 2009, Faith Drewry and Lacey Smith showed up separately at a Tallahassee aviation event and noticed they were on the only women in the room. “And probably the only people under the age of 55,” Drewry said. They sat down together, quickly became friends and within about three years started a business, which the two pilots said has really taken off. Their FL Aviation Center flight school, at Tallahassee International Airport, boasts a fleet of six planes, a staff of 12

and a course or program for virtually every level of piloting. It also recently received regional recognition from a national pilots association. And while you might discern “Florida” from the FL, the company founders confided, “It’s Faith and Lacey,” Smith said. “It’s our inside joke.” Drewry and Smith have built their business as trailblazers with altitude. Citing 2017 data, the Federal Aviation Administration reports that women make up 7 percent of pilots in the U.S. and 6.4 percent of commercial pilots in the country. Reporting to Drewry, 40, and Smith, 39, is a team of

PHOTO BY DAVE BARFIELD

FL AVIATION CENTER

TAKING OFF: The FL Aviation Center, a flight school begun by Lacey Smith, left, and Faith Drewry, has been named the best such school in the Southeast, based on survey results reviewed by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

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seasoned flight instructors, all but one of them male, including one who has been a pilot since the 1960s. The company recently hired a woman instructor. “We’re just following our passion,” Drewry said. But “we’re always happy and excited to hear we’ve been lucky enough to inspire another woman to follow her dreams. “Young girls don’t think of it as a career option because they don’t see other women doing it. When they see a role model, another woman doing it, then it becomes a viable option.” FL Aviation Center offers courses and certification training toward, among other things, becoming a private pilot, a commercial pilot, a professional pilot or a flight instructor. The professional pilot program trains for private, instrument and commercial pilot’s licenses. The company also offers courses for the curious, even the nervous.

A $200 “discovery flight” pledges to teach a student to “execute a perfect takeoff, with little help,” to undergo climbs, descents and turns and to “follow your instructor through a smooth landing,” the school’s website says. A “fearful flyer” course puts the student at a simulator rather than in the sky. Students include younger people pursuing a career in aviation, business owners aiming to better reach their customers and “empty nesters fulfilling a lifelong dream,” Drewry said. “The one thing they all have in common is a passion for flying.” Drewry said her passion started early, following that of an aunt who was a pilot. She said she started flight training when she was 14 and got her pilot’s license at 19. Practicality drove Smith’s interest. As a horse trainer, she said, she pondered the time it was

taking her to reach customers scattered far and wide. “I figured it would be a lot faster to get to my clients if I could just fly,” she said. When they met about 10 years ago at the Tallahassee aviation event, Drewry offered to help Smith work on getting her license as she continued her own training, Drewry said. In 2012, they decided to buy a plane, a 1974 Piper Warrior, a four-seat, four-cylinder aircraft that you might find available today for about $40,000. Within months, they started the flight school. The school boasts that it offers many of the same features of other Florida flight schools without as much congestion. Nate Soucia, 32, said he has been training at FL Aviation Center since 2016. A part-time job as a dispatcher there allows him to pursue his certification full time, he said.

“I always wanted to fly,” he said. “It was something that I wanted to pursue and never thought I would be able to afford. But when I pursued it, I found that, ‘Wow, this is more affordable than I thought. This is something I could do.’ ” FL Aviation Center’s privatepilot program generally costs about $11,000 but can cost as low as $9,000, the company said. Drewry said a private pilot’s license typically requires 50 to 55 hours in an airplane with an instructor. Their company is getting attention. Based on a survey of students’ flight-training experience, the Maryland-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association last year awarded FL Aviation Center as Best Flight School in the Southeast. “Our goal is to be the best in the country,” Drewry said, that is, “to really raise the bar” in aviation education.

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COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY

REVITALIZING NEIGHBORHOODS CRA projects lead to private investment

BY MICHAEL MOLINE

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COMMUNITY REDEVEELOPMENT AGENCY

hat a difference 20 years — and $38.7 million in targeted investments — make. Cascades Park was an EPA superfund project, site of a toxic cocktail of coal tar left from the old city coal gasification plant mixed with leaked fuel from an old boat shop. Gaines Street was a “wasteland,” as City Commissioner Curtis Richardson puts it — a brownfield contaminated by old gas stations and a dry cleaner. Today, Cascades is a civic ornament. Quibbles over the aesthetic choices made by Gaines Street developers aside, the revamped thoroughfare is a major economic driver for Tallahassee and Leon County. These projects — and scores of additional street lighting, road and landscaping schemes, refreshed store facades and affordable housing — happened due to investments made by the Tallahassee and Leon County community redevelopment agency, or CRA. The agency oversees two redevelopment districts encompassing downtown Tallahassee, plus Frenchtown and the Southside. More than $15 million has gone to downtown projects and nearly $23.7 million into Southside-Frenchtown. Well documented is the fact that officials involved with the agency, including City Commissioner Scott Maddox, have been targeted by an FBI corruption investigation. Maddox declined to discuss the probe during an interview in his City Hall office. But there’s a larger question: Is the community better for the CRA’s existence? City and county elected officials insist the answer is yes. “The CRA has, without question, been a success. Both CRAs. Without question,” Maddox said in an interview. “When you look at the boost to our tax revenue, when you look at the eradication of blight and the redevelopment that has been spurred by the CRA, it has been an unmitigated success. “The question is, where do we go from here?” The city and county got together in 1998 to organize the CRA, and stood up the redevelopment zones during the subsequent few years. It operates under state legislation

Rendering depicts Cascades project in the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Downtown District. The project is the CRA’s most ambitious and complex to date.

intended to help local officials fight blight and slum conditions. The agencies invest in redevelopment, then capture tax receipts resulting from any subsequent increase in property values to finance additional projects. The initial city-county negotiations grew testy at times, Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley recalled. Back then, she was the editorial page editor of the Tallahassee Democrat. “Who’s going to get cheated? How are we going to make this fair?” Lindley said, summarizing the disagreement. In the end, officials concluded that “the county stands to benefit when property values throughout the county are increased,” she said. “Then there’s just the general economic interest. CRA projects and county capital improvement projects really carried this county through the recession, because we were putting people to work on these jobs — government infrastructure.” Newcomers would be astonished by the differences between pre- and post-CRA Tallahassee. Downtown, for example, “most business had been moved out. There was Andrew’s, there were a few businesses, but a lot of the downtown buildings were empty,” Lindley said.

“Little by little over the past 20 years, all kinds of lobbyist groups and statewide associations moved in,” Lindley pointed out. “It’s not blighted down there anymore. There’s a building boom. Private folks are filling it with or without the help of the CRA.” For example, the CRA put money into a Tennessee and Monroe streets property that had been the site of a filling station. Standing there now is an office-retail building in which the Morgan & Morgan law firm maintains its Tallahassee office. “It’s a lot better than an old, abandoned gas station.” Lindley said. In all, the CRA has invested nearly $7.7 million in seven downtown projects, leveraging $168 million in private money, and realized an increase in property values of nearly $110 million through January 2016. “This is one of the best measures of a CRA’s effectiveness,” CRA director Roxanne Manning said via email. “But this single measure does not take into consideration the jobs and other tax revenues that are generated by these projects.” Now in the works, with CRA support, is the $100 million Washington Square project, a hotel-office-entertainment complex that will rise to 19 stories, and a $159 million 2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 13

WASTELAND TRANSFORMED: Landscaping improvements along Gaines Street represent an investment of Community Redevelopment Agency dollars.

mixed-use development by North American Properties going in on East Gaines Street. That last project — lamented by some for sacrificing historic structures and oak trees — is projected to infuse more than $350 million into the city economy, including nearly 700 permanent jobs. Large projects like these are necessary early in the life of a CRA to spin off tax takings to finance additional investments. “We are now able to reshape our programs to focus more on community and small-business incentives,” Manning said. Then there’s West Gaines Street, within the Southside zone. “Infrastructure, sidewalks, lighting, underground utilities, different kinds of landscaping amenities — all those palm trees and stuff down the middle of Gaines? That’s CRA money,” Lindley said. “It went from having low use — a lot of dumpy old buildings. All of a sudden, it’s got all this high-end real estate. We’ve seen more than a 100 percent increase in property tax revenues. A portion of that goes back into the Southside-Frenchtown CRA.” Richardson, himself a Southside resident, argued the investment has “done an excellent job.” “Particularly in the Gaines Street area,” he said. “That strip was a wasteland at one point. If you look at it now, a lot of that development was spurred by CRA investments in road improvements, water and wastewater, drainage improvements and sidewalks. Private sector investment in that area probably would not have occurred without that initial public investment through the CRA.” 14 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

One of Richardson’s first acts after joining the commission in 2014 — following service on the Leon County School Board and as a legislator — was to press for expansion of the Southside zone to include more of the Bond community and South City. “It took four years to accomplish that. But eventually, partly spurred by the success we achieved with the Downtown CRA and the Gaines Street area and also by this CRA investigation, we have turned our attention almost exclusively to the Frenchtown and Southside communities,” he said. In fact, the County Commission withdrew from the downtown CRA in August — which, in any event, is scheduled to sunset in 2030. However, the county remains committed to the Southside-Frenchtown district, agreeing to extend its life for eight years. Southside projects have included business improvement grants to Proof Brewing, in Railroad Square ($50,000), and Earley’s Kitchen ($29,000) in the South MonroeAdams corridor, among many others. In Frenchtown, the CRAs invested nearly $360,000 to redevelop the old Round Holiday Inn into the Four Points by Sheraton, and nearly $400,000 to buy a property on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to house the farmer’s market, to name two examples. The agencies have plowed more than $100,000 into facade improvements in Frenchtown and Southside. These investments can pit one neighborhood against another and raise gentrification scares, according to Lindley. “That makes it messy. And then people say, ‘We need it in the general fund. Why are you so concerned about that downtown? Downtown’s doing just fine.’ “Well, that’s true — it is now doing just fine. Partly because of the CRA. But most people don’t have this history, and they don’t look back on it like that. They just think, ‘There the politicians go again, giving money to their favorite people.’ It’s really easy to write it off as money grabs, self-dealing — that most taxpayers aren’t benefiting.” Then there are the purely private investments spurred by the public commitments. For example, The Standard — a luxury student apartment complex on Virginia Street — relied entirely on private money, Richardson said. He feels officials can mitigate any drift toward displacement of longtime residents. He pointed to the redevelopment of the outdated Orange Avenue Apartments, which promises to “transform the Southside of Tallahassee.” The multi-year project will see the existing

structures torn down and replaced by a mixedincome, walkable neighborhood. “Not putting all low-income people together in one area, but that it will be seniorcitizen housing and low-income housing, but also market rate housing,” Richardson said. Officials are working on a redevelopment plan for Bond right now. “So many of those neighborhoods don’t even have sidewalks or adequate lighting. Those are the kinds of issues we’ll be developing,” Richardson said. “Without the CRA, we would address those issues, but it would take much longer. Because we would have to build up our funding for those projects. Where we can get it done in five or 10 years now, it could be 40 or 50 years if we had to identify and complete those projects on a priority basis.” Maddox,who served on the City Commission from 1993 to 2003, was the city’s first elected mayor and returned to the commission in 2012, was an early supporter of the CRA but laments what he called “mission creep” — especially contributions to community festivals and other cultural projects. “I support infrastructure improvements with the CRA. I don’t support festivals, I don’t support interior renovations. I support facade grants, exterior and infrastructure, and with rare exception that’s all I’ve voted for,” Maddox said. “When the CRA spends $200,000 on interior renovations for a Piggly Wiggly, it is not unforeseeable that a Winn-Dixie that’s a block-and-a-half away goes out of business six months later.” (Which happened to Winn-Dixie’s Southside store last summer.) As for the future, Maddox suggested West Tennessee Street could benefit by the same traffic-calming features installed on Gaines Street — fewer traffic lanes with a median, bike paths, angle parking, pedestrian crossing signals, store fronts directly against the sidewalk. “We could make infrastructure improvements there that would be significant. That’s a gateway into our city. It’s equidistant between the downtown area and Florida State University. There’s a lot of potential to it,” he said. It might even help resurrect the Frenchtown of old — with jazz clubs, shops and homes all within walking distance. “Gentrification started a long time ago, and yes, it is a problem,” Maddox said. “That’s part of what the CRA does — the new urbanism of allowing people to live and work by making smart decisions.”

PHOTO BY MATT BURKE

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REAL ESTATE MARKET

Canopy, a Premier Fine Homes development, is designed to help meet a spiking demand for homes that middle-income earners can afford.

DEMAND, YES, BUT SUPPLY?

Housing market has some catching up to do

xperts characterize Tallahassee’s real estate market as challenging and warn it will take creative thinking to meet residents’ future housing needs. Florida’s capital city has experienced phenomenal growth over the last three decades. And given its beautiful live oakflanked canopy roads, universities, an internationally renowned magnetic lab and its status as a center of government, that growth is likely to continue. The real estate market is not keeping pace with the demand for affordable housing, however, and that is a trend that also will likely continue. Bill Wilson, president of Graceful Solutions, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing, said when people think of affordable housing, they often think of the very poor, unemployed or indigent. But there is a another group of people in need of “affordable housing” who are fully employed and making decent incomes. “A single adult in Leon County must earn $20,700 per year to cover the basic costs of living — housing, food, transportation, health care,” Wilson said. “For a family of two adults, one infant and a preschooler, the basic cost of living jumps to $52,250 a year. Forty-one percent of our neighbors — even those working full time or working multiple jobs — don’t earn enough to cover their basic needs.” Many Tallahasseeans are public employees.

While some local real estate experts believe home values could double in less than 10 years, there is no expectation that their wages will double in that same time. Jason Ghazvini, vice president of Premier Fine Homes, explained that the typical state worker or university employee is usually looking for a home in the $250,000-to-low $400,000s price range. “To build that type of home, you need a homesite or lot as a starting point that matches that price point,” Ghazvini explained. “Because there is so much demand to be in the northeast and other desirable parts of Tallahassee, the cost of those lots has gone up. As a builder, I have less supply, so I must pay a higher price for that lot which then means that I need to build a more expensive house on it. When that happens, I price myself out of the majority of Tallahassee’s market.” Wilson said construction costs run about $150 per square foot in Tallahassee, plus the land. “You’re over $200,000 before you even get started,” Wilson said. The high cost of building is due in part because a limited number of tradespeople and subcontractors are competing against each other for jobs, according to Wilson and Ghazvini. After the housing bubble burst around 2009, many tradespeople and subcontractors found themselves without work and moved on to other types of employment. Those who survived now find

themselves with as much work as they can handle, without much competition. That means they are very selective and set the price they are paid, again raising the cost of building a home. Tallahassee’s notoriously difficult permitting process and regulations add to costs as well. With costs so high, building homes below $400,000 is a challenge and supply is low. Joe Manausa, owner of Joe Manausa Real Estate, speaking at the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce annual conference late last summer, pointed out that “currently, there are just under four months of supply of homes for sale in Tallahassee across all areas and price ranges (except for luxury homes).” Ideally there is six months’ supply. “This means there is far too little supply of homes to meet the current rate of demand. And demand is rising,” Manausa said. According to Manausa, new home sales represent only 8 percent of all homes sold in Tallahassee — a 28-year low. “When the supply of homes for sale is low and yet demand is rising, it is a call to homebuilders to bring more homes to the market at a faster rate. Unfortunately, this is not occurring in Tallahassee,” Manausa said. The threat of increasing interest rates only adds more pressure to act quickly. Ghazvini’s Premier Fine Homes attempted to meet this need with the development of Canopy, the largest planned development in

“FORTY-ONE PERCENT OF OUR NEIGHBORS — EVEN THOSE WORKING FULL-TIME OR WORKING MULTIPLE JOBS — BILL WILSON DON’T EARN ENOUGH TO COVER THEIR BASIC NEEDS.” President of Graceful Solutions 16 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

BY KAREN MURPHY

Tallahassee since SouthWood 35 years ago. Canopy, with 850 planned homes, is Premier’s single largest residential project to date. The 505-acre development, located at the old Welaunee Plantation east of Fleischmann Road between Centerville and Miccosukee roads, features homes priced $250,000 and up. Ghazvini said the development includes apartments, an assisted living facility, an upscale clubhouse, trails and other recreational amenities, all within close proximity to restaurants, coffee shops and other lifestyle demands of its residents. Premier’s other new home communities include Woodland Place, east of Capital Circle, just off Apalachee Parkway; Ox Bottom Crest, off of Ox Bottom Road; and SouthWood, off Orange Avenue. Justin Ghazvini said a trend emerging in Tallahassee is smaller lots, around a third of an acre, in exchange for affordability and lifestyle-driven amenities. “Yes, ideally, some homebuyers would like larger lots, but today, cost is the biggest consideration,” he said. He said buyers in Tallahassee want openconcept living with spaces that can serve multiple functions.

