Tallahassee Business Journal 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

2021 Tallahassee Business Journal AN 850 BUSINESS MAGAZINE SPECIAL REPORT

BLACK NEWS CHANNEL | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | AMAZON | ONLINE ENTREPRENEURS AIRPORT UPDATE | TMH UPDATE | CRMC UPDATE | CASCADES UPDATE PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD (BLACK NEWS CHANNEL), SAIGE ROBERTS (MAGLAB) AND RENDERING COURTESY OF OFFICE OF ECONOMIC (AMAZON)

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Contents PRINCELL HAIR

26 As the CEO and president of the Tallahasseeheadquartered Black News Channel, Princell Hair draws on his past at networks including CBS in documenting the present and working to groom the news generation of journalists. BNC maintains close relationships with Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), including Florida A&M University. Hair and his team are without a political agenda, he says, and are aware of the diversity within the black community.

CRISTINA PAREDES

32 The director of the Leon County/Tallahassee Office of Economic Development is capable of playing small ball and going for the fences.

Cristina Paredes says that many times it’s the bunt that scores a run in the economic development game. Or it may be that she is called upon to help create an incentives package sufficient to lure Amazon to town. Always, she is community minded and doing what she can to urge community support of locally owned businesses.

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AMAZON

38 A daily newspaper called the economic development play that was styled Project Mango a “worst kept secret.”

Indeed, prior to the deal closing, few people with a finger anywhere near the pulse of Tallahassee’s progress did not know that the land-rich DeVoe Moore intended to sell land adjoining his Tallahassee Auto Museum to the retail giant Amazon. The project is to yield thousands of construction and permanent jobs. Moore sees it as a development that will decrease the city’s reliance on public payrolls.

ONLINE ENTREPRENEURS

40 Even as the pandemic brought many small businesses to their knees, it resulted in a spike in new business creation, many of them operating from online platforms. The availability of cash and time and even the boredom that results from inactivity were factors leading to startups. In Tallahassee, a new online business, Dunsel’s Boat Sails, exemplifies the trend. The business

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manufactures heavy-duty tote bags from used and discarded boat sails.

AIRPORT

44 The Tallahassee International Airport intends to live up to its name more fully in years to come. Development of a new international passenger facility is scheduled for completion in 2024. Meanwhile the airport is working to freshen its terminal and to rehabilitate runways and taxiways while keeping an eye out for businesses, like Amazon, with an interest in occupying nearby land available for development.

TALLAHASSEE MEMORIAL EXTENDS ITS REACH

48 Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has established a new facility in Southwood, expanding the availability of convenient urgent care to southeast Tallahassee.

The hospital has also added an Abbot’s NeuroSphere Virtual Clinic for patients receiving Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy for movement disorders related to neurological conditions including Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and essential tremor.

CAPITAL REGIONAL SPECIALIZES CARE

52 Capital Regional Medical Center has more than $42 million in capital projects in the works, and several of them will be completed in 2022. They include a 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility, which will provide extended care for patients as they recover after their hospital stay. Three new procedural operating rooms will provide advanced stroke care, heart care and other services, adding to the hospital’s capacity to deliver tertiarylevel services.

CASCADES

56 Completion of the first phase in a $158 million downtown redevelopment project has further cemented the Cascade Park area’s status as the new center of town in Tallahassee.

Developer Shawn McIntyre considers himself fortunate to have been able to navigate challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic without experiencing any significant project delays. A new 164-room hotel is topped

by Charlie’s Park, a fine drinking venue.

Photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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A MARKETING IMPERATIVE

Businesses line up for spots on the Black News Channel

F

or too long, Princell Hair would argue, news media in the United States have viewed diversity as a charity initiative rather than a business imperative.

Meanwhile, however, Hair has been pleased to discover that a growing number of businesses other than the media have learned that engagement with diverse communities is essential.

Hair joined the Black News Channel, headquartered in Tallahassee, as its president and CEO in July 2020, five months after it was launched and made available to 33 million households via cable providers Spectrum and Xfinity and the Dish network. For starters, it offered six hours of live programming daily.

Much has changed with Hair at the helm of the nation’s only 24-hour news channel dedicated to

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informing, entertaining and educating a primarily black audience.

“We have had some incredible growth over the course of the last ı4 months or so,” Hair said. “We have increased our staff from 55 employees to 350.”

About ı75 of those employees are located in Tallahassee; Hair has a home at SouthWood. Others work remotely or at BNC’s Washington, D.C., bureau. About 80 percent of the staff is African American.

The production load has grown dramatically. “We have gone to ı7 hours of live programming a day on our channel and ı8 hours a day on a separate and distinct OTT channel,” Hair said.

Over-the-top (OTT) channels or media services are offered directly to viewers via the internet.

Photography by DAVE BARFIELD

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACK NEWS CHANNEL

BY STEVE BORNHOFT

As president and CEO of the Black News Channel, Princell Hair is committed to delivering multiple points of view on the issues of the day, particularly as they apply to Black and brown audiences. A native of South Florida, Hair started his career in local news, rising through a series of markets and positions with increasing responsibility and eventually becoming the vice president for news for the CBS Television Stations Group. He joined the Black News Channel in July 2020.

“The job has been a wonderful experience and a labor of love,” Hair summed up his experience to date. “The city has really embraced what we are doing here. They have been very accommodating.”

