2013-14 Tallahassee Business Journal

TO U R I S M GROW TH E D U C AT I O N I N N O VAT I O N H E A LT H C A R E R E A L E S TAT E T R A N S P O R TAT I O N

Tallahassee Business Journal 2014

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WE LCOM E L E T TE R

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t’s truly an honor to be chosen to lead the economic development initiatives in our community as chair of the Economic Development Council (EDC) of Tallahassee/Leon County. I feel fortunate to serve as both president of Tallahassee Community College and chair of the EDC of Tallahassee/Leon County during this unique and exciting time in our region. Our communities across the Panhandle are at a collective tipping point in their reinvention and advancement. We must continue our efforts — in Leon County and across the region — to plan strategically for future growth and development of local business and industry, to support new ideas and innovation emerging in our communities, colleges and universities, and to recruit companies outside of North Florida to relocate here bringing with them a significant number of jobs, investment and opportuniJim Murdaugh ties for our residents.

The EDC of Tallahassee/Leon County focuses on enhancing three main areas: entrepreneurism, business retention/expansion and new business recruitment. These areas form the foundation for strengthening our community and allow us to be laser-focused in our strategy for enhancing our region’s economic climate. The benefits inherent in being the capital city of the country’s fourth most-populous state serve as a springboard for collaboration between three excellent higher education institutions, actively engaged local government and a resilient business community that turn good ideas into profitable ventures. The EDC works closely with city and county officials, business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs and community leaders in identifying economic By connecting the private development opportunisector with education ties and projects that will and local government, bring jobs, investments the EDC helps: and sustainability to our » Foster entrepreneurialism region. We are a program of the Greater Tallahassee » Advance local businesses Chamber of Commerce » Grow targeted industry and work collaboratively sectors to not only recruit and retain business, but to » Attract innovative also ensure there is supcompanies to our area port, infrastructure and » Create a competitive resources to help new and business climate existing businesses thrive.

We are on the verge of

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a game-changing economic development opportunity in our region. Earlier this year, representatives from the City of Tallahassee, Leon County, business owners and numerous other strategic partners assembled to support a framework for sustainable job creation and economic growth and a vision for the future of our community through an effort called IMAGINE Tallahassee. A true community-wide initiative, IMAGINE Tallahassee offers citizens the opportunity to identify economic development strategies, weigh in on capital investment decisions, give feedback and share their ideas related to Tallahassee’s future. And with the support of the EDC and Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, it has the potential to make our community one of the most innovative and competitive in the world.

There is so much potential in our region and surrounding counties. We have world-class research facilities, an enviable commercial transportation infrastructure, a skilled and educated workforce, nationally-recognized institutions of higher learning, and our region offers a quality of life like no other. The commitment to fund economic development through partnerships with local, state and federal government, significant support from our area school districts and higher education partners and the forward-thinking vision of the private sector is unrivaled in most markets our size. Through product development, marketing, research, technical and business assistance, oversight of industry sector initiatives and advocacy that strengthens the competitive advantage of the region, and collaboration with our public and private sector partners, the EDC seeks to serve the needs of our business community and create opportunities for our graduates and our children to stay in Tallahassee.

On behalf of the EDC Board of Directors, investors and executive team, I pledge to you our continued efforts to help our region reach its potential through the attraction of new capital, job creation and support for local businesses. I invite you to invest with us as we shape and develop our community. The future is bright.

Sincerely,

Jim Murdaugh, Ph.D. Chair, Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County

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PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BRIAN E. ROWLAND EDITORIAL EDITOR Linda Kleindienst STAFF WRITER Jason Dehart

TAB L E OF CONTE NTS

4 Welcome Letter

30 Commerical Real Estate

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Chay D. Baxley PROOFREADER Melinda Lanigan CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lawrence Davidson PRODUCTION MANAGER/NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR Daniel Vitter GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lizzie Moore

8 Imagine Tallahassee

10 Health Care

ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Jillian Fry, Monica Perez

33 Demographics

34 Capital Corridor

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Scott Holstein SALES & MARKETING MARKETING AND SALES MANAGER McKenzie Burleigh

19 Innovation

DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS Daniel Parisi TRAFFIC COORDINATOR Lisa Sostre ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Rhonda Chaloupka, Darla Harrison, Tim Hughes, Lori Magee, Tracy Mulligan, Linda Powell, Paula Sconiers, Chuck Simpson, Chris St. John, Drew Gregg Westling MARKETING AND SALES ASSISTANT Nicole Liang

CREATIVE. PRINT. SOLUTIONS.™

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37 Growing Communities

22 What’s New

26 Education

41 Where to Get Help

29 Transportation

42 Tourism

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I MAGI N E TAL LAHASSE E

IMAGINING THE FUTURE

Community-wide effort focuses on economic development

By Linda Kleindienst

Tallahassee is a vibrant city poised for economic growth.