“People want their kids to sit at the kitchen island and do homework while mom or dad makes dinner,” he said. He said, additionally, buyers want big master bedrooms and baths. He also said tongue-and-groove ceilings and shiplap are in demand in higher-end homes, as well as areas for backyard living, complete with firepits, pools and fountains. Many homebuyers seeking larger lots are foregoing new construction in favor of renovating older homes, particularly in the northwest part of Tallahassee, near Lake Jackson. According to the Tallahassee Builders Association, the biggest recent increase in home sales volume occurred in the northwest. A total of 409 homes sold during 2017 versus 367 the year before.The average sales price also increased, with the average home price increasing to $173,892 from $157, 563 the previous year. The largest increase in the average sales price occurred in the southeast, growing from $213,500 to $243,250, while the number of homes sold remained about the same year over year. It was a similar situation in the southwest, where the number of homes sold remained constant but the average sales price increased to $108,425 from $95,703 the year before. The northeast, long the darling of

Tallahassee’s real estate market, moved more homes than the other three areas combined. The area saw the average sales price rise from $293,562 to $302,907. Each section of Tallahassee saw a reduction in the inventory of existing homes, except for the northeast, which had roughly 2 percent more homes active than the year before. The northwest inventory was down 9 percent; the southwest, 6 percent and the southeast, 3 percent. Excluding luxury homes selling for more than $1 million, the average time on the market for listed homes in all areas of Tallahassee was 64 days. According to Manausa, “Demand is not strong throughout all price ranges. Considering there are 33 months of supply of million-dollar homes, nearly three years’ worth, this is an extreme buyers’ market.” He said sellers of luxury homes received an average of 75 percent of their asking price after an average of two years on the market. Deep-pocketed homebuyers are in short supply and so, too, are homes that the average Tallahassean can afford. “It’s a challenge,” said Wilson, especially given a future that is coming quickly.

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We champion the manufactured housing community

American Commerce Bank lenders Jeff Bush and Justin Wimberly at SECO 2018. ACB retired CEO Larry Mathews served as emcee for the event.

Local banks succeed as their communities succeed. American Commerce Bank (ACB) makes it a priority to champion community development efforts as well as the needs of our business banking customers. Playing a vital role in SECO

As Gold Sponsor for this year’s Southeast Community Owner’s Conference (SECO), the bank played a leading role in the event. “SECO is a non-profit that brings together manufacturers, lenders, insurers and other industry representatives to advance the cause of affordable and attractive manufactured housing and related housing communities,” said Johnny Jones, ACB’s Tallahassee Market President. “ Our bank serves as a premier lender to investors-owners and we are proud to partner with this vital community.”

One bank goes out of their way to get to know you and help you prosper in Tallahassee: ACB.

One city. One bank. “We pride ourselves in knowing our customers by name and in meeting the needs of businesses and their employees,” says Lena Miller, ACB’s Tallahassee Office Manager. “We’re all about bringing big banking products down to the community bank level. With today’s technology, it’s the best way to deliver industry-leading solutions to support the growth and success of our communities. So no matter where you live in Tallahassee, ACB is your ideal community bank.”

“Our bank serves as a premier lender to investors-owners and we are proud to partner with this vital community.” Johnny Jones, Tallahassee Market President, ACB

Communities everywhere want a better banking experience and ACB delivers.

People banking with people

We are a Community of One American Commerce Bank is redefining the banking “community.” We are a local bank (Tallahassee, Atlanta & Bremen, GA) offering a rare combination of knowledgeable tellers, savvy lenders and sophisticated on-line banking for both commercial and personal customers.

For more information about American Commerce Bank, stop by the office located at 536 North Monroe Street, or visit www.AmericanCommerceBank.com.

18 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

America is made up of small communities. Together we are

a community of one We’re in the business of helping our community to prosper. Think all banks are the same? Stop by our Tallahassee office and visit Johnny Jones (if you don’t know him already). Johnny will show you how we deliver big bank services at a community bank level. We get to know our customers so we can support your individual needs. It’s people banking with people. Together we are A Community Of One.

People banking with people 536 North Monroe Street • Tallahassee, FL 32301 • 850.681.7761 www.americancommercebank.com 2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 19

CISSY PROCTOR

FROM THE RED HILLS TO THE KEYS Tallahassee’s Cissy Proctor looks after state’s economic welfare

hat are the hottest jobs in Florida? Is your firm looking for skilled employees? Does your community need better infrastructure? How do you protect your business in a disaster? What do you do if you’re laid off ? These are just some of the disparate issues, and there are a bunch of others, that come under the purview of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity in Tallahassee. “When I came into this office, I realized there were still a lot of people who didn’t know what we did as an agency,” said Cissy Proctor, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott as DEO’s executive director in 2016. “I spent a lot of time over the last two-and-ahalf years making sure that I’m present in the communities, making sure they understand what we do and then making connections.” That’s why, on any given week, you might find Proctor meeting with community representatives, business owners and educators anywhere from Tallahassee to the Keys. “We’re taking the state to them,” said Proctor, who grew up in Tallahassee and is a graduate of Florida State University’s College of Law. “We’re listening to what their needs are, understanding the characteristics of those communities. “How do they want to grow, what do they want their economic development to look like in five years, 10 years and is there any part that we can play in that?” Proctor started playing a part in DEO in 2013 as the deputy director of legislative affairs. She moved up quickly. After six months, she became director of strategic business development, and in January 2015, she was named chief of staff. A year later, she was running the department. Proctor sees her role as a “spokesperson” who also seeks information and shares opportunities. It’s a tall order in a state of more than 20 million people. About 800 people move to Florida each day, she said. The DEO was created as a new state agency in 2011 “as one of the initiatives to make sure we rebuilt after the recession,” she said. The department was also an effort to

streamline services, merging three former agencies: the former Division of Community Affairs, the Agency for Workforce Innovation and the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, Proctor said, while still “strengthening ties between economic, community and workforce programs.” The DEO promotes public-private networks and partners with agencies such as Visit Florida, Enterprise Florida, CareerSource Florida, the Florida Ports Council and Space Florida. While it’s not all about “jobs, jobs, jobs,” that’s certainly a key component in DEO’s role. According to figures released by the department in August, Florida’s unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, unchanged from the July 2018 rate, and down three-tenths of a percentage point from a year ago. The rate was just below the national figure of 3.9 percent. Florida ranked third among states during the past year in overall job creation, trailing only Texas and California. Some other highlights of the DEO’s August report: ■ 375,000 Floridians were considered out of work from a workforce of $10.2 million. ■ The state gained 220,200 jobs over the year, an increase of 2.6 percent. ■ Leisure and hospitality was the industry gaining the most jobs: an additional 54,600 or 4.5 percent. ■ Other industries gaining jobs over the year: construction (up 7.7 percent); education and health services (up 2.3 percent); professional and business services (up 2.1 percent); trade, transportation, and utilities (up 1.3 percent); financial activities (up 3.5 percent); manufacturing (up 4.0 percent) and government (up 0.2 percent) ■ The one field losing jobs was information (down 0.3 percent), which includes jobs in telecommunications, publishing industries “except the internet,” data processing and broadcasting. “The creation of more than 1.6 million new private-sector jobs is not an accident,” Proctor said when announcing the report’s

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BY ROCHELLE KOFF

results. “Florida businesses are confident in our business-friendly environment and talented workforce.” The figures help educators and students look at where the jobs are. Other data looks at workforce needs for the future. Enterprise Florida compiles reports on what industries the state wants to attract or expand. The list is updated every three years, with the next report to be released in 2020. The current list of top targeted industries includes: ■ More corporate headquarters ■ Manufacturing, including aircraft and energy equipment manufacturing ■ Research and Development ■ Global logistics There’s a reason why bringing corporate headquarters is so vital to the state, Proctor said. “There’s a multiplier effect. If you bring a headquarters, folks that move here or are hired are going to go to the Publix down the street, go to the dry cleaner, send the kids to school, get their tires rotated. These are the impacts that really mushroom out from a company’s location.” Also touted on the list are the fields of pharmaceuticals, homeland security and defense, aerospace, diagnostic testing and financial services. ■ Among emerging technologies: ■ Cloud IT ■ Marine Sciences ■ Materials Science ■ Nanotechnology The DEO aims to “help businesses that want to grow in the state, and how they do that,” said Proctor. To help spur job growth, the DEO is working on collaborative efforts with local communities, often involving infrastructure needs. “Across the state we’re seeing cities and counties come together to look at economic development and growth with a regional approach,” she said. “Think about the I-10 corridor and the recognition that there is so much potential for growth there. But if

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

Cissy Proctor shared Florida job growth numbers and other economic indicators at the 2017 Gulf Power Economic Symposium, held at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.

a company isn’t looking at that potential growth at all, or not looking at the I-10 corridor at all, they’re never going to think about just Tallahassee or just Gadsden County, so there’s a lot of focus there.” One recent boost for communities is the fairly new Florida Job Growth Grant Fund. In its first year, launched in 2017, the program received $85 million to cover needs like public infrastructure — roadway, sewer and water improvements, said Proctor. The grant also provides money for workforce training. Pensacola College, for one, received $1.9 million for programs to enhance skills that are in demand, including advanced manufacturing, aviation maintenance, welding, cybersecurity/information technology, nursing, transportation and construction trades. Another $85 million has been allocated for 2018-2019. Disaster preparation and recovery is another role for DEO, and it’s among the most challenging, said Proctor. “We have a big role before the storm hits, while it’s hitting and after it’s over.” Since Hurricane Michael, Proctor and other DEO representatives have traveled to impacted areas to survey damage and connect residents and business owners with assistance they need to rebuild their lives.

Within a week of landfall, the agency worked with the Florida SBDC to provide the first Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan. The program provides short-term, interest-free loans to affected businesses. Eligibility changes to the program now allow for small business owners with fewer than two employees located in any of Florida’s 35 counties impacted by Hurricane Michael to qualify. As of Nov. 1, more than 60 businesses had been approved for more than $1.8 million in loans. The agency is also administering the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program for Florida businesses and residents whose employment or self-employment was lost or interrupted as a result of Hurricane Michael. There were 11 Business Recovery Centers open throughout the impacted areas as of early November. Locations can be found at FloridaDisaster.biz or FloridaSBDC.org. The agency has multiple programs to help Florida businesses and residents recover after a storm. They may visit FloridaJobs.org for more information about disaster recovery efforts as a result of Hurricane Michael. Even before the devastating storm, one long-term challenge has been trying to help communities that have yet to emerge from economic hardships since the recession. Florida has identified a dozen counties hard-

hit by a wide range of problems: Calhoun, Gadsden, Taylor, Citrus, Hernando, Marion, Putnam, Sumter, Glades, Hendry, Highlands and Indian River counties. Applications are being accepted for DEO’s Rebuild Florida program, launched in late September, to rehabilitate or replace single family and rental housing for lowand moderate-income families impacted by Hurricane Irma as part of a $616 million block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We know that many families across the state are still struggling, even one year after Hurricane Irma,” said Proctor. “This is money that comes in at least a year after a storm or disaster to help folks who continue to have unmet needs,” she said. “Maybe insurance didn’t fix your house fully or you got government assistance but it didn’t make you whole. We’re starting with homes in the hardest-hit communities, like the Keys.” To find out more about Rebuild Florida, go online to RebuildFlorida.gov or FloridaJobs.org. It’s the kind of challenge that keeps Proctor on the road. “One way for me to understand, and for the agency to understand, and to help them as much as we can,” she said, ”is to be there and be present.” 2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 21

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THE CURRENT AGENCY

WATTS UP

The Current Agency runs on ideas BY PETE REINWALD

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

he Current Agency, which calls itself a one-stop digital and creative marketing company, boasts 6,600 square feet of work, play and mostly emptiness in the name of collaboration and chic. You’re an employee, and you want to relax a little? Have a seat on the sofa. Want to unwind? Play a little basketball in an adjoining events space. Want to regenerate? Take your work to a table outside. “I may be a little biased,” company founder and chief executive Chirag Shah said, “but I think we have one of the coolest offices in town. Not everybody can stay that they have a bar or a basketball court in their space.” The former thrift store east of Capital Circle on Apalachee Parkway has become a playground — better yet, a proving ground — of sorts for Shah, a 2012 Floirida State University graduate, who majored in marketing. Shah, 29, said his parents had urged him to take over the family hotel business in Marianna, where he attended high school. He said his parents came to the U.S. from India with little education and little money, but they succeeded in building businesses throughout the Panhandle. Shah said he told his parents: “If you can do that with so little, why can’t I do better?” He thinks he’s on his way. The Current Agency, which got its start in early 2014 as CPS23 Marketing, in early August sported four full-time employees and about 20 clients, Shah said. Among its clients are Capital City Music Therapy and Who We Play For, a nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate preventable sudden cardiac death in young people. Current says it works to, among other things, increase clients’ traffic and promote their brands through services in design, photography, video, social media and public relations.

Chirag Shah, owner of The Current Agency — where what’s past is last — was joined by intern Jessica Sizemore, at left, and creative director Savannah Swindle at their offices on Apalachee Parkway.

Shah launched CPS23 Marketing more than four years ago after an internship with Tallahassee’s Next Level Baseball, which provides experienced instruction for young players. As his internship ended, he said, he told Next Level founder Ryan Robinson that he was starting his own business. “And as I was walking out, he said, ‘Chirag, wait. Can I be your first client?’ ” Shah said. True story, Robinson said.

“He did incredible work, and he was very reliable and very dependable,” Robinson said of Shah’s internship. “Everything he did, he did better than what I expected. He built us a great website. He had great marketing ideas and implemented those.” Focusing his business on websites and social media, Shah reconnected with friend Savannah Swindle, who had attended Holmes County High School in Bonifay, not

“FOR A LIGHT BULB TO TURN ON, YOU NEED A CURRENT, AND CURRENT ALSO MEANS RIGHT NOW. CURRENT NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE; CURRENT IS ALWAYS NEW.”

CHIRAG SHAH Founder and CEO

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far from Marianna. She at the time attended the Savannah College of Art and Design. Swindle said she suggested that the company offer a creative-design component and agreed to help build the company without pay, as startup workers often do in such “bootstrap” situations. “He managed the digital side, I was on the creative side, and that’s still how we operate today,” said Swindle, 25, the company’s creative director. “That’s how we came together and started this — and had a lot of people doubt us.” They went from working out of their homes to working in coffee shops before they landed in a 1,200-square-foot space off Capital Circle Northeast. Yet they wondered about their name. They found that clients were having trouble keeping track of three letters — Shah’s initials — and two numbers. So they turned to the light bulb image that they had used in their marketing and settled last year on The Current Agency. “For a light bulb to turn on, you need a current, and current also means right now,” Shah said. “Current never goes out of style; current is always new.”

At The Current Agency, that theme burns brightly. Its new light bulb logo beams above its new building entrance. Its website asks potential clients: “Can we turn you on?” And when drained employees head to the hoop, they get a charge not from a game of H-O-RS-E, but W-A-T-T. “And whoever wins, we run with that employee’s idea,” Shah said. Current’s new building Offices at The Current Agency are designed to promote the free flow features a 3,800-squareof ideas. Even a giant purple octopus is not out of place. foot events space that the company calls “The Watt reduction. Some studies and reports suggest Factory,” which includes the basketball that because of noise, distractions and lack hoop and an area for rest, collaboration and of privacy, they promote the opposite effects additional play. Shah said he envisioned it as and that they’re on their way out. a spot for yoga, workouts and music therapy, Not so here, The Current Agency insists. even company retreats. “It’s definitely a collaborative environment The Current Agency thereby follows because it’s so open and we can work Silicon Valley, where open workspaces wherever we feel comfortable,” said graphic became a hit several years ago and designer Jessica Sizemore. spread nationwide for their promise of That goes for playing, too. communication, teamwork and stress-

Bu sin ess In surance Spe cialists: Will Croley, A n g ie He a r l , M a r y Ka th a r in e (C ro l ey) Law l e r, Do u g C ro l ey

We Focus on Your Insurance So You Can Focus on Your Business 2814 Remington Green Circle, Tallahassee, FL • 850-386-1922 • www.dougcroleyins.com 24 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

THE CURRENT AGENCY

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FSU ARENA DISTRICT

THE ARENA DISTRICT An evolving vision begins to take shape BY ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

lorida State University is narrowing the gap between “town and gown” with a planned eastward expansion of the main campus it has dubbed the Arena District. The approximately 30-acre site is anchored by the existing Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, which the university purchased in 2012. It has since invested $25 million in arena and meeting spaces improvements there. Plans are now on the drawing board to build a massive new College of Business and a convention hotel and conference center. The idea of this campus expansion was first expressed by former FSU president Eric Barron, who envisioned a district he dubbed The Madison Mile. “If you look at a map, midcourt at the Tucker Center to midfield at Doak Campbell is roughly a mile and the road that connects the two is Madison Street,” said Kevin Graham, executive director of the FSU Real Estate Foundation. Much of that stretch of road has been filled in with CollegeTown eateries and shops and newly constructed student apartments, and the vision has since evolved. “As our planning efforts matured, we started to focus more specifically on the land immediately surrounding the civic center site, itself,” he said. The university also acquired other smaller contiguous properties, including a fiveacre site across the street due south of the Tucker Center that will be home to the first new construction in the Arena District, the relocated College of Business, which has been named Legacy Hall. Situated on a sloping lot that will front a revitalized Gaines Street, the prominent location, planners foresee, will become a

new “front door” gateway to FSU. With a large, first-floor lobby and atrium area that includes eateries and retail, they are hoping to attract members of the community as well as students and faculty. The five-story, 218,392-square-foot structure is estimated to cost $88 million, including the building, technology and furnishings. Tallahassee-based Culpepper Construction Co. will team with Boston architects Goody Glancy to build Legacy Hall. Assuming funding for the building is finalized, groundbreaking is set for the second half of 2019, followed by 22 to 24 months of construction. The new building is expected to open in fall 2021. FSU has one of the smallest footprints in the state’s university system, with a main campus covering just 489 acres. (Other Tallahassee facilities, including the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, a golf course, swimming complex, intramural fields and a radio/ television station are located on 850 detached acres about three miles to the southwest.) Macomb Street is commonly understood as the easternmost boundary of campus. Developing the Arena District and giving an identity to the area that incorporates FSU’s Law School, College of Business, and Tucker Center formally expands FSU’s presence into downtown Tallahassee as well as its Gaines Street and All Saints neighborhoods. Preliminary plans show foot traffic patterns and amenities that will physically connect the Arena District with the campus. The more ambitious — and less finalized — plan for the district is construction of a hotel/ convention center complex on land currently used as a parking lot for the civic center. The Florida Society of Association