Former Tallahassee Mayor John Marks III is BNC’s vice president for government and community affairs.

“He has been helpful with some of the young folks who have moved into Tallahassee,” Hair said. “They are discovering a new part of the country, and John is our own built-in tour guide for Tallahassee. At the same time, he keeps us updated and in tune with what is happening in Washington.”

Via its linear platform, BNC today reaches approximately 50 million homes. That number was due to grow in November when BNC planned to launch on Cox Media, a big player in BNC target markets including Atlanta, New Orleans and Virginia.

“On the OTT platform side, we are available on about 250 million internet-connected devices,” Hair said.

The work of expanding BNC’s reach and appeal continues. In September, it launched an evening political program, Amplified with Aisha Mills. At this writing, it is planning to introduce in the fall a robust, videocentric website with its own content and voice.

“Next year, we’re looking at launching an app that is going to contain not just the news feeds that we currently do,” Hair said. “It will address other topics and content areas of interest to Black audiences — travel, family, community, restaurants, various areas that we would like to get into that we may not have time to approach on our linear network.”

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Hair is mindful that he is playing to a Black, but diverse, audience.

“The Black community is not a monolithic community,” he said.

“There are varying interests inside the Black community. There are African Americans, there are Caribbean Black folks who are here; it runs the gamut.

There are Black conservatives, there are Black liberals, there are Black progressives. Our position is that we try to provide all viewpoints on a particular topic. Then, the audience can make their minds up as to where their position is.

“We don’t have a political agenda.

Our agenda is to serve the Black community.”

On the advertising side of the house, BNC has moved from pursuing clients to entertaining potential customers, lots of them. The channel’s pull strategy is working.

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“The Black and brown market is too large for businesses to ignore — $300 billion in buying power a year, according to a McKinsey study,” Hair noted. “Companies looking for new streams of revenue are seeing that the Black community can provide them. If businesses overlook minorities — Hispanics, African Americans, members of the LGBTQ community, sometimes even women — they are overlooking major opportunities.

“I can tell you that there is no shortage of suitors looking to be a part of BNC. It’s a wonderful problem to have, and we hope to continue having it.”

Hair said that BNC, during its “upfront” season from April to September, exceeded its own expectations by securing commitments from advertisers in “all the major categories: pharmaceutical, financial, food

A newly introduced program, Amplified with Aisha Mills, focuses on politics.

Mills is a veteran commentator and political strategist dedicated to making sure that our democracy serves all corners in America’s cultural fabric.

PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD AND COURTESY OF BLACK NEWS CHANNEL (MILLS)

The Black News Channel, via its linear platform, was reaching approximately 50 million homes in October, a number that was due to jump in November when the BNC planned to launch on Cox Media. Of the BNC’s 350 employees nationwide, about 175 are located in Tallahassee.

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service, retail, consumer goods, you name it.”

BNC’s ratings have been inconsistent, but the overall trend line is good.

“We are still finding the audience, and the audience is still finding us,” Hair said.

“But we are seeing really strong performance, especially on days when you have stories that either disproportionately affect or interest the Black community.”

As of late summer, BNC had just started its first paid multimedia

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campaign, having previously relied on earned media generated by an agency, Rogers & Cowan, and the work of Tim Buckman, its vice president for integrated communications.

BNC maintains close relationships with historically Black colleges and universities around the country and especially with Florida A&M in Tallahassee.

“I very much view BNC as a teaching hospital,” Hair said. “We bring in interns every semester, and the majority come from HBCUs. They recognize that this is a wonderful opportunity for their students to get into a national news network and actually perform the jobs.”

Hair sings the praises of the journalism school at FAMU. “They really prepare their students for the practical world,” he said. “When kids from FAMU come into BNC, the learning curve is not as steep as it is for kids from other colleges.”

Its strengthening Tallahassee ties notwithstanding, is it possible that BNC’s explosive success will lead the channel to establish a new headquarters in a bigger population center?

Hair has identified Atlanta as a city that might become home to a larger BNC presence in the future. Already, BNC personalities accounting for five hours of broadcast time per day operate from studios in their Atlanta homes, Buckman said.

Buckman added that BNC has experienced some difficulty in finding the production personnel it needs in Tallahassee.

“But no decision to leave has been made, and if it were to come, it would be two to three years down the line,” he said. “Even then, the change would be gradual, one show or one studio at a time. In any event, we will have a continuing presence in Tallahassee.

It’s Florida’s capital, and a lot of news comes out of the state.”

Photography by DAVE BARFIELD

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MAXIMIZING SYNERGIES Research and technology are economic drivers in Tallahassee

BY DAVID EKRUT, PH.D.

C

ristina Paredes is the director of the Leon County/ Tallahassee Office of Economic Vitality, established in 20ı6 to be a catalyst to entrepreneurship. It has programs to welcome new businesses of any size, recognizing that getting operations established in a new location can be a challenge.

“You want someone to open the front door and introduce you to people that you know,” Paredes said, “and we help make those introductions.”

Whether it’s breaking ground on new construction or providing space for small innovative companies, the OEV has resources available for entrepreneurs interested in moving to the region.

They provide information on how to obtain local, state and federal incentives that minimize the costs of doing business in Tallahassee and can provide technical assistance in procuring the capital necessary to launch new businesses and grow existing companies. Their team is equipped with state-of-theart technologies to aid clients in selecting the optimal location for their business, based on real estate trends and consumer spending patterns.

“Research is the bunt that hopefully gets you that run,” Paredes, a baseball fan, said about innovation and business development.

She has worked with startups, including Sensatek and QuarryBio, to help facilitate a smooth transition out of research and development and into successful product development. The OEV helped procure funds for North Florida Innovation Labs for expansion of their business incubator.

Her offices also work with larger corporations looking to expand here.

“We have put a lot of momentum behind our ‘Magnetic Capital of the World’ campaign,” Paredes said, noting six projects in the pipeline in applied sciences and technology. Under the leadership of Ricardo Schneider, Danfoss Turbocor has broken

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Photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

Cristina Paredes, the director of the Leon County/Tallahassee Office of Economic Development, is spearheading a “Magnetic Capital of the World” campaign in an effort to further position Tallahassee as a hub for high-tech businesses and innovation.

FSU’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is central to that initiative. It is home to a cyclotron resonance facility capable of performing chemical analyses of highly complex mixtures.

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Scientists working in the millikelvin facility at FSU’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory analyze materials by subjecting them to high magnetic fields and extremely cold temperatures.

ground on their third expansion in Tallahassee. The latest addition to the international energy-technology giant’s local operations will create 230 new jobs in the area of manufacturing, as well as engineering and research.

But it’s the synergy between companies and research facilities that will push Tallahassee to the next level as a center for technological advancements and business development. Paredes said that Schneider and Prof. Gregory Boebinger, the director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, “… have been huge advocates on how industry and research can work together to anchor here in Tallahassee.”

Technology is not the only area of interest for Paredes. Recently, OEV picked up a few distribution and logistics-based projects. With I-ı0 cutting through the capital city, Paredes considers Tallahassee a “logistical wheel” with quick access into South Georgia and to ports in Jacksonville and 34

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Pensacola. Being centrally located in Northern Florida has made Tallahassee an ideal hub for many distribution companies, most notably the Amazon Fulfillment Center, which is slated to finish development in 2022.

Amazon will be adding close to ı,000 jobs to the region. While many businesses are struggling to fill jobs in the service industry, Paredes remains optimistic about the opportunities Amazon will bring to the region.

“People and capital move, but place doesn’t. So making Tallahassee a great place that keeps human resources here will help attract and grow your workforce,” Paredes said, adding that over the last ı8 months, Tallahassee has seen wages grow, making jobs more attractive and driving people into vacancies.

The Amazon Fulfillment Center will offer a starting wage of at least $ı5 an hour and employee benefits, including educational and advancement

opportunities after one year of employment. Currently, the OEV is discussing potential partnerships with Lively and TCC to “upskill” these jobs.

“Amazon shouldn’t be your main highway, it should just be your ramp to your main highway,” Paredes said. In the Tallahassee area, 56 percent of people have a liberal arts degree or higher, so low-skilled labor positions are seen as a stepping stones. The recruitment campaign will focus on attracting young, eager workers, looking to use the entry-level jobs at the fulfillment center as a lowest rung on their climb to the top of their ideal career ladder.

Of all the exciting new projects on her desk, Cristina is most excited about the “Love Your Local” campaign, which encourages community support of local businesses. During the holiday season, the OEV works to promote locally owned retailers as a first option for shoppers.

The campaign has attracted widespread attention, winning the OEV an award from the International Economic Development Conference.

The campaign highlights local establishments with signage in their windows and is a favorite initiative for Paredes.

It encourages everyone to “step out and experience a locally owned company,” she said.

The Office of Economic Development’s “Love Your Locals” campaign encourages community support of locally owned businesses. The initiative has attracted widespread attention and won an award from the International Economic Development Conference.

Photography by SAIGE ROBERTS

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ECONOMIC INDICATORS DASHBOARD Statistics compiled by the Leon County/Tallahassee Office of Economic Vitality

EMPLOYMENT

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

LABOR FORCE

2ND QUARTER 2021

2ND QUARTER 2021

2ND QUARTER 2021

187,802

4.9%

197,395

á UP 22,094

â DOWN FROM 8.8%

á UP 15,783

FROM Q2 2020

IN Q2 2020

FROM Q2 2020

+ 13.3%

- 3.9 pts.

+ 8.7%

2ND QUARTER 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION CLAIMS

AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE

OFFICE VACANCY RATE

á 51 MORE THAN

2ND QUARTER 2021

4TH QUARTER 2020

2ND QUARTER 2021

Q2 2020

2,263

$1,024

6.4%

+ 29.7%

â 18,107 FEWER THAN

á $122 MORE THAN

á UP FROM 5.9%

IN Q2 2020

IN Q4 2019

IN Q2 2020

MEDIAN SINGLE-FAMILY HOME SALES PRICE

- 88.9%

+ 13.0%

+ 0.5 pts.