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Executives (FSAE) has 1,100 members and just under half of them are based in Tallahassee because it is the state capital. Civic leaders and association executives have complained for decades there isn’t a large enough space with a connected hotel to accommodate annual and regional meetings that might attract 750 to 1,000 attendees. “By bringing in a convention center and programming it with the other spaces that are available (and) bringing the utility of a convention hotel, we have an opportunity as a community to build this platform for economic growth,” Graham said. The Tallahassee/Leon County Office of Economic Vitality has agreed to contribute $20 million in sales tax revenue to the construction of a portion of the convention center. “I call it the ‘Magnolia Room,’ ” quipped Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley. “The $20 million that the voters agreed to … is where you have breakfast and lunch and workshops.” FSU planners are aware a building blitz

RENDERING COURTESY OF DESIGN DISTILL AND SASAKI ASSOCIATES LLC

FUTURESCAPE: Planners are confident that an eastward expansion of the FSU campus will come to encompass a new College of Business and a hotel and conference center, as envisioned by this rendering.

currently going on in Tallahassee will add considerably to the area’s available hotel rooms and meeting spaces. “Since the original vision for the Madison Mile, several things have changed in our marketplace,” Graham explained. “The Boosters have created the Champion’s Club at the stadium. There’s meeting space there. NAP is developing their project at Cascades. There’s meeting space in that facility. Washington Square is being developed. There’s meeting space in that facility. FSU is building the new student union, which will have a banquet hall with the capacity to seat somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500.” On the front burner are studies to determine exactly how the new hotel — which has been envisioned as having between 250 and 300 rooms — and the meeting spaces should be configured. “Over the next six to 12 months, we will be completing the market feasibility analyses that will inform what we need to build,” said Graham. “Once we understand what,

the next phase would be to start to plan and design the structures themselves.” If groundbreaking happens as anticipated in 2020, he said the complex should be completed sometime in 2022. But, he said, the idea of a connected hotel and meeting space is a valid one. “A convention center and a convention hotel should be designed together and constructed together. They’re symbiotic — they feed off of each other,” Graham said. Even if successful, Graham concedes that, like other convention centers, this one will probably need some sort of subsidy to

operate. “While a convention center brings an economic platform and the community benefits from that type of operation, the structure itself is expensive to operate,” he said. To the extent that there are annual operational shortfalls, “We’ll need to engage in a conversation with the city and county to understand how we share in the subsidy.” With empty spaces here and there to fill in the Arena District, plans are being offered for such things as expanding the Basketball Center or adding a restaurant, but nothing has been finalized. “Things will evolve over time,” Graham said.

“A CONVENTION CENTER AND A CONVENTION HOTEL SHOULD BE DESIGNED TOGETHER AND CONSTRUCTED TOGETHER. THEY’RE SYMBIOTIC — THEY FEED OFF OF EACH OTHER.”

KEVIN GRAHAM Executive Director, FSU Real Estate Foundation

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Congratulations to Kelly S. Dozier and Paula S. Fortunas for receiving

2018 PINNACLE AWARDS. Thank you for tirelessly supporting the health of our community.

Kelly Dozier

Paula Fortunas

TMH Board Member

TMH Foundation President (retired)

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THE GATEWAY PROJECT

A PRODUCT OF COMPROMISE Neighborhood concerns addressed as gateway project advances

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OEV AND BLUEPRINT

lans to create a more scenic drive from Tallahassee International Airport to downtown have shifted toward Florida State University’s southwest campus, with FSU increasing its financial commitment to the project and local officials confident they found a solution that will spur economic development in the southwest quadrant of the city while easing neighborhood residents’ safety concerns. “There were compromises that brought everything along, which is how we were able to come to agreement,” said City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, who lives on the south side and serves as current chair of the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board. “There were neighborhood concerns about an increase in traffic along South Lake Bradford Road, especially with no sidewalks there, and that is being addressed.” Tallahassee city commissioners and Leon County commissioners, meeting jointly in March 2018 as the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board, voted unanimously to amend the Airport Gateway

Plan to include two routes from Capital Circle Southwest to downtown: The Springhill Road gateway to North Lake Bradford Road and Gaines Street; and the South Lake Bradford Road route, now called the “complementary route,” which will connect to the new road through FSU via Orange Avenue. The new, and as-yet unnamed, road will connect to the recently completed FAMU Way Extension via Roberts and Stuckey avenues, near where Gamble Street meets North Lake Bradford Road. Once on FAMU Way Extension, it’s a direct line to Railroad Avenue near downtown. The Blueprint board in June 2018 approved issuing up to $100 million in bonds to fasttrack several projects, including the Airport Gateway and infrastructure improvements along Bannerman Road. Otherwise, work would proceed as the annual revenues were collected from the special 1 percent sales tax voters authorized in the Blueprint 2020 referendum held in 2014. “This represents a big infusion of dollars, support and planning for the south side and southwest,” County Commissioner Kristin

BY AUDREY POST

Dozier said. “From parks to utilities to stormwater management, all of that has an economic impact.” The Gateway Plan pulls together seven segments of road improvements, but two are state road projects funded by the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency: the widening to four lanes of Orange Avenue west of South Adams Street and the widening to six lanes of Capital Circle Southwest between Crawfordville Road and Orange Avenue. The remaining section of Capital Circle includes the airport.

The FAMU Way Extension (above and top), recently completed, will form a link in a gateway project running from Tallahassee’s airport to downtown.

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THE GATEWAY PROJECT

The Gateway will be designed as a cohesive infrastructure project, but the work done in each segment will specifically address uses and needs there. For example, South Lake Bradford will be widened and landscaped to accommodate heavier traffic, and sidewalks and bicycle lanes are planned to improve safety. North Lake Bradford, closer to Doak Campbell Stadium and FSU’s main campus, is already four lanes but needs enhancements in streetscaping, landscaping and lighting. Richardson thinks Springhill Road will eventually be widened to four lanes from Capital Circle Southwest to Orange Avenue, where the current four-lane segment ends. He’s particularly pleased that sidewalks will be added along Orange Avenue. “Children walking from Liberty Park to Nims Middle School have to walk on the bike path once they cross North Lake Bradford Road, and they are in danger,” he said. “These are the neighborhood concerns that are being addressed. These areas have lagged behind, but the southwest quadrant is finally getting attention.” Blueprint’s 2019 budget, approved in September 2018, includes $1 million to

start the design process, with construction beginning within two years once the design phase is completed, likely in 2023. County Commissioner Dozier said preliminary engineering and community engagement is expected to start with the Stuckey and Levy segments and the new road through FSU. “Things are certainly moving, but we are several years away,” she said. Among the community engagement aspects that must be explored: protecting the area’s lakes and watershed, as land-use codes in recent years have changed; dealing with anticipated increases in traffic; and providing affordable housing in an area where property values are expected to increase because of the Gateway improvements. “It’s a delicate balance,” Dozier said. “I’m hoping we can mitigate some of these issues.” FSU is donating the land for the new road, as well as $3 million toward the Gateway project. Although the city will be responsible for maintaining the roadway, FSU will maintain the landscaping around it. “Southwest Tallahassee should be the focus of development in Leon County,” said Kevin Graham, executive director of FSU’s

Real Estate Foundation. “The Rez, the new golf course, the College of Engineering, the private sector that has harnessed the power of magnet technology, it’s all tied to economic development, and it’s significant.” The new golf course is a Jack Nicklaus Legacy Design, the first in North America. It is projected to open in fall 2019 and has been described as a championship golf course that will be unlike anything within 250 miles. “We think it’s going to give one more reason to be here, whether for retirement or to take a job,” FSU men’s golf coach Trey Jones said. “It’s going to be one of the top university courses in the country.” Both Jones and Graham see the $6 million golf course project as an asset to Innovation Park’s efforts to recruit tenants and create jobs, as well as FSU’s research programs and partnerships. Once the new road is built, it will provide the main access to the golf course. Until then, Levy Avenue off Lake Bradford Road and Dirac Road will be the connectors. “Once everything is done,” Jones said, “the golf course could be the front door to the university.”

Bu sin ess In surance Spe cialists: Will Croley, A n g ie He a r l , M a r y Ka th a r in e (C ro l ey) Law l e r, Do u g C ro l ey

We Focus on Your Insurance So You Can Focus on Your Business 2814 Remington Green Circle, Tallahassee, FL • 850-386-1922 • www.dougcroleyins.com 30 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

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CAPITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

TO VEGAS AND BACK Alan Keesee returns to Capital Regional Medical Center BY PETE REINWALD

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850: How have things been going at Capital Regional? Keesee: The hospital’s been really striving and growing in the last three years since I left and went to Las Vegas. A lot more of the nursing ranks have been filled, and our nursing turnover has gone down dramatically. In volume, patient care has increased significantly. Like most health care providers in Tallahassee, we experienced one of the highest patient-care demands over (last) winter, with the tremendous flu season, and I’m proud to come back to a thriving, really healthy, organization. 850: Do you plan to do more hiring? Keesee: Absolutely. (The two new emergency departments) will be exciting because that will bring about 65 new jobs to the community, and we’ll be recruiting new board-certified emergency physicians to staff those 24

hours a day. There will be full-service emergency departments, plus imaging, laboratory services, life-saving treatment … and it will really be a service to that northwestern part of town, where on nights and weekends, there is no access to immediate health care, and the same for our Crawfordville neighbors and southern Tallahassee. 850: Do you see Capital Regional becoming, for patients, a growing alternative to Tallahassee Memorial? Keesee: I think it’s a wonderful resource to have multiple health care providers in town, in any town. We’re going to continue to grow the number of physicians we have in the community because we have an aging population, and when you look at the population growth in Tallahassee, the fastest-growing population segment is the 65-and-older segment, and

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAPITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

ive months before he returned to Capital Regional Medical Center in Tallahassee, Alan Keesee found himself at the center of an event that shocked the country. Keesee was the administrator on call at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, the night that a gunman opened fire on a countrymusic concert from the window of a hotel room, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds. Within two hours, more than 200 patients arrived at Sunrise, where Keesee worked as chief operating officer. “That night and since, humanity came out among the physicians, the nurses, the paramedics, the bystanders,” Keesee said. “Everyone worked with the singular focus to save lives.” Keesee in March began his new role as chief executive at Capital Regional, a 266-bed hospital that opened in 1979 near Capital Circle Northeast. The facility employs about 1,200, with plans to grow under parent company HCA. Keesee talked with 850 Magazine about plans for Capital Regional, including construction of two emergency facilities: on North Monroe Street, north of I-10, and on Orange Avenue and Capital Circle Southeast. He said he expected the Orange Avenue facility to open next summer and the North Monroe location to open in November. He talked about leading a hospital that operates in the shadow of much larger Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and about the health care implications of an aging population. He also discussed how that night in Las Vegas motivates him in Tallahassee, where he worked as chief operating officer from 2013 to 2015.

This rendering depicts a medical emergency facility slated for construction on North Monroe Street north of Interstate 10. It is one of two such centers that Capital Regional Medical Center will open in 2019.

“I THINK THE EXPECTATION IS THAT A HOSPITAL IS IN MANY WAYS HERE FOR THE FOLKS WHO ARE AT THE MOST VULNERABLE, LOWEST POINTS IN THEIR LIVES, AND WE HAVE TO BE HERE FOR THEM. THERE IS NO OTHER ORGANIZATION THAT’S OPEN 24 HOURS, 365 DAYS A YEAR.” ALAN KEESEE Chief Executive, Capital Regional

they are the highest utilizers of our health care resources, so we constantly need new physicians to care for patients. We’ve been successful in recruiting two new cardiologists to town. We have a new general surgeon we recruited. We have three new radiologists we recruited, new pathologists and a whole host of other physicians we’ll be focused on. Capital Regional will remain as it has been for the last 40 years, a great resource for the community to seek care from highly qualified physicians.

FAMU, Florida State University. Their nursing-school programs really shine, and we’ve been successful at ensuring that they have access to clinical rotation early in their education. Another thing that we’ve done is we’ve created an advanced-training program post-graduation. Instead of coming straight to the floor, to the patient-care unit, you’re actually giving three months to our StaRN program to train a little more didactically as well as experientially, and that’s been a great resource.

850: Is there any special way that you’re recruiting new physicians and staff? Keesee: From a nursing standpoint, we’ve always enjoyed wonderful partnerships with colleges in town — TCC,

From a physicians’ standpoint, I think they see a growing, wellestablished community, with a lot of need clinically, and we’ve had a lot of success recruiting folks who are from Tallahassee. As one example, Dr. John Dortch was raised in Tallahassee, went to Chiles High

School, went to the University of Florida, got his residency and was at Emory, and we were able to attract him back to Tallahassee to join Capital Regional because that’s where his home is and his heart is, and he’ll be a great general surgeon for the community for many years. So looking regionally at where folks trained and where they’re from is a significant indicator of their longevity in town. 850: What about plans for marketing and advertising? Keesee: We did just procure a new orthopedic robotics system. We’re going to be launching that, and we’ll be the only provider in town with this advanced technology. There’s a new surgeon joining Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic who has trained on this device pretty

much exclusively in residency and fellowship, so we’ll be launching some education in the community, some community awareness, around what it means to have robotic orthopedic surgery, which allows greater precision, faster recovery. 850: How do you carry what you learned from the Las Vegas shooting to Tallahassee? Keesee: I think the expectation is that a hospital is in many ways here for the folks who are at the most vulnerable, lowest points in their lives, and we have to be here for them, as their ultimate neighbor. There is no other organization that’s open 24 hours, 365 days a year that will be able to heal folks regardless if it it’s a mental issue or physical issue. So I take that very seriously as an administrator.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Ben Pingree, director of Leon County’s Department of PLACE, is bullish on Tallahassee. He cites the city’s quality of life, its schools and universities and its capacity to supply employers with a highly talented workforce.

‘MAGNETIC’ ATTRACTION Capital city morphs world-class research into world-class businesses BY ROSANNE DUNKELBERGER

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

hen Ben Pingree sat down for an interview in 2016 as Leon County’s new director of PLACE — which oversees the newly created Office of Economic Vitality (OEV) — his fourthfloor downtown office overlooked a huge lot that was empty, weedy and unsightly. But he knew there were big plans for that city block and that a huge, 19-story mixeduse project was “going to be rising like a phoenix” and block his view. Today, the view is still there, but dirt is being pushed and foundations are being laid for a $90 million project that will include a Lowe’s hotel, condos and restaurants. It is expected to employ 1,094 people during construction and 703 when completed. Other projects, big and small, are sprouting throughout the community — another apartment/entertainment complex just a few blocks away, a newconcept Greenwise Publix store near the campuses of FSU and FAMU, a modern apartment complex in Frenchtown. The story in many ways parallels Tallahassee’s economic progress and the work of the OEV over its first two years — it takes a while, but when the community’s movers and shakers break out of their silos and work together for the common goal of improving the area’s economic health, big things can happen.

“We are a medium-sized community in a highly competitive field of attracting and retaining jobs, (and) we are at our best and we will be most successful only if we collaborate together,” Pingree said. “I am very proud of how the increase of collaboration has occurred over the past two to five years in this community, and we are just starting now to reap the benefit from that intentional collaboration.” At a recent workshop, the OEV touted its accomplishments with a long list of activities and some hard facts, including 100 business consultations, four leads generated, three expansions and two recruitments, which led to 173 jobs and $18.3 million in capital investment. With a serendipitous convergence of circumstances, the functions of today’s OEV are a complete departure from how economic development was handled in the past. In the early 2000s, economic development was based in the local chamber of commerce and, without a consistent source of funding and years of recession, their efforts were lackluster. The recession put a full stop to expansions and the group ultimately disbanded. In 2014, local voters were being asked to continue the collection of a penny sales tax to fund infrastructure projects. Around the

Why Tallahassee? Short and Sweet. Any economic development agency worth its salt is going to have an elevator pitch — a succinct and persuasive explanation for why a business should locate in their area. Here’s how Ben Pingree, director of Leon County’s Department of PLACE, sells his hometown in 37 seconds: “We have an incredible quality of life. We have an unbelievably talented workforce. We have wonderful schools and housing opportunities. We have an affordable cost of living, are a Top 10 city to raise a family and a highly performing middlesized community. We are truly globally competitive in terms of research — we are unequivocally globally competitive in terms of magnetic research. We are world class. We are the tops. In the past, we have struggled with how to tie that world-class research to world-class businesses being formed with world-class high-paying jobs. For the first time in the history of this community, we actually have staff people and resources coming on right now that will do nothing but, day in and day out, look at that riddle and answer it.”