NEW SINGLE-FAMILY CONSTRUCTION PERMITS

223

1ST QUARTER 2021

$256,500 á UP $24,950 FROM Q4 2019

+ 7.5% TOURIST TAX RECEIPTS 1ST QUARTER 2021

$1.06 M

â DOWN $558K FROM Q1 2020

- 34.4%

Leon County Population Growth by Age Group, 2010-2020 Source: University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research

Ages 0-4 – 633 // Ages 5-17 – 2,476 // Ages 18-24 – 789 // Ages 25-54 – 2,391 Ages 55-64 – 1,839 // Ages 65-79 – 3,955 // Ages 80+ – 1,914

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TAXABLE SALES 1ST QUARTER 2021

$1.39 B

á UP $179.5 M FROM Q1 2020

+ 14.8%

The Office of Economic Vitality works to ensure accountability, transparency, professional management and citizen engagement in economic development projects. It develops programs and initiatives while also leveraging ideas, innovations and intellectual capital through coordination with community economic development partners.

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AMAZONIAN PROJECT Officials say massive fulfillment center will be transformative

BY AUDREY POST

The fine print Local businessman DeVoe Moore had long planned to develop his property on the north side of Mahan Drive, between Interstate ı0 and Thornton Road.

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Toward that end, he had the area approved for development in 20ı2. That way, once a development plan was in place, all that would be needed was approval of a sign variance.

He sold ıı8 acres near his Antique Car Museum to two entities representing Amazon for an estimated $22.7 million.

The Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality handled the economic incentives package, acknowledging in September that the company was indeed Amazon, and the deal had been struck after the promise of $2.56 million in local incentives.

“We are proud to officially announce Amazon is coming to Tallahassee,” Christina Paredes, who heads OEV, said. “They’ll be using advanced robotic technology within the fulfillment center.

It’s a really neat process where the robots are helping with the sorting and picking of your items that you order.”

Residents in the Mahan Road and Buck Lake Road areas expressed concern about traffic impacts, but it was Thornton Road residents who were closest to the site and would feel the most impact.

When the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency board, made up of city and county commissioners, met in July to vote on whether to approve the incentive package for Project Mango, only City Commissioner Jacqueline “Jack” Porter voted against it, saying she thought the process had been rushed and area residents had not been given time to weigh in.

According to the development plans, all truck traffic will be

RENDERING COURTESY OF OFFICE OF ECONOMIC VITALITY

I

t was presented as Project Mango. A Fortune 500 company was seeking an incentive package to locate a $200 million, 650,000-square-foot logistics and fulfillment center in Tallahassee/Leon County, one of several locations the company was considering.

The company’s request for anonymity — a typical aspect of negotiations between businesses and economic development agencies — prompted the “Project Mango” moniker, but speculation pointed to online retailer Amazon early on.

In an archetypical government town like Tallahassee — state capital, two major universities and a community college larger than many universities — there is limited corporate sponsorship for cultural events and nonprofit fundraisers, things that contribute to a higher quality of life. The potential arrival of the biggest commercial venture in Tallahassee history was viewed as a sign of hope that the county’s financial base might diversify and expand.

“Amazon’s project is a once-in-a-generation economic development opportunity for our entire community,” Leon County Commission Chairman Rick Minor said once the deal was sealed. “Amazon’s investment in Florida’s capital county will be transformative, generating more than ı,000 full-time jobs and a total economic impact of $45ı million. We are living in extraordinary times, and our ability to create more employment opportunities for local families could not have come at a better time.”

Tallahassee’s economic tide could be turning, but some wondered at what cost.

Rendering depicts fulfillment center slated for a location on the north side of Mahan Drive in Tallahassee, between I-10 and Thornton Road.

The project is expected to generate 1,000 fulfillment and management jobs paying upward of $15 per hour.

AMAZON COMES TO TOWN Incentives and Projected Benefits

INCENTIVE PACKAGE THROUGH BLUEPRINT INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGENCY’S TARGETED BUSINESS PROGRAM:

»A d valorem tax

reimbursement estimate: $159,900 per year for six years

»T angible personal

property tax reimbursement estimate: $245,939 in the first year, decreasing in subsequent five years

»D evelopment fees: $499,268, first year only

»T otal of $2,565,299 over six years

required to use Vineland Drive, which has a traffic light at its intersection with Mahan Drive. Employees will use the Thornton Road exit from the property.

But some employees will turn right onto Thornton and head toward Miccosukee Road, one of Tallahassee/ Leon County’s cherished canopy roads.

The impact on Miccosukee Road is not yet known, but options to widen the protected two-lane road to accommodate the increased traffic do not exist.

Growing pains Many people likely don’t realize it, County Commissioner Kristin Dozier said, but the final vote to approve or disapprove the project fell within very narrow parameters.

“Once the staff determined the project fell within the ‘Active Center’ designation, the issue was whether it met all the requirements of the designation, and it did,” she said. “This is the highest

use designation we have, and it usually covers mixed retail projects.

“But there is no designation for a fulfillment center operating three shifts, with people coming and going around the clock,” Dozier said.

After the vote to approve the project, Dozier made a motion, passed unanimously, to have staff conduct a review in six months of the environmental and traffic impacts of the project.

Dozier believes the Amazon fulfillment center will be a good thing for Tallahassee and Leon County’s economy, but she also wants to protect the people and natural resources that are already here. It’s growing pains; the system was not set up to handle a project of the magnitude of the Amazon fulfillment center.

“The question is, do we need to include these issues in the review process?” she said. “The six-month review should help us answer it.”

PROJECTED ECONOMIC BENEFIT FOR TALLAHASSEE/ LEON COUNTY AND SURROUNDING AREAS:

»$ 200 million in capital investment in a new 650,000-square-foot fulfillment center

» 1 ,000 new jobs

in fulfillment and management paying a minimum of $15/hour

»2 ,256 construction jobs and 1,346 permanent jobs

»O verall economic

impact of $451.1 million

Source: Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency 850 Business Magazine

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Pandemic-induced shutdowns and slowdowns provided William McCarthy and Jonathan Virga with the time and the incentive they needed to found Dunsel’s Sail Bags.

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE Online businesses have flourished during pandemic

“I

t’s impossible to say now, but you know, there’s a chance that this business wouldn’t have started if there was no pandemic,” began William McCarthy.

“Oh, I’d put money on it,” Jonathan Virga cut in. “A hundred percent. I think that’s entirely true. That boredom fueled this.”

McCarthy and Virga are co-founders of Dunsel’s Sail Bags, an eco-friendly Tallahassee startup that produces a line of high-quality, durable bags constructed entirely from used and discarded boat sails. As entrepreneurs who have launched a business via social media, they are part of a trend that has gathered steam since the pandemic began.

Recent months have seen a dramatic rise in people venturing into the entrepreneurial space to supplement income, fulfill dreams or gain freedom from an increasingly unpredictable corporate work environment.

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Between 20ı2 and 20ı9, LLC filings in Florida grew by an average of ı0 percent per year, according to records from the Department of State’s Division of Corporations. In 2020, that number jumped to 28 percent, even as many traditional businesses suffered declines.

“I think you really need to look back at the last recession to have a good idea of what’s going on,” said Robert Blacklidge, executive director of the Tallahassee business incubator Domi Station.

“Back in 2008, there weren’t a lot of resources readily available for entrepreneurs,” he added. “During this economic downturn, the government stepped in and replaced that revenue. Wealth has, for a lot of people, increased. Real estate has gone up, stocks have gone up and that has created an opportunity for people to seek out resources for their own ideas, their growth, their business.”

In just a few months, Domi’s

enrollment jumped from eight to 44.

Among those enrolled in the program are Virga and McCarthy.

While recessions historically have discouraged new business formation, the downturn resulting from COVID-ı9 has proved to be an exception to that rule.

“While many small businesses were unable to survive pandemic lockdowns, new business startups nearly doubled in the United States during the pandemic,” reports the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). “During COVID-ı9, many workers in the United States who were furloughed, laid off or dropped out of the labor market for reasons such as child care, took the opportunity to create the startup of their dreams.”

Government policies and stimuli affected that growth.

“Added unemployment benefits and stimulus checks that were part of massive government stimulus packages may have enabled these new ventures,” MGI

PHOTO COURTESY DUNSEL’S SAIL BAGS

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PHOTO COURTESY OF DUNSEL’S SAIL BAGS

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reports. “Governments can support continued growth by expanding digital architecture to give everyone access to affordable broadband connections and by making permanent some temporary changes in regulation that have allowed new businesses to flourish during the pandemic.”

Virga and McCarthy got their start on social media. The FSU entrepreneurship majors were approaching graduation when they launched Dunsel’s on Facebook in the fall of 2020. The two men were overjoyed when orders started to trickle in and then picked up as the holidays approached. With a few dozen sales under their belts, the two gained confidence and spread their message of transparency and sustainability through livestreams, blogs, workshop videos When and Instagram. somebody “I don’t like getting emails that are buys one of our bags, just like, ‘50% off buy now,’ ” Virga they’re not buying something else that’s said. “I like more of a storytelling been made from raw aspect and really having a personal- materials. We’re ity. I think that’s really what we’ve lessening demand on tried to do across the board, whether the raw materials that are being used to with the blogs or Instagram posts make new or Facebook. We’ve even posted backpacks, new on Reddit a few times in different totes, new toiletry bags, new things.” communities with just an intro and blip about who we are, what we do. — Jonathan Virga We’ve been well-received in that, but I think it’s because of that transparency and that storytelling — it’s more real than a big company with no face.”

Today, the two still handle the bulk of the business on their own. McCarthy sews bags, Virga handles most of the marketing, and both spend hours on end cold calling sail lofts or anyone they think may have a sail in the garage. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love.

“We want to feel good about what we do every single day,” McCarthy said. “Sure, we could probably build really awesome products out of brand new sails. We could just get the material, and we can buy it probably cheaper than we can literally source it. But that’s not our mission.”

“This idea of consumerism, we’re beating it twice,” Virga added. “The first time, we’re taking from trash. We’re taking from the end of a life cycle, but then we turn that into a product. When somebody buys one of our bags, they’re not buying something else that’s been made from raw materials. We’re lessening demand on the raw materials that are being used to make new backpacks, new totes, new toiletry bags, new things.”

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Tallahassee Business Journal SPEC I A L R EPORT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GENERATOR Tallahassee’s airport focuses on more than the passenger experience

BY AL KRULICK

B

y all accounts, 2020 was the worst year in the history of commercial air travel. Airplane passenger numbers dropped by 60 percent because of restrictions resulting from COVID-ı9. Tallahassee International Airport (TLH) could not escape the debacle, hitting rock bottom in April. But, according to airport director David Pollard, the numbers have steadily bounced back.

“We’ve surpassed 20ı7 numbers; now we’re closing in on ’ı8 and ’ı9 numbers,” he said in late August. “So we’re climbing out of the big drop.”