2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 35

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

same time, the Florida Legislature approved a change allowing that money to be used for economic development. Tallahassee/Leon County took advantage, setting aside 12 percent of the tax revenues for that purpose — to total an estimated $90 million over 20 years. That funding won’t start until 2020 — the city and county will support the OEV until then — but the new department is running full speed ahead, putting programs into place, planning for the future and always trying to make the area attractive to businesses to relocate and grow. One of its most ambitious efforts is to put Tallahassee on the map as the “magnetics capital of the world,” declared Pingree. The city is home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory — MagLab for short — a premier research facility that draws scientists to do research with some of the world’s most powerful magnets. The goal, he said, is to identify the best commercial ideas and “build a business cluster around magnetics.” The department recently hired a staff person specifically tasked with attracting such businesses as well as hiring an economic development consultant specializing in tying research to industry. To aid in these efforts, the OEV joined with other entities to secure funding to construct a proposed 40,000-squarefoot high-tech incubator located near the MagLab. In addition to offices for startups, the plans for the facility include wet labs, a tissue and bioculture room, engineering/ light manufacturing spaces and a lab for prototype development. After just a year in existence, the OEV, in the fall of 2017, spent a frantic two weeks in pulling together a pitch for Tallahassee to be selected as the spot for Amazon to build its “HQ2,” which the company estimates would cost $5 billion and bring 50,000 “highpaying” jobs to the selected city. While the proposal was a “moonshot” and Tallahassee ultimately didn’t make the cut, officials insist the exercise was sincere and not a waste of time.

City and county officials are working to establish Tallahassee, home of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, as the “magnetics capital of the world.”

“The Amazon proposal gave us an excellent opportunity to take a closer and deliberate look at how we respond to project proposals. It also gave us an inside look into what companies like Amazon expect of responding communities,” said Cristina Paredes, who was recently tapped as director of the OEV. “As a result, we have built a solid template to respond to project proposals, which gives a holistic picture of our community that is then integrated with supporting data and site locations — all of which are customized for each project.” Her boss concurs. “I’m proud that we went after ’em,” said Pingree. “And, by the way, we went after ’em to win. While it may not have ultimately yielded substantial enough incentives to generate a win on that company — it was extremely compelling.” When large corporations like Amazon seek to move or establish operations in a new city, they often hire specialized economic development consultants to help them navigate incentives. “We were sending a message to the economic development marketplace — including those firms that do this for a living for megacorporations all around the world

— that we are in the game,” Pingree said. “It forced us to really think through the big ask, regardless of what the company name was — and could we (do it) in quick time.” So much so that, although Amazon didn’t pick Tallahassee, the company’s economic development director called the office to ask for an additional briefing. Not all of the OEV’s efforts are focused on attracting new business. A large part of their efforts include “growing our own,” says Leon County Manager Vince Long. “We know 90-plus percent of businesses that are expanding or creating jobs are doing so where they are. Moving anywhere else is not an option,” he explained. To aid in the endeavor, Long points out an OEV division devoted to encouraging minority- and women-owned businesses as well as a lecture series featuring “top trainers that maybe a small three-, four- or five-employee business could never afford to bring in.” “I think we are in a very good place, gaining a lot of momentum in the community as a true economic development hub,” the county manager continued. “I’m very happy with where we are, and I’m very optimistic about where we’re going.”

FACTS & STATS 292,332

$869

540

4.4 percent

TALLAHASSEE/LEON COUNTY POPULATION (Estimated 2018)

AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE (Q4 2017)

UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS (July 2018)

OFFICE VACANCY RATE (Q2 2018)

4 percent

$405.3 million

700,205

INDUSTRIAL VACANCY RATE (Q2 2018)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (July 2018)

36 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

TAXABLE SALES (April 2018)

TOTAL VISITORS (Q2 FY 2018)

2.4 percent

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

The Office of Economic Vitality prides itself on its comprehensive collection of statistical information. Here are a few numbers. See more numbers by visiting oevforbusiness.org and clicking on “Data Center.”

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TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE

TAKING IT TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL TMH is fulfilling world-class aspirations BY STEVE BORNHOFT

or Mark O’Bryant, the president and CEO of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, these are “pinch yourself ” times. The hospital is about to achieve a vision and live a dream. With the addition of the M.T. Mustian Center, scheduled to receive its first patients in May, TMH will become one of but a few quaternary-level hospitals in the region and can expect to attract patients from throughout the Southeast, given the highly specialized care that it will provide. Recently, O’Bryant and 850 editor Steve Bornhoft met in a Q&A session.

850: How so? O’Bryant: The Mustian Center will open a lot of doors for us in terms of what we are able to do. This is a state-of-the-art building. The operating rooms will be as nice and as advanced as any you will find in any major city. We are building the center, intending that it be a 50-year building. The most expensive spaces to build in a hospital are the ORs and the intensive care units. We wanted to build a facility that will accommodate not only growth, but also new technologies for a half-century. To do that, we engaged architects and subjectmatter experts and we looked at Shands, UAB, Emory and other facilities around the South, gathering ideas. And we looked at emerging technologies to determine what will be going into our new ORs. The smallest OR in the Mustian Center will be larger than the biggest one we have currently. The largest will exceed 1,000 square feet.

850: Speak to ICUs. O’Bryant: With our ICUs, we looked at flows, and we developed an internal corridor that will take activity away from the patient rooms and create a more quiet environment for our patients and their family members. That’s a very unusual design that you are not going to find hardly anywhere else. We actually brought in patient and family advisors and advocates as part of the design process. They helped ensure that we were not just accommodating staff with our plans, but that we were making rooms familyfriendly, as well. We are building 72 new ICU beds for our most critically ill patients, and that’s a huge number. 850: How will the arrival of the Mustian Center affect TMH’s reputation and its service area? O’Bryant: As we grow and expand, our role is changing. We are becoming what is called a quaternary center. We have always been a high-end, safety net hospital, a tertiary provider, but quarternary is the highest level of care. The most obvious examples are the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo clinics, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins. In Florida, Shands would be a quaternary center along with Tampa General and Jacksonville Memorial. The services that we will provide in that quarternary phase won’t just bring us patients for a 50- or 80-mile radius of Tallahassee. Our circle of

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influence will now extend hundreds of miles into Georgia, Alabama and even Mississippi. We are recruiting new specialists, including a very highly trained functional neurosurgeon, who would address movement disorders including Parkinson’s disease and employ procedures that reduce and eliminate tremors. We wouldn’t stand a chance with him if it weren’t for the Mustian Center. 850: After the Mustian Center comes online, how will the existing hospital be affected? O’Bryant: As we move patients and services into the Mustian Center, we are going to be using the space that will be created at today’s hospital to improve our endoscopy services, for example, and we will pick up a total of about 120 patient beds. As things stand, we are frequently at capacity. Most of the 120 beds will be ICU or intermediate level beds. Our belief is that, going forward, there won’t be as great a need for primary and secondary level patients to be hospitalized. With new technologies, we will be able to monitor them remotely. 850: How will employment numbers be affected? O’Bryant: Right now, we have about 5,200 colleagues employed at the hospital, and we are currently bringing on staff. We

RENDERINGS AND PHOTOS COURTESY OF TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE

850: As you approach TMH on your way to work these days and see the Mustian Center, a $270 million project, nearing completion, what do you experience emotionally? O’Bryant: That’s an interesting question. No one has ever asked me how I feel emotionally about what is happening here at the hospital. I am extremely, extremely excited. The Mustian Center is a transformative project.

have already received a certificate of occupancy for the bottom floor of the new building, and that is for supplychain functions. In total, we will probably add 150 new employees as we transition into the new center. 850: What will the Mustian Center do for staff recruiting efforts? O’Bryant: The kind of doctors, surgeons, intensivists, nurses and specialists that we want to bring here want to work in a facility that enables them to do their jobs in the best ways possible. As we look at recruiting world-class doctors and the best staff and retaining those people, the new building will be an immense help. I remind my staff all the time that no one goes to see their hospital, they go to see their doctor, but to get the top doctors, we have to have the best facilities. The doctors drive the clinical process, and the nurses and the allied staff carry it out. 850: What adjectives would you like to occur first in the minds of people when they think about TMH? O’Bryant: Quality. Patient-centered. That’s something we work on all the time. World-class. Community resource. The way I look at it, we are a community asset. We are not part of a corporate chain. We are owned by our community. We want people to be proud of TMH. We have a high quality of life in Tallahassee, and a big part of that is quality of health and there is no entity in town that is a bigger factor in quality of health than TMH. We look not just at intervention outcomes, but at improving the overall health of the people we serve.

“AS WE GROW AND EXPAND, OUR ROLE IS CHANGING. WE ARE BECOMING WHAT IS CALLED A QUATERNARY CENTER. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A HIGHEND, SAFETY NET HOSPITAL, A TERTIARY PROVIDER, BUT QUARTERNARY IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CARE.”

850: What is your outlook on Nigel Allen, your new TMH Foundation president and chief advancement officer? O’Bryant: Nigel is a great guy. He has an excellent relationship across the community, understands the health care environment and is very knowledgeable about the world of philanthropy. He is a wonderful team member.

MARK O’BRYANT CEO, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare

Upon completion, the M.T. Mustian Surgery Center is expected to enable Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to attract world-class physicians and medical staff.

850: Talk to me about three TMH employees who operate out of the limelight, but who consistently make important, beyond-the-call-of-duty contributions to the hospital. O’Bryant: We have so many colleagues who answer that description, but I can certainly give you three or I could give you 300. Matthew Jenije is our lead pharmacist who focuses most closely on our pediatric and intensive care services. I saw him making rounds earlier today. He will work whatever hours are necessary and do whatever it takes. He is not a pharmacist who sits in an office. He works closely with our nurses and doctors to make sure that everything is exactly right, especially with our children. Because they come in different sizes, you can’t simply give them a standard dose. He doesn’t just work, he always wants to figure out how he can help people in ways that go beyond work. He’s our top fundraiser in the March for Babies every year. Another great person, Vickie Woodell. When you think of a hospital, you tend to think of doctors and nurses. Vickie is an assistant group practice administrator. She works with the United Way, and right now she is very involved in storm relief. If there is ever a program in our community that we’re involved with, I promise you that Vickie will be the first person in line to volunteer to help. And Dr. Carlos Campo. He’s not a flashy physician. He’s not someone who you would probably ever interview. Carlos is a pulmonologist and intensivist, and he will be here at every hour of the day to help people in intensive care, managing the details of their care. I could go on and on. We have people at all levels who see their lives as lives of service to others. To them, their jobs are not just a job. 2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 39

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JIM MORAN SCHOOL

The Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, opened in the fall of 2017, already has attracted attention as a dynamic developer of people likely to create jobs.

MORE MORAN Entrepreneurship school grows dramatically

PHOTOS BY KAITLIN ERICA PHOTOGRAPHY

BY PETE REINWALD

ore than one year into its life, the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship believes it’s doing what it was conceived to do. It’s producing entrepreneurs. Plus, its leaders say, it’s bigger and bolder, and it has been on the move. The school settled at the start of this academic year into a new home in Florida State University’s Shaw Building. Meanwhile, it maintains a key presence at its original state-of-the-art location in the downtown Jim Moran Building, site of its startup incubator and headquarters of The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. Since fall 2017, the school has grown from 80 students to about 600, largely the result of the absorption in January of FSU’s Retail, Merchandising and Product Development department and its 450 students.

“IT’S MY GOAL TO BE ABLE TO TOUCH EVERY STUDENT ON THIS CAMPUS WITH SOME ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEA, TO GIVE THEM ACCESS TO IDEAS AND PEOPLE AND COMPETITIONS AND CLASSES, MAYBE WORKSHOPS.” SUSAN FIORITO Director of the Jim Moran school

The school said it plans new initiatives such as an entrepreneurship and innovation learning community for freshmen. It also plans to continue established programs such as its InNOLEvation Challenge, a business-model competition for students from all majors that started when FSU’s entrepreneurship program fell under the College of Business. The school touts itself as “the first interdisciplinary entrepreneurship school in the country with entrepreneurs as faculty from almost every college at FSU,” and school officials say they’ve gotten the national academic community’s attention. “When I go to conferences where there’s faculty from other universities, they’re hearing about what FSU’s doing,” said Wendy Plant, director of the Jim Moran School’s Center for Student Engagement. “I’ve had many people approach me with, ‘Gee, are you hiring?’ So the word is getting out that this is an exciting place to be.” The school opened in fall 2017 after a $100 million gift to FSU from Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation. Jan Moran is the widow of the school’s namesake, an automotiveindustry pioneer who built his businesses in Chicago and later in South Florida. The university hailed the donation as the largest single gift to a public university in Florida’s history. “I think we’re very, very lucky,” said Susan

2019 T A L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 41

JIM MORAN SCHOOL

Fiorito, director of the Jim Moran school. “Mrs. Moran’s gift was not only generous but also very insightful as to what our community needed to support entrepreneurship.” School officials tout the Jim Moran school as a resource for all students, not only for entrepreneurship majors. Any FSU student can apply to become a member of the school’s business incubator, where they can attend presentations on areas such as accounting, finance, marketing and law. “It’s my goal to be able to touch every student on this campus with some entrepreneurial idea, to give them access to ideas and people and competitions and classes, maybe workshops,” Fiorito said. Molly Cloonan, an economics major who graduated in May, said she had no interest in staring her own business in the spring of 2017, when her academic adviser suggested a course on social entrepreneurship. She came out of it with her own business: Social Safe, an app, aims to prevent sexual violence on college campuses. “Of all of the classes that I took at FSU, it was by far the most effective class I had because it was a lot more personal and a lot more hands-on,” Cloonan said. “I always tell people that I basically got a degree in entrepreneurship.” The social entrepreneurship course directed students to identify a social problem and to build a product to help solve it. Creators of the top three products competed in a businesspitch competition, which Cloonan won. She said professors Mark McNees,

founder of RedEye Coffee and an entrepreneur in residence at the school, and Sam Staley, who wrote a book on sexual assault at colleges, helped her with a business plan and with her business-pitch preparation. Then, through an individual study course with McNees, she said, she learned how to register her business and made contact with lawyers and tech-industry players, including a graphic designer. Along the way, she won awards and prize money. Cloonan’s app helps potential victims of sexual assault to contact friends and family before a situation escalates. It gathers audio and video evidence and includes GPS features that help law enforcement locate a potential victim. Success stories from the Jim Moran school’s first year also included, among others: ■ a group of students who won $15,000 in one competition for DiaTech, a biotechnology company that focuses on diabetes care; ■ Hannah King, recipient of a national Future Founders fellowship after she created Woven Futures, which supports indigenous Guatemalan women in craft making and sales; ■ Jessica Bachansingh, who won the Most Viable business prize for Gifts for Confidence, which teaches young Ethiopian women how to sew infinity scarves that they can market and sell. The Jim Moran school offers majors in retail entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship

42 / 2019 TA L L A H A S S E E B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

and commercial entrepreneurship. Fiorito said the school is pondering whether to let students build their own majors. “I think we need to be innovative and HANNAH creative in how we’re KING growing,” she said. The school’s new location, which keeps undergraduate students on campus, includes 31 offices, a student-collaboration room, two labs and a conference room. JESSICA Fiorito said the BACHANSINGH downtown location will continue to host speakers and statewide competitions. She said it also soon could house a graduate entrepreneurship program. “It’s been an absolutely amazing experience being a part of a college startup that’s actually an entrepreneurship school,” said McNees, the RedEye founder and entrepreneur in residence. “It’s been fast and furious like all of the other startups I’ve been part of — creating systems and curriculum and pivoting and learning along the way. We’ve had some amazing success out of the gate.”

PHOTOS BY KAITLIN ERICA PHOTOGRAPHY AND KYLIE ZAMARTI (KING)

Faculty member Mark McNees engages students in a classroom at the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship. At right, students John Wilcox and Nicholas Cooper display an award won in a competition sponsored by a biotechnology company.

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REINVESTING IN SOMO

REINVESTING IN SOMO B

BY AUDREY POST

race yourself: South Monroe Street is about to get a whole new look and vibe. The area that has been tagged “SoMo” is slated for an infusion of commercial and residential investment that investors and local officials believe will create jobs and spur additional development in an area of Tallahassee that has long been overlooked. But unlike the “urban renewal” projects of the 1960s and ’70s, which decimated poor minority neighborhoods around the country and led to gentrification and displacement of residents, the vision for the South Monroe/Adams Street Corridor has a focus on its people. “Historically, we all know we have not invested in the south side as we have in other parts of town,” County Commissioner Kristin Dozier said. “We have the money and the planning in place to help the people who have lived and worked there for so long. We need to stay focused on the south side and be holistic about it.” Good things are already happening: It started with the opening of Cascades Park, creating a downtown destination, and the Capital Cascades Crossing Pedestrian Bridge, which provides safe access from the park to South Monroe and the Capital Cascades Trail. The extension of FAMU Way improved both aesthetics and safety. Proof

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Brewing Company relocated to the old Coca-Cola bottling plant. The old Graphateria Building has been redeveloped for Catalina Café and Red Eye Coffee Roastery. A juicing operation, South City Juice, is also moving in. Happy Motoring Co., a bar and food truck hub located in an old gas station, converted one of its regular food trucks to a food operation inside the building in October. “SoMo is in transition, and it’s more of a revitalization as opposed to a redevelopment,” said Happy Motoring co-founder Jake Kiker, an attorney who lives in nearby Myers Park. “The greatest potential is for the old automotive spaces. These are places with character and history.” Kiker is working with Demirel International on a proposed retail and residential project known as Cascade Gardens that would stretch along the east side of Monroe from Oakland Avenue to Pershing Street. The project would have commercial space on the ground floor, apartments above, attached townhomes and detached single-family houses behind. Bugra Demirel is engaged to be married and plans to live in Cascades Garden, Kiker said, and he’s trying to get an Aldi grocery store to locate there. “Bugra wants to make it neighborhood-friendly, with nice sidewalks, buried utility lines, sustainable and pedestrian-friendly,” Kiker said.

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON

So much more is coming on the south side

Happy Motoring Co., a bar and food-truck hub located in a building that had been abandoned, represents a trend toward the reutilization of existing spaces along South Monroe Street — revitalization versus redevelopment.

Sprucing up the south side of town and boosting its economic engine have been discussed for years, and the area’s needs and deficits have been well-documented. In 2015, the city commissioned a study by the North Florida District Council of the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit that helps cities create sustainable and thriving communities, on the status and future of “South City.” The study area stretched from FAMU Way south to Orange Avenue and Jim Lee Road west to Adams Street, incorporating much of South Monroe Street. The report noted that the area “has languished from a lack of economic development, offers few job opportunities for residents and suffers from a high crime rate. Residents have little access to healthy food options and recreational activities. Health disparities abound, particularly as they relate to low-birth-weight infants and infant mortality.” The report also noted the area’s residents are 83.5 percent AfricanAmerican, 60 percent female, 40 percent children and teens under 18 and 21.4 percent children under the age of 5; 76.4 percent live in female-headed households with income below the poverty line, 57.8 receive food assistance and 22 percent have no public or private health insurance. How do you begin to tackle such an enormous problem? You start with the basics. “If you build it, they will come” first entered the lexicon in the baseball movie “Field of Dreams,” but it’s applicable to urban revitalization, as well. Tallahassee-Leon County’s Blueprint initiative, a 1 percent sales tax that voters first approved in 1989 and renewed and expanded in 2000 and again in 2014, pays for infrastructure improvements to enhance safety and quality of life. Roads, sidewalks, storm-water mitigation and lighting are examples of infrastructure projects. Those improvements also attract private investment. Infrastructure improvements along the Gaines Street corridor saw a three-to-one return on investment in private dollars, Blueprint’s Public Information Officer Susan Emmanuel said. The Blueprint 2020 plan, approved in 2014, authorizes the tax through 2040. It also sets aside 12 percent of revenues for economic development and created the Office of Economic Vitality. The South Monroe/Adams Street Corridor figures prominently in both Blueprint’s infrastructure projects and the OEV’s strategic plan for economic development.

Blueprint’s Monroe-Adams Corridor Placemaking project will make South Monroe more pedestrian-friendly from FAMU Way/Oakland Avenue to Magnolia Drive by installing medians. Other planned streetscape improvements include sidewalks, lighting, signage and underground utilities. Street parking will be created where possible along side streets. The OEV is evaluating a South Monroe/Adams Corridor Catalysts proposal that uses a mix of public and private funding and involves Florida A&M University’s Small Business Development Center and its Urban Agriculture Project. It is slated for consideration in the fiscal year 2020 budget. Other proposals being reviewed and evaluated are creation of an Entrepreneurial Development Fund and working with the FAMU SBDC to evaluate partnerships with lenders “to maximize the investment of microloans to help minority- and women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.” City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, current chair of the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, said environmental contamination along South Monroe has hampered revitalization efforts in the past. “There are a lot of brown-fields that have to be cleaned up at the sites of old automotive shops, gas stations and dry cleaners,” he said. “We were able to get some federal grants for businesses that want to clean up property, which helps.” The city and county have other plans to boost the south side, including a new public safety complex off South Monroe, the redevelopment of Orange Avenue Apartments and creating a Star Metro “superstop” at the corner of Orange Avenue and South Meridian Street. “It will be a Star Metro transfer facility on the ground floor with retail space on top,” Richardson said. “We are going to be looking at a substantial transformation of the south side over the next five to 10 years.”

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or nearly 40 years, Chan Cox, founder of Wine World, has been impacting wine culture in Northwest Florida. In 2013, he launched the South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival as an event where wine lovers could gain access to a vast array

of diverse wines from around the world. The festival now stands as the Southeast’s premier wine and food event. The high caliber of wine is ensured as, each February, an international wine competition takes place at the Hilton Sandestin. Wines throughout the world are juried and judged, with the winners acknowledged at the April festival. The integrity of the festival is further bolstered by access to winemakers, wine representatives and winery owners. Attendees are able to learn from and meet the people who have firsthand experience in the winemaking and spirits-making process. Two seminars are held during each day of Grand Tasting, allowing attendees to experience an in-depth tasting with industry notables. Winemakers and special

urday and Sunday, and guests are encouraged to visit the over 100

guests at the festival include Erik Kramer, winemaker for WillaKenzie

wine tents and specialty areas. The Culinary Village is a true delight,

Estate, who holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Florida State

caringly curated by culinary director Scott Plumely. The Nosh Stations

— a degree he draws on when considering the relationship between

serve up a variety of foods that pair decadently with wine, including

terroir and wine quality. Joining Kramer will be Jackson Family

cheese, charcuterie, sushi and substantial offerings from the best local

Wines, Rob Samuels of Maker’s Mark and Michael Landis with Institut

restaurants.

du Fromage. Landis promises to prepare an impressive charcuterie

The Rosé All Day Garden debuted in 2018 and is back in high demand for 2019. In a whirl of Rosé adornments, sip on this crowd

perfectly paired with wines. “Our hope is that wine lovers will have an amazing experience tasting wines they might never have tasted otherwise and to be able

favorite wine from varieties around the world. Chill out by stopping for a frosé at one of the four machines on-site.

to meet with industry professionals to glean information about what

“We stay on top of all the major trends happening in the wine

they are tasting,” said Stacey Brady, Executive Director of the South

and spirits industry, which transcends into the success of the festival,”

Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival.

said Brady. “The festival has won countless awards because we are

The weekend kicks off with with the Friday VIP Tasting, 4–6 p.m., pouring high-end, collectible and library wines and food

prepared by the variety of highly regarded

always ahead of the curve. But even more so, we stay on trend because attendees appreciate the attention to detail.” Guests might come for the wine, but they leave knowing they have

Boulevard.

contributed to the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation through

From 6–9 p.m. on Friday, the festival

their ticket purchase. The festival is very proud of their partnership

presents the Craft Beer and Spirits

with DCWAF, which supports 16 charities throughout Northwest

restaurants

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The Gibson Inn, the Crown Jewel of Apalachicola, is Off the Market Coast, has been sold for the first time in 36 years. One of Florida’s few remaining historic and authentic inns, The Gibson Inn is now owned by Steven Etchen, a 36-year-old developer, property manager and commodities broker from Kentucky. “I have a deep love for the area and the hotel, and I’m thrilled to be part of its evolution,” said Etchen. He has plans to renovate the property while keeping its signature appearance and character. Renovations will begin immediately and take place in two phases while keeping the hotel open throughout. The first phase includes adding amenities and upgrades to guest rooms, the lobby, the restaurant and the banquet room. Plan completion is set for early 2019. The second phase consists of developing the property across the street with a pool, patio and a spa and fitness facility, in addition to adding new guest rooms/suites. Completion for that phase is set for the end of 2019.

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Springs, creeks, caves and bays are treasured assets, but Wakulla County is prepared to welcome industry, too D ESTINATIONS AND EVENTS ECOTOURISM CANNED MULLET

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2 / 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

CONTENTS

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND

County Administrator David Edwards, Economic Development Council President John Shuff.

EDITORIAL EDITOR Steve Bornhoft CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lazaro Aleman

SALES & MARKETING VICE PRESIDENT/ CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT McKenzie Burleigh Lohbeck SALES MANAGER, EASTERN DIVISION Lori Magee Yeaton DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EASTERN DIVISION Daniel Parisi AD SERVICES COORDINATOR Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Margaret Farris OPERATIONS CLIENT SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE/ PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Melinda Lanigan STAFF ACCOUNTANT Jackie Burns ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT Amber Dennard RECEPTIONISTS Natalie Kazmin, Kirsten Terhofter DIGITAL SERVICES DIGITAL EDITOR Janecia Britt 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE 850businessmagazine.com facebook.com/850bizmag twitter.com/850bizmag linkedin.com/company/ 850-business-magazine

rowlandpublishing.com | 850BusinessMagazine.com

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lawrence Davidson DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY Daniel Vitter CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Ekrut GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amanda Brummet CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS Dana Long, Brian Stromlund CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Saige Roberts

10 04 D ESTINATIONS AND EVENTS Wakulla County attracts natureloving visitors seeking mellow vacations — and shows them how to hammer a stone crab claw while they are there.

10 E CONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Parks and outdoor recreation are fundamental to the local economy, but diversification may be at hand. Two industrial parks are set to welcome tenants.

16 E COTOURISM This mecca for

25 C ANNED MULLET

22 E DUCATION

28 PANACEA WATERFRONTS

birders, hikers and bikers is also home to some of the most spectacular diver-accessible caves in the world.

Wakulla County’s public schools make outstanding grades while offering students courses of study leading to both college enrollment and technical careers.

By sealing mullet in foil bags and extending its shelf life, David Moody hopes to create a yearround appetite for the shallow-water vegetarian fish.

The Panacea Waterfronts Florida Partnership board ensures that the unincorporated community it represents has a strong voice at meetings of the County Commission.

ON THE COVER: Wakulla County can be a study in contrasts — it is home to an ammunition propellant plant and is a way station for migrating butterflies. Its waterways attract people with an interest in spending time below and on top of the water. PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS (DIVER, PANACEA WATERFRONT); LAWRENCE DAVIDSON (BUTTERFLY); AND ST. MARKS POWDER (INDUSTRIAL PLANT). KAYAKING PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CONNECT AGENCY.

2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 3

DESTINATIONS AND EVENTS

The Natural Place to Be Wakulla draws fans of the ‘Real Florida’ by STEVE BORNHOFT

akulla County doesn’t have a giant Ferris wheel. No bungee jump. It has a marine park, of sorts, known as Apalachee Bay, which, depending on the weather, may become a wave pool. Its favorite swimming pool is spring fed. Fully 75 percent of the land that makes up the county is public. “We’re not a tourist-trip kind of destination,” said David Moody, a 10-year member of the county Tourist Development Council, who knows that successful marketing relies on knowing your audience. “We appeal to people who like a little slower pace.” Moody explained that the TDC, which promotes Wakulla County as “The Natural Place to Be,” targets groups including: n Vacationers seeking a mellow getaway. n Travelers who move through Wakulla County to other destinations. n Seafood lovers. “If you’re in west Georgia or east Alabama, and you want to come to the coast, we actually provide the closest access to the marine environment,” Moody noted. “We get a lot of people, including international visitors, who spend time in Orlando and then come through our area on their way to the big beaches. We want to cause them to stay awhile, enjoy a meal at one of our nice restaurants and, we hope, spend the night.” The activities of the TDC are funded, after all, by a 4-percent tourist development tax (or bed tax) collected on the county’s behalf by the state Department of Revenue. For the period July 2017 through June 2018, bed tax collections totaled $163,548. 4 / 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

The St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is home to an iconic landmark. Boaters and anglers still look for it when they head for safe harbor.

The TDC works with a Jacksonville firm, Connect Agency, that promotes the county primarily via social media, Moody said. In addition, the county has marketed to group tour businesses and has made billboard, magazine and radio advertising buys. For the potential visitor, the county has put together recommended itineraries that include eateries such as the Seineyard Restaurant in Woodville, Angelo & Son’s Seafood Restaurant in Panacea and Posey’s Up the Creek Steam Room, also in Panacea. Countywide visitation steadily increased from 2013 through 2016, growing by as much as 12 percent in a year. It now appears to be leveling off, said Moody, who believes that the county may need to identify new markets to penetrate. “But for the amount of infrastructure we have, we do pretty well,” Moody said. “We don’t have any public transportation, and we don’t have any tourist attractions, per se. We do have some fishing guide services.” And the county does have two parks, one state and one national, that serve as its biggest tourism David Moody, Tourist Development Council draws. Moody is intimately familiar with the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, where he works as a public use officer, answering visitors’ questions and coordinating the work of volunteers. The refuge is a magnet for saltwater ducks, including redheads and scaups, and various puddle ducks, particularly during migratory periods. Moody estimated that 25 species of ducks visit the park, making it a mecca for birdwatchers. Indeed, the TDC has placed ads in a niche publication, Bird Watcher’s Digest. Many waterfowl overwinter at the park. Backcountry fishermen tie into speckled trout, redfish and other inshore species both inside the refuge and on the nearby grass flats east of the St. Marks Lighthouse and off Live Oak Island. Kayaking, Moody said, is “growing tremendously. We have a lot of shallow water that isn’t appropriate to power boating.” The refuge is well known as a stopping off point for migrating monarch butterflies and, in fact, sponsors an initiative that encourages people to plant milkweed as a way to rebuild monarch numbers, which have plummeted since 1990. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, the sole source of food for monarch caterpillars. The fall monarch migration is celebrated with a festival each October; it includes a monarch tagging activity and coincides with the St. Marks Stone Crab Festival. The refuge, according to Moody, attracts about 300,000 visitors annually in addition to folks who just drive through.

PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON (BUTTERFLY) AND COURTESY OF THE CONNECT AGENCY

We’re not a tourist-trip kind of destination. We appeal to people who like a little slower pace.

Birders and butterflies flock to the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It’s located along flyways for both mallards and monarchs and is home to year-round populations of wading birds. 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 5

DESTINATIONS AND EVENTS

Moody distinguishes Wakulla Springs State Park from the refuge given its relative richness in human history and its renowned swimming area. The park, boasts its website, is home to the world’s largest and deepest freshwater springs, where manatees, alligators and other diverse wildlife are known to play. The park’s riverboats and its diving platform both make for excellent wildlife viewing towers. The spring’s gin-clear water is 70 degrees year-round, making for invigorating plunges. The Wakulla Springs Lodge, developed in the 1930s by the park’s businessman namesake, is an elegant reminder of the “Real Florida,” and overlooks cypress swamps where old Hollywood movies including “Tarzan’s Secret Treasure” (1941) and “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) were filmed. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the lodge features 27 guest rooms, each with a spacious marble bathroom, walk-in closet, and antique or period

uests are encouraged to keep G their eyes peeled for Florida’s state reptile and other wildlife when sightseeing riverboats leave the dock at Wakulla Springs State Park. T he history of forts at San Marcos de Apalachee mirror the history of North Florida. The site was occupied by Spanish, British and Confederate forces before the U.S. assumed control.

furniture. All rooms have a telephone, but no televisions, making for quiet and relaxing stays. The Ball Room Restaurant, located on the ground floor, overlooks the spring and features modern and Southern cuisine. Today, visitors swim where mastodons once bathed and take guided boat tours across waters once traversed by native peoples in dugout canoes.

SAN MARCOS DE APALACHE HISTORIC STATE PARK Fort St. Marks was added as a national historic landmark to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

6 / 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

Certainly, it had enough history to qualify. Today, the fort’s remains are at the center of a state park. The Spanish were the first to build a fortified structure at the site, known to them as San Marcos de Apalache, at a time when they were expanding their presence in Northwest Florida. Strategically, they erected a stockade near the confluence of the Wakulla and St. Marks rivers in 1679. For years, it remained an outpost. Finally, in the 1730s, a small community grew up around the stockade, and the fort was expanded with the addition of a second wooden building in 1753. The installation

PHOTOS BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN (WAKULLA SPRINGS) AND COURTESY OF THE CONNECT AGENCY (SAN MARCOS)

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DESTINATIONS AND EVENTS wouldn’t last long in its wooden form before it was wiped out by a hurricane. In 1759, the Spanish built a stone fort, designed to resist bombardment by ships and storms. They abandoned it to Indians for use as a trading post after ceding Florida lands to the British following the defeat of France in the French and Indian War. Following the American Revolutionary War, the British traded territory with Spain, which took over West and East Florida again. St. Marks was in East Florida; the boundary was the Apalachicola River. Spanish forces reoccupied the San Marcos fort in 1783 and strengthened its defenses. Andrew Jackson, then involved in the Seminole Wars, had his forces seize the fort in 1818. The U.S. occupied it for nearly a year. The Fort St. Marks military cemetery was established at that time for the burial of men who died at the garrison. In 1821, the United States purchased Spain’s Florida lands, including the fort site. In 1839, during Florida’s period as a U.S. territory, the federal government built

a marine hospital at the site, using stones and other materials from the old fort. During the Civil War, the Confederate army took over the fort after Florida seceded from the Union. U.S. forces regained control of the site in 1865, the last year of the war. Remains of the stone fort remain in evidence at the site. A museum and visitors center have been built on the foundation of the old hospital. A stone well and a retaining wall have been reconstructed nearby, based on archeological documentation. San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park is located off State 363 at 148 Old Fort Road. Online reviewers have written favorably about the park’s orientation movie, “classy museum,” knowledgeable staff and river views.

ST. MARKS STONE CRAB FESTIVAL Florida’s stone crab fishery may be the state’s most unusual. When the crabs are secured, either in baited traps or a diver’s hand, only

a claw is harvested and the living crab is released. The approach takes advantage of the stone crab’s ability to regenerate a lost claw every time it molts. So it is that claw consumers might not feel as guilty as someone sitting down to a whole snapper. The Wakulla County TDC makes a targeted effort to attract seafood eaters, and there may be no local seafood more enticing than the meat of a stone crab — white, flaky and sweet. At the St. Marks Stone Crab Festival, folks take seats at long tables beneath tents and whack at the claws with a length of wooden dowel until they are breached, revealing the delicacy inside. Friendly competitions develop among people who strive to extract the largest piece of meat from the black-tipped orange appendages. The claws are powerful enough to attract not just crab eaters, but also musicians and sellers of custom jewelry, handcrafted furniture and other unique items. Festival proceeds are donated to local charities. The event is held each October.