Located five miles southwest of downtown Tallahassee, TLH opened for business in ı96ı as the Tallahassee Municipal Airport, although the capital city’s first airport was initially developed in ı928 next to where the James Messer Sports complex is located today. Named Dale Mabry Field after a famous World War I aviator, the original airport had a single turf runway until ı938 when the U.S. Army established a fighter training school on the site, constructing three runways and significantly expanding the facility. The field was eventually abandoned in favor of the new location.

Efforts are underway to ensure that greater numbers of international passengers claim bags at Tallahassee’s airport. A new international passenger facility is scheduled for completion in 2024.

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Photography by THE WORKMANS

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Today, TLH, which became Tallahassee Regional Airport, and then, in 20ı5, Tallahassee International Airport, covers 2,485 acres and has two runways: 9/27 is 8,000 by ı50 feet and ı8/36 is 7,000 by ı50 feet. Passenger service is provided

by American, Delta, United and Silver Airways with flights to and from Tampa; Fort Lauderdale; Miami; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta. FedEx and Quest Diagnostics Aviation handle freight. The airport is city-owned with a staff of 54 and an annual budget exceeding $ı3 million.

“The airport is a priority for the City of Tallahassee and the surrounding region,” said Tallahassee’s mayor, John Dailey. “It’s an award-winning airport with an awardwinning staff. We are primed to move forward, and we’ve got a lot of exciting things going on at the airport.”

Perhaps the biggest priority for TLH is to become a truly international hub.

Dailey reports that the city hopes to finish building its new international passenger facility by 2024, which, when complete, will be capable of processing 200 international passengers an hour. It will also get the city one step closer to establishing a foreign trade zone, which Pollard says could potentially extend to Port St. Joe to the west, and east to the I-75 corridor.

“But that’s all subject to final approval

by U.S. Customs,” he said. “First we build 46

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the facility that will house Customs, and once we get Customs in, we make a formal application for the Foreign Trade Zone.”

Other projects at TLH include: ongoing rehabilitation to the terminal; improvements to the air traffic control tower and AARF Fire Station; flight information display system upgrades; and runway and taxiway reconstruction and rehabilitation. Then there’s the Airport Gateway Project, a proposed ı2-mile multimodal roadway — pedestrian, vehicle and bicycle — to be constructed between the airport and Downtown Tallahassee.

Pollard and Daily agree that developing ı00 acres of airport land to attract new businesses seeking runway access is also a high priority.

“Our airport is an incredible economic development opportunity, not only for Tallahassee, but for the region,” Daily said. “And we look forward to capitalizing on all aspects of the airport to move our community forward.”

“We’re working hard not just to improve the airport and the passenger travel experience, but we’re also working in partnership with several other planning organizations and local groups to enhance the economic development potential and ultimate creation of jobs within the community,” Pollard added.

As the overall economy continues to improve, the city administration is bullish on TLH.

“We continue to do everything we can to partner with our airlines, our tenants and our stakeholders, and do everything we can to ensure a good, strong recovery, while also keeping our travelers safe as we conduct our daily operations,” Pollard said. “We’re very excited about the future of this airport and where we’re going. There are going to be some challenges ahead, but we’re going to remain focused on the positive. And that’s the bigger picture.”

Projects in sight for Tallahassee International Airport include rehabilitation work on the terminal, runways and taxiways. A proposed multimodal gateway would link the airport with downtown Tallahassee.

Photography by THE WORKMANS

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With its Southwood facility, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has expanded the availability of urgent care services to include the southeastern quadrant of the city. Historically, TMH provided Tallahassee with its first blood bank and ambulance service.

EXPANDING TREATMENT OPTIONS TMH adds clinics, expands presence in SE Tallahassee

BY AL KRULICK

T

allahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) is a private, not-forprofit community health care system that serves a ı7-county area in North Florida and South Georgia. Originally founded in ı948 as Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, TMH has grown in size, scope, offerings and services over the years.

Today, TMH comprises a 772-bed acute care hospital, a psychiatric hospital, multiple specialty care centers, three residency programs, 32 affiliated

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physician practices and partnerships with other medical institutions. There are more than 650 physicians on staff at TMH, representing more than 50 specialties. Its workforce exceeds 5,000, making it the largest employer in Leon County.

TMH has a long and distinguished record of medical “firsts” created for the benefit of its patients in the greater Tallahassee region. It had the area’s first blood bank, its first ambulance service, home health care program, cardiac catheterization lab, freestanding

emergency center, neonatal intensive care unit, and Level II trauma and emergency center, among others. It also has the first and only neuro-intensive care unit, comprehensive stroke center and animal therapy program. TMH has the longest continuously accredited cancer program in Florida, is home to the Panhandle’s most advanced neurosurgery team, and its specialties of gynecological oncology and surgical oncology are exclusively available in the region only at TMH.

Photography by DAVE BARFIELD

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Tallahassee Business Journal SPEC I A L R EPORT

This past July, TMH was once again recognized

by U.S. News and World Report as a Best Hospital for 202ı–2022. It earned six “High Performing” ratings: in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), Diabetes, Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Kidney Failure and Stroke Care.

Other recent news at TMH includes the introduction of Abbot’s NeuroSphere Virtual Clinic into the treatment paradigm for patients receiving Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy for movement disorders related to a variety of neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, dystonia (a disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions) and essential tremor.