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Advocacy | Tailored Insurance Solutions | Peace of Mind

S tarish, lionfish and sea urchins are among the various forms of sea creatures on display at the Gulf Specimen Lab and Aquarium in Panacea. Jack Rudloe of the lab made his living collecting and selling specimens before the aquarium was opened.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

GULF SPECIMEN MARINE LAB AND AQUARIUM Thirty-two years after it was established in 1963, the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Panacea expanded its mission to include an emphasis on education, which is delivered via programs for schools, an aquarium and public visitation. “Giving people an appreciation for the diversity of life in the sea and a desire to protect it is our primary mission,” said the lab’s founder and managing director, Jack Rudloe. Doing so involves touch tanks and exhibits

that enable students and other visitors to feel, smell and hear odd and interesting creatures of the Gulf of Mexico. The lab helps cover the cost of aquarium maintenance by selling diverse living marine life from the Gulf of Mexico to schools, universities and research laboratories. That service, said Rudloe, is essential to researchers all over the United States in many fields of science. More than a hundred school groups and over 20,000 individuals visit the aquarium each year and view hundreds of species of

local invertebrates, fish and algae as well as sharks and sea turtles from the Gulf of Mexico. Exhibits are ever changing. The biological supply operation provides a constant flow of animals coming through the lab. “Whether it’s beach combing, digging up creatures on tidal flats, diving or net fishing, we take only what is needed,” Rudloe said. “We avoid damaging fragile marine habitats and actively oppose pollution and careless coastal development so the sea will remain healthy and productive.”

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2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 9

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Wakulla County administrator David Edwards, left, and Economic Development Council president John Shuff look forward to the completion of a project to widen the county’s chief north-south artery, U.S. 319. The impact of the project, Edwards said, “will be drastic.”

10 / 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L

Promoting its Assets County hopes to entice new employers by STEVE BORNHOFT

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

he president of Wakulla County’s Economic Development Council concedes that he is up against a perception problem. Too many people, said John Shuff, view Wakulla County as a bedroom community for Tallahassee versus an asset-rich community committed to attracting new employers, diversifying its economy and attracting tenants to two industrial parks. “Like any other county, we have costs for essential services that are either fixed or rising,” Shuff said. “If we can attract more investment in the area and more residents to the area, we will have a greater pool of people sharing in that expense, and the pressure to increase individual tax bills should decrease.” In terms of infrastructure, said county administrator David Edwards, Wakulla County is working to become more attractive as a place to live and do business. The county successfully influenced the Florida Department of Transportation to make the four-laning of U.S. 319 (State Road 369), from the Leon County line to its intersection with U.S. 98, a priority. Edwards suggested that the project will prove to be the most significant development in the county since the discovery of the oyster. “The impact will be drastic,” Edwards said of the widening of the county’s chief north-south artery. The state’s fiscal year 2017-18 budget included $21 million to kick-start the project, which Edwards estimated will require 10 years to complete. Project benefits are expected to include improvements in mobility, traffic circulation, pedestrian/ bicycle connectivity and public safety. And a county that has worked to promote itself in the absence of a four-lane highway will have to do so no longer. Widening of U.S. 319 will not have a direct impact on the county’s largest employer, St. Marks Powder, said company vice president Jason Gaines. Trucks traveling to and from the plant do not travel through downtown Tallahassee, but Gaines is nonetheless enthusiastic about the project. “The county is working hard to attract new employers, and the 319 project will open up a lot of

avenues,” Gaines said. “We would welcome the arrival of new businesses — the more successful Wakulla County is, the more successful we will be.” Edwards noted that in addition to developing its trafficcarrying capacity, the county is doubling the capacity of its wastewater treatment plant while upgrading it to meet advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) standards. And, with freshwater spring protection funds originating with the state Department of Environmental Protection and awarded by the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the county has embarked upon a septic-systemto-sewer conversion initiative. “We are heavily invested in our springs,” Edwards said. “They are a big part of who we are and we have got to take care of them.” At this writing, some 400 homes that previously discharged waste to septic systems have been brought on line. With cost-sharing grant funds, Edwards said, the county has been making park improvements and expanding its network of bicycle trails. Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) funds from BP figured in a sand replenishing project at Shell Point Beach and construction of a new boat ramp at Mashes Sands County Park. The county is investing in what Edwards called its “safety infrastructure,” putting on an additional shift at the Sheriff’s Office and cross-training its firefighters as paramedics. Too, Edwards has been in touch with cellservice providers Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T in an effort to ensure that Wakulla County is near the front of the line when 5G, the latest generation in cellular mobile communications, is extended to rural areas.

INDUSTRIAL PARKS Opportunity Park, located near the Leon County line, comprises more than 240 acres available for lease or purchase and protected by large buffer acreage. The park and adjoining property are owned by N.G. Wade, an investment and commercial real estate company. Various site development options are available. Leases (15 years, renewals) include options for 2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 11

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

T he presence of St. Joe Powder in Wakulla County, officials say, serves as evidence of the county’s ability and willingness to host industry. The propellant manufacturer is the county’s largest employer with more than 400 workers.

“Recently, we partnered with Duke Energy and their Site Readiness Program to prepare and promote Opportunity Park,” said Richard Exline, an N.G. Wade vice president. “The park is suited to a range of industrial and manufacturing companies, with the ideal tenant being a high-tech manufacturer. The park’s proximity to Tallahassee and FSU ensures a large pool of technical and managerial talent to draw upon.”

“Opportunity Park is a special place,” said Marc Hoenstine, Duke Energy’s economic development director for Florida. “We don’t often see a site where so much of the infrastructure is already in place. It received a glowing review from our consultant.” That review includes a list of site and market characteristics rated green (strengths), yellow (marginal features) or red (weaknesses). “There’s a lot of green in the Opportunity Park report,” Hoenstine said, “and no red.” Annually, Duke Energy chooses locations for evaluation by the Site Readiness Program. The economic director for selected counties receives a Request for Information (RFI) from McCallum Sweeney Consulting (MSC), a consultant retained by Duke Energy, seeking detailed information about the site and the county. Counties are called upon to respond to the RFI just as they would if they were trying to impress a prospective employer. In addition, a design firm gets involved, solicits site particulars and drawings from the economic development director and may produce a preliminary site plan. “We have an interest in selling power to large users, so it makes sense for us to do what we can to see to it that our communities are competitive in dealing with site selectors,” Hoenstine said. Wakulla County is home to a second industrial park, smaller in scale. St. Marks Innovation Park is located on the St. Marks River and includes 55 acres zoned for light

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industrial uses. Its features include a municipal dock on the river that leads to access to the Gulf of Mexico.

ST. MARKS POWDER Even as Wakulla County looks forward to the arrival of a four-lane highway, it has demonstrated that it can satisfactorily host a large industrial employer, as its 40-plus year relationship with St. Marks Powder attests. For the past 18 years, St. Marks Powder has been part of the Ordnance and Tactical Systems unit of the General Dynamics Corp. It is, according to its website, “a leading manufacturer of commercial smokeless powder from .22 rimfire match propellants, which won gold

St. Marks Powder vice president Jason Gaines says that company is poised for growth, domestically and internationally.

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS (GAINES) AND COURTESY OF ST. MARKS POWDER

build-to-suit improvements and parking areas. Electric power, natural gas, water, sewer and business internet/communications are all in place. The park is a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoned for light industrial uses. A six-member Development Review Committee gives final approval to proposed projects. No public hearings are required.

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WAKULLA COUNTY CAN BECOME HOME FOR YOUR BUSINESS, NOW. READY TO BREAK GROUND FOR INDUSTRIAL OPERATIONS? THE NECESSITIES ARE IN PLACE HERE. 240 acres 2 universities 4 county incentives Flexibility to grow A workforce of 15,000 A population of 320,000 within an easy commute 80,000 with associate degrees or higher within reach Strategically placed for international markets through the Bay

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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medals at the Olympics, to clean burning shotshell propellants, to low muzzle flash pistol propellants.” That is, St. Marks Powder is more than a company that manufactures a product it introduced in 1933 to support the highperformance needs of U.S. armed forces and its allies and for use in areas including law enforcement, hunting and sport shooting. It maintains a robust research and development division that creates specially blended propellants for specific applications, both military and civilian. Its mission statement speaks to delivering the “finest propellant solutions” to customers, providing “overmatched capability to our men and women in uniform” and furthering the shooting tradition in the United States. “We are positioned for growth,” said vice president Gaines, “but our business is largely market dependent. Our traditional market space fluctuates depending on supply and demand. These cyclical challenges in our domestic market have led us to pursue new opportunities in the global market.” The U.S. Army is far and away the largest customer of St. Marks Powder, which also counts as key customers familiar ammunition manufacturers including Remington, Vista Outdoors and Winchester. The company has slightly more than 400 employees, said its director of human resources, Patrick Hutto, who for two years served as chairman of the board at CareerSource Capital Region. St. Marks Powder posts all of its job openings through CareerSource. Gaines said that 90 percent of St. Marks Powder employees are Wakulla County residents and that, for the vast majority of them, the propellant manufacturer will be a lifetime employer. Turnover, said Hutto, runs about 1 percent per year among salaried employees and 3 percent among hourly employees. “We know that once an employee has worked here for two years,” he said, “he or she is almost sure to be with us until retirement.” “One of the main incentives of our Economic Council is to provide our younger generation the option to stay in their hometown to work and raise their family after they finish with school,” Shuff said. “The people who live here value our traditional way of life. We cherish strong family bonds and want to see extended families flourish here.”

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

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ECOTOURISM

GLISTENING SPRINGS, FISH APLENTY Wakulla attracts outdoor enthusiasts, naturally by LAZARO ALEMAN and STEVE BORNHOFT

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

oasting four rivers, hundreds of miles of undeveloped coastline, a national wildlife refuge and portions of a national forest, Wakulla County offers countless opportunities for birding, boating, biking, hiking, kayaking and wildlife viewing — making it a nature buff’s paradise. “What we have to offer is our natural settings,” said St. Marks Mayor Gail Gilman, a member of the Wakulla County Tourist Development Council, one of several public and private interests promoting ecotourism. “We’re no Orlando or Disneyworld.” Wakulla, Gilman notes, attracts its share of domestic and even international visitors, with the bulk coming from Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. Growth in tourism is reflected in steady year-to-year increases in revenue generated by the county’s 4-cent bed tax. As for visitors’ home countries, “They range from Argentina to Zimbabwe,” said Amy Conyers, the manager at Ed Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, one of the county’s biggest visitor draws. Lesser known places, however, rely on a more localized market, according to Cynthia Paulson, founder of Palmetto Expeditions, a 10-year-old enterprise that connects clients to independent guides and outfitters and also arranges customized group tours for businesses, schools and organizations. From a tourism standpoint, she sees both positives and negatives to Wakulla’s naturalness. “Our positives are that we’re off the beaten track and we’re 73 percent natural lands and 85 percent natural coastline,” she said. “But that also makes it difficult for people to get here. So, we don’t have the mass tourism that larger counties get. That’s the challenge.” Marie-Anne Luber agrees. A greencertified river/hiking guide, her clients range from young couples to families with children to foreign visitors and exchange students. “Mostly it’s parents and their kids who want to learn about the area,” Luber said. “Also, people in town who want to go kayaking or hiking but are afraid to do it on

ob Baker, seen on previous page on the water at Shell Point Beach and at his shop in R Crawfordville, above, grew up hanging around his grandmother’s canoe livery. He has capitalized on the popularity of kayaks among shallow-water anglers.

their own. It’s my job to show them the sights and relate the history.” Fortunately, the county’s outdoor recreation possibilities are plentiful. “It’s amazing how much water there is around here,” Luber said. All of that water, combined with miles and miles of undeveloped waterfront, makes for some outstanding fishing.

THE OLD FLORIDA There was a time, decades ago, when the Shell Island Fish Camp, located on the Wakulla River near its mouth in St. Marks, attracted large numbers of duck hunters. But that bird has flown. Now, the camp is all about fishing, and the growing popularity of inshore angling — a product of the expense and the limited seasons/bag limits associated with offshore

trips — has served owners Sherie and Jimmy Bevis and their employees well. Shell Island “campers” fish year-round, but spring and fall fishing tends to be best, according to camp employee Bucky Odom. “And, if we don’t get a lot of rain in the fall (meaning that salinity levels remain high), the trout will bunch up in the rivers in the winter,” Odom pointed out, a condition that can make for some fast action for anglers who slow down their lure presentations in the cold water. The camp, which has been expanded several times through the years, was established in the 1950s and has been in the same family since 1962, Odom said. Many, if not most, other fish camps have closed. “We’re a surviving bit of Old Florida, and there are some people who like a laid-back,

2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 17

ECOTOURISM

peaceful experience away from the traffic and rowdy crowds,” Odom said. “That’s our niche. We have guests that stay with us and, really, it’s all right by them if they don’t catch one fish or find any scallops. They’re just happy to be here.” From time to time, the camp entertains international guests who spend time in Orlando and then go exploring. The camp’s accommodations run from $68 to $96 a night and include cabins, motel rooms and “park models,” trailers that resemble stand-alone cottages. If you are looking to reserve a cabin on a weekend when the weather is cool, you may need to call months in advance. The camp has boats for rent, provides dry storage, repairs engines and will even clean your catch. Odom is a fisherman himself, and he’s a MirrOlure man. If limited to four lures, he said, he would carry three MirroLure products: Top Dog, Mirrodine and Catch 2000 hard-plastic plugs. And, he would grab a bag of Berkley “Gulp” Jerk Shads. Rob Baker has been around non-motorized watercraft all of his life. His grandmother founded TnT Hideaway Canoe Rental in Crawfordville long before Baker could handle a paddle. Baker was hanging around TnT and helping out with the business when kayak fishing began to catch on in the mid-1990s. Today, kayaks are his specialty. His shop, The Wilderness Way, located in Crawfordville, sells leading-brand kayaks — Hobie, Jackson, Bonafide — and he leads kayak fishing trips out of St. Marks. Most trips commence at first light and last four hours. Typical targets are redfish, speckled trout and flounder, but anglers also tie into tarpon, cobia, tripletail and Spanish mackerel. “We’re also beginning to see some snook,” Baker said, referring to a sportfish usually associated with South Florida. Snook, it seems, are expanding their range in response to rising Gulf water temperatures. Baker prefers to use artificial lures, in part because they result in fewer gut-hooked fish and also because he likes to do more than

wait for a float to go under. His arsenal includes topwater plugs, jigs and spoons, and he is especially high on a plug called the Stick Shadd, manufactured by Sebile Tackle. “I’m open to anglers of all skill and experience levels,” Baker said. “We have tandem kayaks that make it possible for an adult to go with a child. Of course, with children, we may suggest bobber fishing instead of slinging lures around.” All kayaks are of the sit-on-top variety and are pedal-driven. Hands-free propulsion is a real advantage when casting, reeling and, one hopes, landing fish. Anglers who like to land trophies and prizes will find competitions in Wakulla County, including the annual fundraising Rock the Dock tournament, staged each spring out of Woolley Park in Panacea. The contest is held in three divisions — Youth, Kayak and Recreation — in both inshore and offshore species categories.

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SCALLOPS AND SALAMANDERS For people who prefer being in the water to being on the water, Wakulla County offers good scalloping, especially in years with relatively low rainfall amounts in the spring, a condition that results in bumper crops. Scallop seekers gear up with masks, snorkels and fins and pursue their quarry in 3 to 6 feet of water. Adrenaline junkies may be thrilled to know that Wakulla County is a center of cave diving. Steve Cushman, a native Texan who is no doubt familiar with superlatives, says Wakulla County can legitimately call itself the “Cave Capital of Florida” and maybe the world. Cushman owns Cave Connections, a Crawfordville dive shop and guide service that offers training in scuba specialties including cave diving. Wakulla County and the surrounding area, he said, offer cavediving experiences in shallow water, deep water and some even in saltwater.

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

NMASKED: Steve Cushman, the owner of the Cave Connection in Crawfordville, gets acclimated U to the water at Sally Ward Spring near Wakulla Springs State Park. For Cushman, the equipmentintensive sport of cave diving is appealing because it enables enthusiasts to visit places few people have ever seen.

He and his customers frequent a collection of caves with an interesting assortment of place names: Clear Cut, Greyhound, Hatchet, Meeting House, Harvey’s Cave, Emerald Sink, Ferrell, Church Sink, Little Dismal and more. “People say that they could never do cave diving because they are too claustrophobic,” Cushman said, “but narrow passageways are comforting.” That is, surrounded by walls, a diver easily remains oriented as to up, down, forward and backward. “But when you find yourself in the middle of a black room that is 20 stories high and 300 or 600 feet wide, that’s an adventure.” If you can succeed in quieting your heart rate, Cushman said, cave diving is “peaceful. And knowing that you are experiencing places that few people have ever visited is pretty cool.” The cave diver encounters aquatic life that is specially adapted to life in darkness and

species whose evolution seems to have been arrested tens of millions of years ago. “We see lots of crawfish that are blind, white and translucent,” Cushman said. “And freshwater eels, trilobites and isopods. And we see Georgia blind salamanders. They are the kind with gills that extend outside the head. Near the cave mouths, we’ll have the occasional gator or manatee encounter.” Cushman said about 35 percent of his customers are women and he expects that within 10 years, that percentage may reach 50. He has been visited by divers from Russia, Poland, Korea, Japan, South Korea, Great Britain and other far-flung places. Students are trained to handle a variety of scenarios, what to do in the case of a broken fin, for example. Cushman hopes that officials one day will allow open water recreational diving at Wakulla Springs State Park. He would support taking steps to discourage or prevent divers who lack cave-diving certifications from leaving open water. “People would come from all over to get certified at the state park,” Cushman said. “And, meanwhile, they would stay at the lodge for three or four days. “It could be the salvation of that lodge,” he said, noting that a series of managers

have tried to make it profitable without much success.