DBS patients are outfitted with implanted electrodes and a pacemaker-type device that helps control these movements while reducing symptoms and the need for prescription medications. The new virtual technology allows physicians to both communicate with patients as well as provide new device treatment settings as necessary, in real time, regardless of location. Any changes are relayed directly to a patient’s compatible Smartphone or Apple iPod touch mobile devices.

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Urgent care like that offered at its Southwood urgent care facility, can be the best after-hours treatment option for patients experiencing sprains, skin rashes, infections, flu or fever, minor wounds or other aches and pains.

PHOTOS BY DAVE BARFIELD

Most recently, TMH opened its second Urgent Care Center to provide increased access to residents in Southeast Tallahassee. Urgent care remains the best treatment option for individuals who need medical attention after normal business hours, cannot wait for a doctor’s appointment or don’t have a primary care physician. Both Urgent Care Centers are equipped to serve patients experiencing sprains or strains, skin rashes or infection, fever or flu, muscle or stomachaches, earaches, as well as those who need minor stitches.

The new center is located in the SouthWood neighborhood at 3900 Esplanade Way. According to Dr. John Streacker, medical director of both Urgent Care Centers, the new facility was created out of a former TMH primary care office and a rheumatology office.

“We retrofitted it to become urgent care, and it’s a beautiful space,” he said. “It’s a wonderful option to be able to offer health care services to those further out from Tallahassee proper.”

Streacker adds that another goal of the center is to help lighten the load at the hospital’s emergency department while offering patients the care that they need in an acute setting. And while not offering primary care, per se, the Center “does a great job of filling that role,” Streacker notes. “And we do our best to help the patient at discharge by offering resources for them to establish a relationship with primary care. That’s one of our main focuses.”

Although the new Urgent Care Center officially opened on Aug. 25, 202ı, there was no ribbon-cutting ceremony at that time due to the entire TMH community’s focus on the ongoing COVID-ı9 pandemic.

Nonetheless, Streacker said, “We’re open for business.

We’re here and available to take care of anyone’s needs.

We’re open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and, hopefully, in the future, we’re going to expand those hours.”

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ANTICIPATING A MILESTONE YEAR CRMC boosts its specialized care capabilities

BY AL KRULICK

I

n the early ı970s, because there was only one hospital in Tallahassee, physicians sometimes had to wait weeks to schedule their surgeries.

Patients traveled to other Florida cities for care.

Seeing the need for another hospital, Tallahassee native Jim Tully, a prominent real estate developer, company president and community leader, formed the Capital Medical Center Group in ı974 along with several local doctors and businessmen. The group sought approval from the state to break ground on a new facility to be

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located on Capital Circle, which was largely undeveloped at the time.

In ı977, the same year that the state board granted the necessary Certificate of Need, Tully was diagnosed with throat cancer. He died a year later — one year before the new Capital Medical Center (CMC) opened its doors and began serving patients.

In ı980, the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) purchased the center, and it became HCA Tallahassee Community Hospital (TCH). Throughout the ’80s, TCH introduced new technologies and services, including a CT scan, hyperbaric

oxygen therapy, cardiac catheterization and an open-heart surgery program.

In the ’90s, the TCH Family Center began offering labor and delivery services, a new cardiac surgery ICU was opened and access to primary care was instituted via several community-based offices. A $ı.ı million expansion of the Emergency Department occurred in ı998, and by the year 2000, the hospital had opened a new Progressive Care Unit and an ı8-bed orthopedic/neurology unit. A new $ı00 million replacement hospital was completed in 2003, and it opened as the Capital Regional Medical Center (CRMC).

Over the last two decades, CRMC’s physical structures were expanded, more in-house medical offerings and programs were instituted, and more outpatient services were added.

Today, Capital Regional Medical Center has more than ı,ı00 employees, approximately 500 physicians and 266 beds. It includes a bariatric center,

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAPITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

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Renderings depict an anticipated expansion at Capital Regional Medical Center and the planned look of a new patient room. Steadily over the past two decades, CRMC has grown its physical plants, added in-house medical offerings and programs and expanded outpatient services.

general care for overall patient education and wellness, secondary care and tertiary care treat more severe conditions that require specialized knowledge and more intensive health monitoring.)

“These projects will be positive for the hospital and for the community,” Keesee said.

“They will yield over ı25 new jobs for our community as Tallahassee continues to grow.

We’re excited to be advancing the tertiary care capability here at Capital Regional, further defining Tallahassee as the health care hub for the region. So, we’re very, very optimistic for our future. And 2022 is going to be a milestone year.”

We have over $42 million in major capital projects underway, and a lot of them will be coming to life next year. We’ll be building a 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility, which will provide extended care for patients as they recover after their hospital stay so that they can get home healthy.”

— Alan B. Keesee, CEO of Capital Regional Medical Center

RENDERINGS BY HKS ARCHITECTS COURTESY OF CAPITAL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

comprehensive women’s health center, cancer center, family center, accredited chest pain center, 24/7 emergency services in Leon and Gadsden counties, certified primary stroke center, a Surgical Services, Heart & Vascular Center, wound care center and affiliated physician practices. It also serves military personnel from Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia; the Mayport Naval Station east of Jacksonville; and the U.S. Coastguard Sector – Jacksonville.

Alan B. Keesee, Capital Regional’s CEO, said there is more change coming soon.