HIKING AND BIKING As for the hiking excursions, their distances and strenuousness vary, depending on the participants’ physical conditions and stamina. “People may not want to walk six miles,” Luber said. “In that case, I take them to the sinks. But if they’re more adventuresome, I’ll take them to Shepherd Spring or the Cathedral of Palms. Those are long hikes but beautiful and great for photography.” To her, ecotourism remains a largely untapped market. “It’s good they’ve extended the St. Marks bike trail along 98,” Luber said. “That has a lot of potential because there are hotels alongside it. But I think more marketing is needed.” Even so, Wakulla County is already reaping economic benefits from ecotourism, said Bob Ballard, executive director of the Wakulla Environmental Institute (WEI), a Tallahassee Community College facility that offers various programs to spur green, sustainable job-creating industries. Ballard cites as an example the WEI’s aquaculture oyster program, which has about 70 oyster leases along Wakulla’s

2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 19

ECOTOURISM

akulla Environmental Institute executive director Bob Ballard hits a trail near the institute’s W offices in Crawfordville. The institute is seeking Triumph Gulf Coast funding for the development of an oyster hatchery and oyster processing plant.

“This will be the first safe oyster in the world,” Ballard enthused. “The oysters actually come through pasteurization alive; we recommend that they be consumed within 14 days after processing.” Ballard said Triumph Gulf Coast board members told him that the oyster hatchery/ processing plant is an example of precisely the kind of activity they are looking to fund. The facility, if funded, will be built on Dickinson Bay in Panacea. Already, WEI’s pioneering oyster

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aquaculture work has resulted in the creation of 75 businesses. Ballard is also excited by the St. Mark’s bike trail extension, which brings the trail almost to the WEI’s backdoor. “We’re working with the trails folks to get it connected to our three miles of trails,” Ballard said. “It’s one more amenity to this campus to promote ecotourism.” Understandably, it’s all an uphill battle. But bit by bit, Wakulla County is successfully branding itself a natural getaway.

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

coastline. He quotes an Auburn University study finding “that for every acre of oyster lease, about $1,500 of income comes into the surrounding communities from the enhanced recreational fishing that happens around the oysters.” “And the reason is our cages hide little shrimps, crabs and whatnots that fish love to eat,” Ballard says. “So, the whole ecosystem is changed for the better. Not only is the water getting cleaner and clearer, which allows the grasses to grow and helps the fish nurseries, but the cages hide little creatures that attract bigger fish that attract fishermen. That’s a big deal for the local economy.” The WEI is seeking approximately $13 million in Triumph Gulf Coast funding (BP oil spill settlement money) to build an oyster hatchery and an oyster processing center to include two lines. One line, explained Ballard, will freeze oysters cryogenically, giving the product a two-year shelf life. The second line, he explained, will pasteurize oysters, ridding them of bacteria and viruses that can cause illness.

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EDUCATION

Great Expectations Wakulla public schools score high marks

he Wakulla County School District is a verifiable standout in Florida, underscored by its students’ academic and other achievements, high graduation rates (92 percent in 2017), and consistent A and B grades from the Florida Department of Education. No insignificant feat for a small, fiscally constrained rural county. The secret to the success, school district administrators say, are general buy-in into education; dedicated, largely autonomous teachers; and a collegial, forward-thinking leadership. “Our focus is on helping students be the best they can be, and that starts with providing them with as many opportunities as possible to give them reasons to buy into their education,” says School Board member Melisa Taylor. “And it can’t just be based on college-bound students. We had the foresight years ago to add certification or school-to-work programs. Additionally,

by LAZARO ALEMAN

we’ve had nearly 20 students over the last four years graduate with AA degrees.” The two initiatives, the career-andtechnical education (CTE) and dualenrollment programs, plus the high graduation rate, officials say, account in large part for Wakulla County’s increased median household and per-capita incomes, as indicated by U.S. Census Bureau data. Such economic results undoubtedly contribute to the buy-in into education that administrators cite as one of the key ingredients to the district’s success. “We have a tightly knit community and buy-in that education’s the most important thing we can provide our children,” said School Board member Verna Brock. “And the taxpayers, teachers, administrators, parents and students buy into it.” Superintendent Robert Pearce calls it “a cultural thing.” “It says something about our community

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values and the expectations we have for our kids and the school system,” he said. “We also have teachers who have high classroom expectations.” Which comes with job satisfaction, another key ingredient. “Yes, we have standards set down by the state and federal governments,” Taylor said. “But we allow teachers as much autonomy as possible, so they can teach creatively and bring a piece of themselves and their love for their subject to the fore, and that also makes for students buy-in.” Added Pearce: “We understand that teachers have set standards, and we do what we can to support them and suggest how they might best get those standards across to students. But we don’t script it or tell teachers, ‘Here’s a box of what you need to do.’ That autonomy is very powerful from a standpoint of morale.” A cordial, respectful relationship between the board and superintendent is another critical element. “Some people question whether we’re ‘yes people’ because we agree on so many things,” Taylor said. “But my role is not to argue in front of the public or ask so many questions

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

that it sounds as if I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s my job to do the homework and come prepared to meetings.” Brock agrees. “We have amazing collegiality,” she said. “We come from different political and economic backgrounds and have different perspectives, but the thing that binds us is a common goal, and C hief academic that’s to provide what’s best for officer Sunny Chancy our students, teachers and the and Superintendent community.” Robert Pearce visit student welders at Pearce affirmed the professionWakulla High School. alism and cordiality. Despite lacking the “There is not contention among resources that larger school districts have, us,” he said. “Does that mean Wakulla makes good we have 5-0 votes on every item? grades with the state. Absolutely not. But we have intelligent board members who understand their role, do their homework and come prepared.” And if an item raises concerns, he will pull it from the agenda, revisit it and often resolve or clarify the problem, so that it passes upon resubmittal, he said. The biggest challenge, all agree, is money. “Nearly 70 percent of the land is nontaxable,” Taylor says. “So, yes, money is always an issue.” “Every year, the state or federal governments change some rule,” Brock says. “Because we’re small, if you mess with our tax base, it affects everything. That kind of information doesn’t sink in with lawmakers. I don’t think they mean to hurt us; I think they don’t realize what they’re doing.” “Consistently, we’re asked to do more with less,” Pearce says. “And it’s been that way for a while.” But no matter. “We don’t sit around and say, ‘Well, we’re limited in our location, capital outlay dollars, operating dollars, the Legislature’s not giving us enough money.’ We make things happen.” This goes to visioning and forward-thinking leadership. Case in point: the millions of BP settlement money from the 2010 oil spill that the district is getting to build a Career/ Technical Education Center and a Learning Center at Wakulla High. The first, in partnership with Lively Technical Center, will house two CTE programs initially, with more to be added later. The second, together with TCC, will allow students and adults to pursue AA degrees. In fact, the $3.7 million for the first project has already started flowing, with a portion earmarked to buy computer equipment to start industry certification in K-5, says chief academic officer Sunny Chancy, who is spearheading the effort. “Currently, we focus on industry certification in grades 6-12,” Chancy says. “We have yet to infiltrate to the lower levels. So, part of this money will go to build a pipeline for K-5 kids to gain computer skills and get certification at a younger age.” Sums up Taylor: “We’re a small district that’s always wanted to be and live like a big district. That’s why we come up with so many programs and grant dollars.” Other school districts would do well to borrow a page from Wakulla’s playbook.

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CANNED MULLET

y “canning” mullet in foil bags like those used by B the U.S. military for “meals ready to eat (MREs),” David Moody hopes to substantially extend the shelf life of mullet.

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

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Entrepreneur seeks economies of scale by STEVE BORNHOFT

ome 30 years ago, David Moody went fishing with a senior, lifelong Wakulla County resident, Henry Vause. Vause, in the course of the trip, asked Moody to reach beneath a boat seat and retrieve what he found there. “It was a pint-size Mason jar, and he had me open it up,” Moody readily recalled. “It popped when I unsealed it, and I drained off the juice and we enjoyed canned mullet on crackers. I had never had it before, and I always remembered how good it was.” Ever since, Moody has canned fish whenever he catches more than he can immediately consume. He has experimented with different recipes and tried them out on friends. Mullet has performed especially well in those informal taste tests, beating tuna, Moody said. “Everyone wants some, and I tell them that I just can’t be giving it away in canning jars — and glass is a little hard to transport anyway,” Moody added. So, he has begun to can mullet in “retort pouches,” a type of food packaging made from flexible plastic and metal foils. “It’s kind of like an MRE wrapper,” Moody said, “referring to the meals-ready-to-eat familiar to military veterans. “It’s the same material, when you go the grocery store, that tuna comes in.”

2019 W A K U L L A C O U N T Y B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L / 25

CANNED MULLET

Moody has acquired equipment that allows him to bag mullet on a small scale, and he is confident that he is onto something. He has visions of a commercial cannery. Moody is, as far as he knows, the only person who has worked to develop a mullet-in-retort-bag prototype. He has been talking up the cannery idea with John Shuff, the president of the Wakulla County Economic Development Council, and other “economic development types.” The retort bag makes the mullet shelfstable, said Moody, who estimated that the fish should be good for two years or more. “It’s not like a jar,” he pointed out. “You don’t have to worry about the lid rusting off. My next move is to get U.S. Department of Agriculture approval for a food-grade production process and get some product on store shelves in two to three years.” But a full-blown cannery? There are some if ’s involved. Certain economies of scale would have to be achieved. Said Moody: “Provided we can get fishermen the gear they need to catch the fish and provided we have enough fish, I think we can have a valuable enterprise. But if mullet is to be maintained as an available, low-cost seafood, we’re going to have to re-evaluate the fishery from a regulatory perspective, especially in terms of harvesting methods.” There was a time when fishermen using

beach seines deployed from well boats with their engines positioned forward of the stern made livings catching and selling mullet. The activity was especially lucrative during roe season. Mullet was a staple at seafood restaurants and was at the center of backyard fish fries and political rallies. Then came voter passage in November 1994 of a constitutional amendment commonly known as the Florida net ban, a measure that while hailed by sportfishing interests, dramatically curtailed historic net fisheries including mullet. The ban limited nets, including beach seines, to 500 square feet in size and a maximum stretch mesh size of two inches. “It’s hard to catch much fish with that net,” Moody said. “Some commercial guys use them, but you have to get a second boat involved so that you can surround the fish with four nets.”

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Too, given the small mesh size, non-marketable fish such as pinfish and undersized mullet get caught in the net, making for a tedious sorting chore. Moody emphasized that he was speaking personally and not in his capacity as a federal employee with law-enforcement responsibilities when he said he would like to see mullet managed with quotas versus gear restrictions. An individual fisherman might, for example, be permitted to catch 10,000 pounds in a year and to use any harvesting method within reason. His total catch would be tallied based on individual trips tickets obtained when fish is sold to a wholesaler. “He’s got a good idea,” Bob Jones, the longtime executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, said regarding Moody’s preference for quotas and relaxed gear restrictions. “There’s just one thing that stands in his way: Article 10, Section 16, of the Florida Constitution.” Indeed, the amendment provided that “nothing in this section prohibits the establishment by law or pursuant to law of more restrictions on the use of nets for the purpose of taking any saltwater finfish, shellfish or other marine mammals.” What it didn’t provide for was the relaxation of restrictions. “Getting that changed is a tough row to hoe,” Jones said.

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

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PANACEA WATERFRONTS

A STRONG VOICE by STEVE BORNHOFT

even years following passage by Florida voters of a constitutional amendment that banned gill nets and limited other nets to 500 feet in size, the community of Panacea was reeling. For generations, Panacea has been a commercial fishing town, and the net ban kicked the town right in its bedrock. The town was starting to decay. Storefront businesses were closing, and something had to happen to stem that tide. At the time, Pam Portwood was the grants coordinator for Wakulla County. In that capacity, she wrote an application to the state, seeking a waterfronts community designation for Panacea. That application process, said Portwood, who today works for the state Office of Economic Development,

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caused community leaders to think about Panacea and its future and to articulate a vision for its revitalization and success. The Waterfronts program also required that applicants establish a permanent board that would work to implement the arrived-at vision and further required that it hire a paid program manager. Portwood became that person. For two years following its formation, the Panacea Waterfronts Florida Partnership received $25,000 per year in start-up funds from the state. It established as its mission, â&#x20AC;&#x153;participating in the development of and guiding the implementation of a comprehensive revitalization plan and strategy that will enhance the natural environment and promote

PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS

Waterfronts board speaks up for Panacea

s a Waterfronts Florida A community, Panacea and its Waterfronts Partnership Board are committed to revitalizing the unincorporated town and promoting economic growth while remaining good stewards of an environment that attracts boaters and fishermen.

economic growth of the community while preserving natural, historic, and environmental resources, character and the identity of the area, while also preserving the rights of its citizens and landowners.” One of the chief benefits of the partnership, said Portwood, “was the opportunity to make trips to other working waterfront communities like Apalachicola, Vilano Beach (north of St. Augustine) and St. Andrews (in Panama City), spend two or three days there and learn about the challenges they were facing and what they were doing to overcome them.” Priorities for the Panacea Partnership, now 17 years after its formation, include promoting Panacea as a fishing and outdoor recreation-centered destination for tourists — the community looks forward to being linked to the Capital City from the Sea bicycle trail — and realizing community projects by supplying matching funds to the county and other entities. The partnership saw to improvements at Panacea’s Woolley Park by providing local dollars as a match for county funds.

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Panacea’s recreational assets include docks, parks and trials. Efforts to establish Panacea as a walking community have begun to pay off. Sidewalks are under construction.

For years it has been working to establish Panacea as a walking community and has met with some success that way. Sidewalks are under construction. Partnership board subcommittees are devoted to community beautification, marketing and event planning. The Rock the Dock fishing tournament is the partnership’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Plans for an Oct. 14 Panacea Oyster Festival, which was to have featured farmed oysters, were derailed by Hurricane Michael. The events committee also oversees family-oriented events at Halloween and Christmas. Rock the Dock tournament proceeds enabled the partnership to endow two $10,000 scholarships at Tallahassee Community College. They are reserved for students from Panacea and may be used for degree or certificate programs. The partnership’s Economic Development Committee focuses on big-picture considerations including the possible incorporation of Panacea or the formation of a community revitalization area (CRA). “The partnership board has been a great advocate for Panacea,” Portwood said. “Because we are small and unincorporated, we were often overlooked, and the board has given the community a voice.” The board has remained active and membership has grown steadily, according to Portwood. “The board meets monthly and, at almost every meeting, we have someone who attends for the first time and has an interest in helping out,” Portwood has found. Portwood, while a resident of Crawfordville, served as the partnership’s program manager for 10-plus years and remains a Panacea Waterfronts Florida Partnership board member. “I have stayed involved because I have a passion for working to help people who want to help themselves,” Portwood said. “I work hard for people who work hard. And that’s Panacea. They’ve done a lot with a little; they have no dedicated funding. I stay involved because I have fallen in love with them.”

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

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BUSINESS NEWS

CAPITAL APPOINTED BY GOV. SCOTT

» Gov. Rick Scott announced

two reappointments and an appointment to the Florida Rehabilitation Council. M. Ann Robinson is the intake manager for Disability Rights Florida. She was reappointed for a term ending June 30, 2020. Patrick Cannon is a sales associate for Helzberg Diamond Shops, Inc. He was reappointed for a term ending June 30, 2022. Allison Flanagan is the director of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. She succeeds Aleisa McKinlay for a term ending at the discretion of the governor.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

» Epyon Technologies, a managed IT and Internet Marketing services company, was purchased by CAMPBELL Brian Campbell. Epyon supports Tallahassee and the surrounding areas in everything from traditional desktop support to advanced search engine optimization and paid advertising.

Snow LLP, is a customer-driven consulting firm that develops strategy, solves problems and delivers results while mitigating risks and barriers. This expansion supports the company’s growth as it serves clients in 26 states.

» Leigh Jenkins

has been promoted to Senior Manager in the Assurance Services Department JENKINS at Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A., CPAs, a professional accounting, assurance and tax services firm in Tallahassee.

» Thomas Howell

Ferguson P.A., CPAs, a professional accounting, assurance and tax services firm ANDREWS headquartered in Tallahassee, promoted Stephen Andrews to director in the Tax Services Department and Brandon Mott MOTT to director in the Assurance Services Department.

» Will Groom and

» Tom Block will join the FSU

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Foundation as vice president for advancement relations. Block will draw upon his many years as an FSU employee to oversee the foundation’s board relations, communications, special events and donor relations and stewardship. His previous role was campaign manager and chief of staff for university advancement.

» Tallahassee Community College named Candice Grause chief of staff to President Jim Murdaugh. In that role, she will be responsible for assisting the president in day-to-day operations at the college and ensuring efficiency and effectiveness. Grause previously served as manager of content and digital strategy in the Office of Communications and Marketing and has been with the college since 2010. » Greg Word has

joined VisionFirst Advisors, LLC, as senior consultant. VisionFirst, a subsidiary of Butler

WORD

SOUNDBYTES

GROOM

ICARDI

Tim Icardi have been promoted to Senior within the Tax Services Department of Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A., CPAs, a professional accounting, assurance and tax services firm in Tallahassee.