“We have over $42 million in major capital projects underway, and a lot of them will be coming to life next year,” he said. “We’ll be building a 20-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility, which will provide extended care for patients as they recover after their hospital stay so that they can get home healthy. And then, we have three new procedural operating rooms where we’ll have advanced stroke care, heart care and other services.”

Keesee explains that these improvements will serve to update and improve the center’s tertiary care services. (Medical services are divided into primary, secondary and tertiary care. While primary care focuses on

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Tallahassee Business Journal SPEC I A L R EPORT

CASCADING BENEFITS Downtown redevelopment project repositions city’s ‘center of gravity’

BY HANNAH BURKE

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PHOTO BY MIKE O'NEILL

E

arly in 2020, the first phase in the construction of Shawn McIntyre’s $ı58 million downtown redevelopment project, Cascades, was just reaching completion.

The pandemic, of course, threw a wrench into the works. While construction was deemed an essential activity, materials and appliance shortages and the availability of healthy, skilled workers slowed the pace of business.

But for McIntyre, a partner and senior vice president of North American Properties, these were “minor setbacks.” In May 202ı, just a few months behind schedule, the mixed-use development debuted a brand-new hotel and welcomed the first residents to its upscale apartment complex.

“I feel very fortunate that we weathered — and are still weathering — the pandemic well,” McIntyre said. “I have peers in the industry from other states where developments have stopped and not restarted, so we’ve been very blessed and fortunate to be able to continue. And, the reward is that people have accepted Cascades into the community and are really happy to be here.”

According to McIntyre, Tallahassee’s center of gravity seems to have already shifted to the two city blocks adjoining Cascades Park.

Marriott International’s ı64-room AC Hotel Tallahassee has already attracted “a high guest occupancy,” said McIntyre, and its 5,000-square-foot ballroom and business meeting space is being used frequently. The rooftop bar, Charlie Park, is now open, treating visitors to craft cocktails, epicurean small plates and a bird’s-eye view of Cascades Park’s 24-acre green space.

The Parkview at Cascades, a new amphitheater support space, is now complete with a green room, boardroom, dressing rooms and a 3,533-square-foot event ballroom.

McIntyre said the development has been turned over to the Leon County Tourist Development Council and the City of Tallahassee Parks and Recreation Department, and leasing for events should commence soon.

Completion of the first phase in a $158 million downtown redevelopment project has further cemented the Cascades Park area as the new center of town in Tallahassee. Developer Shawn McIntyre has navigated challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic to keep his project on schedule.

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Marriott International’s 164-room AC Hotel Tallahassee features a 5,000-square-foot ballroom and business meeting space. Charlie Park, the rooftop bar at the hotel, offers crafts cocktails, epicurean small plates and spectacular views.

Park don’t have to get in their car and drive elsewhere to eat.” There are also letters of intent signed for a coffee shop and an ice cream/smoothie parlor.

Cascades recently received the go-ahead to begin Phase II construction, which will add two more residential buildings and another ı50 living units available for rent. Buildout will take about two years.

“Phase II will help create the downtown neighborhood people have been asking for and plays to the ‘live, work, stay, play’ cliché from the planner’s handbook,” McIntyre said.

“Looking back at the city’s original request for proposal, I think we’ve

fulfilled the promises we made and the desire for an ı8-hour downtown with multiple uses.”

McIntyre said that early on, a city planner did a study projecting the amount of urban density generated by a hotel, retail center, public parking lot, office building and McIntyre’s goal of over 300 apartment units. If built to suburban code, Cascades would have consumed ıı2 acres of land.

“We did it in five,” McIntyre said.

“That just shows what urban density can do. We could have created a sprawling community, which is typical suburbia, but we instead created the urban environment and definition of a city.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WWW.MARRIOTT.COM

“And, the city has closed on the 252 public parking spaces in the garage beneath our multifamily,” said McIntyre. “Public parking is open, and the city even has a manned parking office in there.”

McIntyre is referring to the partially underground garage beneath Millstream, the new multifamily community at Cascades. The ı6ı-unit, nine-story luxury apartment complex currently has a 50% occupancy rate, he said in September. Recreational managers planned to open its clubhouse and pool courtyard, complete with chaise lounges, fire pits and cooking stations, after Labor Day. Too, a multitude of tenants will be occupying Merestone. Neighboring the AC Hotel, the Class A office complex has already attracted Artia Solutions, a pharmaceutical consulting firm who committed last year to a 7,500-squarefoot space. Due to confidentiality constraints, McIntyre didn’t name other prospects, but said that “letters of intent are signed, and at this point, we are negotiating with enough tenants to finish the office building.”

McIntyre spoke last year to the difficulty in attracting restaurants to its retail space, as many prospective suitors were uncertain about what shape their post-pandemic business models might take. Today, he said, those concerns have been resolved.

“I wanted to have restaurants in place by the time we opened this year, but because of COVID, that wasn’t in the cards,” said McIntyre. “People wanted to be able to see and touch the spaces before committing. Restaurants, especially franchised ones that have been in the industry for a while, realize they have to either change their business model or adapt. And, people are starting to understand the asset we’ve built.”

McIntyre said lease negotiations were underway with a regional eatery that’s a “higher-end sports bar and family restaurant with a great children’s menu, so families visiting Cascades

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