» Two Tallahassee companies,

GioFX and Diverse Computing, ranked 1,650th and 3,394th on Inc. magazine’s 37th annual Inc. 5000, a ranking of the nation’s fastest growing private companies. GioFX designs, manufactures and services dimensional eyewear and LED products. Diverse Computing develops software, networking and consulting services for the criminal justice community.

» Penske Truck Leasing

has established a location in Tallahassee at 4765 Capital Circle NW. The facility offers full-service truck leasing, consumer and commercial truck rental, contract truck fleet maintenance — and connected

VERTEX ACQUIRES CRESTVIEW AEROSPACE New York-based American Industrial Partners, in a $550 million joint acquisition organized under Vertex Aerospace, LLC, has acquired Crestview Aerospace. Formerly operating as L3 Vertex Aerospace, a subsidiary of L3 Technologies, the merger establishes Vertex Aerospace and its subsidiaries as a global one-stop-shop solution, providing full aftermarket aerospace services for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

fleet solutions, a value-added resource to help customers address issues and options related to onboard technology systems (ELDs, telematics, onboard cameras, etc.). The 14,400-square-foot location is housed on 4.3 acres. It contains four truck bays and a wash bay. Baker Donelson’s Tallahassee office as an associate.

Additionally, as the Regional Award recipient, Moore is the sole nominee from the Southern Region for the prestigious national M. Dale Ensign Trustee Leadership Award. The Ensign Award is presented annually by the ACCT board of directors to honor an individual who has made a significant contribution as a lay trustee toward promoting the community college concept.

» Mickey S. Moore recently

» PR News, an industry journal,

» James Moore & Company,

EMERALD COAST

» Cody W. Short has joined

re-launched Moore Business Strategies, a consulting agency focused on helping businesses get to places they have never been before. Utilizing his experience and expertise gained from over 20 years in successful nonprofit and for-profit capacities, MBS offers advisory and handson approaches for businesses, including organizational transitions, effective fundraising, board development, executive coaching, system process improvements and more. P.L. announced Nadia Batey, CPA, for her admission into the partnership. A member of the firm for 14 years, Nadia provides tax advisory and compliance services with a focus on serving small businesses, real estate firms, manufacturing, startup and technology companies.

LOCAL HONORS

» The Association of

Community College Trustees (ACCT) has chosen Tallahassee Community College trustee Karen Moore MOORE as the recipient of the 2018 Southern Regional Trustee Leadership Award.

has named Sachs Media Group the “PR Firm of the Year” among firms throughout the U.S. in its size category. Sachs president Michelle Ubben accepted the honor on behalf of the firm and its entire staff, commenting, “We look forward to a bright future ahead working alongside so many talented individuals. We’re privileged to work with so many wonderful clients in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.”

APPOINTED BY GOV. SCOTT

» Maj. Gen. Don Litke, USAF,

Ret., of Niceville, was appointed to the Northwest Florida State College District Board of Trustees. Litke was appointed to fill a vacant seat for a term ending May 31, 2019.

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

» New York-based American

Industrial Partners, in a $550 million joint acquisition organized under Vertex Aerospace, LLC, has acquired Crestview Aerospace. Formerly operating as L3 Vertex Aerospace, a subsidiary of

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SOUNDBYTES annual Inc. 5000, a ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. They were: Beck Partners, ranked number 1,519; Waterhouse Press (1,814); RealJoy Vacations (2,540) and Acordis International (4,267). Beck Partners provides commercial real estate services, property management services and commercial insurance throughout the Gulf Coast region. Waterhouse Press extends highly tailored publishing and marketing experience to selectively chosen authors. RealJoy Vacations provides customers with premium vacation homes located on the Emerald Coast. Acordis International works with major manufacturers and organizations to provide IT services.

OPEN HOUSE Vivid Bridge Studios, a strategic video production studio based in Pensacola, held an interactive open house. The event included guided tours of the offices and studio space and a chance for guests to get to know each of the Vivid Bridge team members.

L3 Technologies, the merger establishes Vertex Aerospace and its subsidiaries as a global one-stop-shop solution, providing full aftermarket aerospace services for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

» Century 21 Blue Marlin

Pelican (C21BMP) celebrated 10 years in business by hosting Century 21’s chief executive officer, Nick Bailey. Bailey leads the Century 21 brand along with the 8,000 independently owned and operated offices with more than 118,000 independent sales professionals in 80 countries and territories worldwide. He is a leader in franchising, brokerage, management and technology, and is known as a trailblazing revenue-generating operator who increases margins while mitigating the impact of economic change. Bailey traveled from company headquarters in Madison, New Jersey, to the Emerald Grande at HarborWalk Village for an exclusive meet-andgreet with high-earning agents of C21BMP, the largest branch of Century 21 in the Florida Panhandle and among the top 50 in the country.

» The Bean Team, a Tallahasseebased accounting firm, opened their new location in Miramar Beach at Grand Boulevard in the Regus Office Lobby. During the grand opening celebration, the company collected donations for Hurricane Michael relief.

» Sacred Heart Health System has announced plans to build a

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» GrowFL and the Okaloosa

new outpatient services center in Pensacola that will include a surgery center, diagnostic imaging services and a dermatology center.

» Cox Communications and

The James M. Cox Foundation awarded a $150,000 grant to the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Walton Beach, to fund an upgrade to the club’s technology center located at 923 Denton Blvd.

LOCAL HONORS

» The Able Trust awarded

the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center (ECCAC) a $35,000 grant to assist them in accomplishing their organizational goals and mission. The grant represents donations from three “Ability Funds” that The Able Trust administers. ECCAC received $15,000 from the Gladys M. Thomas Ability Fund, $15,000 from the Donald F. Gallimore Endowment Fund and $5,000 from the John R. Pettengill Ability Fund. The Able Trust began supporting the ECCAC in 2011 and has donated over $130,000 to the center to date.

Economic Development Council announced that two Okaloosa County companies, Beast Code LLC and G.S. Gelato & Desserts, Inc., are among 50 statewide honorees selected as the 2018 Florida Companies to Watch. The companies were selected from more than 500 nominees for the awards presented by GrowFL, a statewide economic development organization, in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation. The winning companies’ management teams, competitive market positions and strong community involvement were among several factors that put them in contention for the award. The 50 companies generated nearly $1 billion in revenue and added nearly 1,000 jobs between 2014 and 2017. Together, they project a 50 percent increase in revenue and 40 percent increase in job growth in 2018 compared to 2017.

BAY LOCAL HAPPENINGS

» Four Emerald Coast

companies were listed on Inc. magazine’s annual 37th

850businessmagazine.com

Marshall CTX electric conveyor ovens, which save on energy and labor coasts, and energysaving LED lighting.

» Adam Mayo has been named

the new Director of Operations at the Sheraton Bay Point Resort in Panama City Beach.

FORGOTTEN COAST APPOINTED BY GOV. SCOTT

» Kristy Branch Banks of

Apalachicola was appointed to the District 3 seat on the Franklin County School Board. She will fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Teresa Ann Martin; her term runs through Nov. 13, 2018. She is the owner of her own law practice.

LOCAL HONORS

» Kerigan Marketing Associates, Inc. is number 4,673 on Inc. magazine’s 37th annual Inc. 5000, a ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Kerigan Marketing Associates helps clients build loyal relationships with the right customers using strategic creative and digital media capabilities. The fullservice agency was founded in 2001 in Mexico Beach and serves clients, including Florida State University, Macy’s Stores, United Airlines Express, The Eye Center and more.

I-10 APPOINTED BY GOV. SCOTT

» Michael Nuccio and Chuck

Hudson of Marianna were reappointed to the Jackson County Hospital District. Nuccio is a physician’s assistant at Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic at Marianna. He succeeds James Ward and will serve through Aug. 27, 2019. Hudson is a market executive for First Commerce Credit Union. He succeeds Dr. Bob Hoff; his term runs through July 19, 2022.

» » Capt. Anderson’s restaurant enlisted the services of Gulf Power in making kitchen updates that are innovative and energy efficient. The new installations include Middleby

Larry Cook of Bonifay has been reappointed to the Holmes County Hospital Corporation. Cook is the owner of Son’s Tire Inc. His term ends Aug. 22, 2020. —COMPILED BY REBECCA PADGETT

PHOTOS BY ZAC GREEN (VIVID BRIDGE STUDIOS) AND PROVIDED BY PROFILED INDIVIDUALS

BUSINESS NEWS

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EMERALD COAST CORRIDOR

Coastal Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa + Walton Counties

Skin in F the Game First Place Partners promotes West Florida By Kari C. Barlow

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irst Place Partners — a new grassroots organization dedicated to economic development in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties — has spent its first year not only raising the region’s profile but also adding dozens of local businesses to its ranks. The nonprofit, which formed in June 2017 and includes primarily private-sector entities, has grown to roughly 50 members. “We’ve got our feet under us now, and we’re ready to move out,” President Keith Hoskins said. “We’re just excited about what’s ahead.” Hoskins, who is the western district general manager for Gulf Power Company, said the group’s roster reflects a valuable crosssection of local knowledge and experience.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST PLACE PARTNERS (MEETING)

First Place Partners director Keith Hoskins, center, is flanked by colleagues, from left, Donna Tucker, Carlton Ulmer, Logan DeVries, Kara Cardona and Chris Middleton. Board members bring diverse perspectives from a variety of economic sectors to meetings.

“We bring diversity and a variety of business owners who really understand Escambia and Santa Rosa counties and the need to develop a business-friendly environment,” he said. Current members include several major players — Gulf Power, Baptist Health Care, West Florida Hospital, Navy Federal Credit Union, Baskerville-Donovan — as well as smaller companies, representing a range of sectors from banking and construction to law and real estate. “We’ve got experts in our organization,

Photo by STEPHAN VANCE

and we have all the silos talking to each other,” said John Hutchison, director of First Place Partners. First Place Partners secretary Ed Carson, of Carson Construction and Carson Lovell real estate development, said he’s proud to be part of a group of business leaders investing their own time and resources into economic development. “And, you know, there’s an understanding that we are not self-serving,” Carson said. “The site committee, for instance, isn’t selling sites to each other.” The group’s members, he said, are dedicated to improving the entire two-county area. “Our first year was a learning curve and trying to set up committees and trying to figure out which members were interested in doing which tasks,” Carson said. “I think we’ve pretty well got that worked out. I think we’re really engaged.” Hutchinson and Hoskins described the group’s role as supporting the efforts of FloridaWest and the Santa Rosa County

Economic Development Office with its members’ insights, contacts and experience. “We’re not going out and recruiting businesses,” Hutchinson said. “That’s the job of FloridaWest. … But economic development is a team sport, and it requires a lot of players.”

A Single Economy First Place Partners is somewhat unique — in both message and action. The group has pledged to remain entirely privately funded, using no taxpayer money in its operations. Its board of directors and members meet monthly, but they are committed to keeping costs low and have resolved to use members’ facilities instead of paying for office space. The members also believe strongly in reinforcing the notion that Escambia and Santa Rosa counties function best as a single economy. “There’s a river between us that divides us, but we’re tied together — there’s no question about it!” Carson said. “All you

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EMERALD COAST CORRIDOR

THE BLUFFS INDUSTRIAL CAMPUS, CANTONMENT

have to do is stand out on Highway 98 or Highway 90 in the morning and count cars heading into Escambia County.” The idea is that the two counties, which share one university, one state college, one major airport and one interstate, will be far more competitive approaching economic development from a united front. Hoskins, who previously served as the commanding officer at Naval Air Station Pensacola, said First Place Partners wants to promote the two-county area in that same manner, making sure the rest of the state and the nation understand what Escambia and Santa Rosa have to offer. Bringing in new jobs, he added, is also critical in helping both counties keep pace with even the moderate population growth they have seen in recent years. Hoskins and his colleagues predict that a majority of those new jobs — along with the necessary workforce skills — will be increasingly high tech.

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In that respect, Hutchinson said, Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are well situated, particularly in the areas of aerospace and aviation. “We have a large contingency of military members coming out of the military who are already trained to work on aircraft,” he said. “We need good jobs.” Carson agreed, saying the area must capitalize on recent wins such as VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering’s new $46 million maintenance-repair-overhaul hangar at Pensacola International Airport. “I think we’re also well on our way to having a very significant resource with regard to cyber security,” he said. “Not only UWF but Pensacola State College — both have very vigorous programs.” Carson said he prefers that any industry coming into the area not go beyond light manufacturing. “I’m not wild about heavy manufacturing,” he said. “Our environment here is

very important to our future, and I just don’t want to see anything happen to that. We have a very long history of not being very kind to our environment, and I think it’s turned around, and I would like to see it continue in that direction.” One existing resource First Place Partners is happily promoting is The Bluffs — the 6,300-plus acre industrial campus near Cantonment. “You’ve got rail access. You’ve got barge access,” Hutchinson said. “You’ve got all the water you want because ECUA has its new plant there. … Basically, all we need to do is build a road that connects it north to south.” Carson said the site has major potential. “It’s a real golden opportunity, but it’s going to cost money to get it ready,” he said. Hutchinson agreed, noting that all lasting economic development takes time. “You’re playing the long game,” he said. “You have to invest today to have success down the road.”

RENDERING COURTESY OF FLORIDAWEST

“THERE’S A RIVER BETWEEN US THAT DIVIDES US, BUT WE’RE TIED TOGETHER — THERE’S NO QUESTION ABOUT IT! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS STAND OUT ON HIGHWAY 98 OR HIGHWAY 90 IN THE MORNING AND COUNT CARS HEADING INTO ESCAMBIA COUNTY.” ED CARSON, SECRETARY OF FIRST PLACE PARTNERS

tenth annual

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The Last Word

A PRINCIPLED LIFE WELL LIVED Charlie Hilton: An appreciation

The Panama City News Herald, in a story published on the occasion of Charlie Hilton’s passing at age 87 in September, reported that he had been hospitalized several times during his final years owing to a neurological disorder that robs its victims of muscular control. More than once, he was not expected to survive, the account said, but he defied those prognoses. He was not, as I say, of a sort to stop for death. The Reaper was going to have to stop for him. When Hilton died, people were of a mind to say that there will never be another quite like him. In that, I hope they are wrong. Instead, let’s trust that among us today are boys and girls who will capitalize on educational opportunities, emerge as visionaries, alter for the better the course of their communities and live highly principled lives. I got to know “Mr. Hilton” — most everyone called him that including, reverently, his protégé, former Florida House speaker Allan Bense — when I was the editor of the aforementioned News Herald. He would stop by my office from time to time, often along with his likeminded good friend and fellow Panama City Beach developer Julian Bennett, in efforts to affect editorial policy. I could count on a visit whenever a tax initiative was before the public. Hilton would set his pork-pie hat on my desk, produce papers from a leather portfolio and have at me. When, in a column, I took a position favoring a proposed half-cent sales tax that would have benefited Bay Medical Center and made Panama City, I believed, a regional center for health care, Hilton got me on the phone and

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challenged me to a televised debate. I declined. My momma didn’t raise no fool. In 1994, alone, Hilton and his allies squashed two proposed levies, the BMC tax and then one proposed for stormwater management. He dismissed both ideas as creeping socialism. He wasn’t beyond likening county commissioners to Pontius Pilate. I interviewed Fred Levin, Pensacola’s most prominent attorney, not long before Hilton died. The two men followed similar paths. Both were self-made. Both earned law degrees at the University of Florida. Both built palaces on the water. Levin, a plaintiff’s attorney, told me that never has he been surprised by anyone in a court of law. Always, he said, he has anticipated and been prepared to refute an opponent’s arguments. It’s true about Hilton, too, that he didn’t win strictly by intimidation or force of will. He did his homework. The late Joe Chapman, a Panama City attorney/banker/developer like Hilton, respected “ol’ Charlie” as a competitor and a political rival. Each man had public officials that they fairly owned. Even as Chapman saw to the election of a valued employee’s husband, Richard Stewart, to the Bay County Commission, Hilton did likewise for one of his most valued employees, Carol Atkinson. Chapman once commented to me

about Hilton, “You’re never gonna outwork him, and he’s a hard man to outsmart. He starts early and works late and he’s at it seven days a week.” I always intended to relay that compliment to Hilton and should have. For Charlie, there could have been no higher praise. Hilton had a strong sense of fair play. I recall how furious he became when he suspected that rival Chapman had used political connections to hornswoggle him out of the Gulf-front property that today is the location of the Boardwalk Beach Resort. Both men had sought to acquire the property from the Resolution Trust Corporation, and Hilton’s higher bid was disqualified somehow. But Hilton was so much more than an “anti-” guy. He believed in the power of the individual and personal accountability and the benefits of competition and the capacity of the private sector to fashion efficient solutions to problems. What I most admired about him was the way in which he strived to make everyone around him better. For entrylevel employees of his roadbuilding business, men who spread hot mix with rakes, he maintained a college scholarship fund. He spent so much time bringing Bense along that Hilton’s wife, Lela, resented Allan until very recently. Mr. Hilton, I have no doubt that had I ever worked for you, I would have found another gear or found another job. Work hard and well,

STEVE BORNHOFT, EDITOR, 850 MAGAZINE sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com

PHOTO BY SAIGE ROBERTS

He didn’t much want to concede the inevitability of taxes or death.

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