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PHOTO BY LARRY DAVIDSON

I

t’s time to start a conversation that’s long overdue.

That was the attitude of a small group of Tallahassee’s business leaders when in early 2013 they began forming the nucleus of what would become Imagine Tallahassee — a cross-section of community interests that have joined together to develop a coherent and cohesive vision for the region’s economic development.

“The big question is, where are we trying to go?” said Kim Rivers, who co-founded the group with business partner J.T. Burnett, and a driving force behind the effort. “There’s been no concentrated effort to ask that question in a meaningful way.”

Rivers confessed her confusion when she found out from city and county planners there was no single economic vision that had been embraced by the region’s many major stakeholders, from health care to education to local government.

There has been visioning, but it’s been in silos — meaning there has been little cooperative effort to develop a comprehensive plan that all sectors of the community have embraced.

“Everyone has been operating in their own world,” explained Kim Williams, a former chairman of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County and a member of the Imagine Tallahassee Committee. “It made perfect sense to put people at the table with common interests. We need to tear down the silos.”

As the grassroots movement began to grow, Rivers said there were a variety of issues that needed to be addressed.

“What is economic development in our county? What can we realistically accomplish? And where do we get the biggest bang for the bucks?” she asked. “And we need to look at how we fit into Northwest Florida and how it compares to the rest of the country.”

By late spring, Imagine Tallahassee had embarked on the most ambitious effort ever seen here to get input from the community and leading interest groups and then develop a consensus on how to shape Tallahassee’s economic future. This month the group will present its results to

the county’s sales tax committee with a list of proposed economic development projects in hopes the committee, the city and county commissions and then Leon County voters will agree to spend a potential $113 million to help fund that future.

“Imagine Tallahassee is about an aspiration; it’s about a vision for the future,” said John Fernsler, principal with Wallace, Roberts & Todd, a Philadelphia consulting firm hired with private donations to work with the committee on the vision and funding priorities. (It has been involved in similar efforts with Austin, Tex., Key Biscayne and Erie, Pa.) “But it’s got to be more than platitudes. It’s got to be: What are we going to do about it to achieve it?”

The tool for change would be a voterapproved local option penny sales tax paid within Leon County. The law that gives counties the option of seeking the extra sales tax to fund local infrastructure projects like road improvements and new parks now allows up to 15 percent of that additional tax revenue to be set aside for economic development projects. Leon County’s sales tax committee has tentatively agreed to do that and has been waiting to see what Imagine Tallahassee, an official offshoot of the committee, comes up with.

The extra penny tax was approved

by Leon County voters in 2000 to fund Blueprint 2000 projects and will expire in 2019. Before then, voters will be asked whether they want to extend it.

This month, Imagine Tallahassee is presenting its list of priorities for how some of that tax money should be spent to boost economic development. That list has been put together as a result of the grassroots visioning process that has taken place over the past six months. The sales tax committee will review it and then decide which, if any, of the projects should be put on the referendum that will go before voters. (Please go to 850businessmagazine.com for the final list of projects being recommended by Imagine Tallahassee.)

“Our job is to look out 15 to 20 years, to look at the real needs of the community,” explained Steve Evans, chairman of the sales tax committee, of the next step. “What

does the community need and what’s a major disaster if we don’t address it.”

If the sales tax committee does opt to ask voters to set aside some of the tax proceeds for economic development — and the city and county commissions approve the plan — Leon will become only the second county in the state to take advantage of the law’s new provisions.

“It’s a unique opportunity. It is game changing,” said Sue Dick, president and CEO of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. “The key is ensuring all the stakeholders are working together. It is for economic development projects that are going to create sustainable jobs.”

Tallahassee and Leon County already have a lot going for them. Tallahassee was recently named one of the top 100 cities in the world for innovation — and it’s attracted six major national retailers in just the past two years. Last year, 31 international representatives came to town — a sign, says former EDC Chair Karen Moore, that “we are on the global map” — and this fall there were 33 potential projects in the EDC’s pipeline that represent the possibility of 7,000 new jobs.

Kyle Touchstone, the EDC’s newly hired executive vice president, sees the economic development dollars as vital to the city’s growth.

“It will help shape the future,” he said.

“We could see some dynamic opportunities arise. We will work actively to see it happens … two areas we’re really focusing on are developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem and creating an economic hub.”

Touchstone said the area has many attributes that will make it attractive to business, like 1,000 undeveloped acres at the Tallahassee Regional Airport, access to major highways that can transport products anywhere in the nation, top-notch university research and development and an education system committed to turn out a top-notch workforce.

“When I moved here, it was a very eye-opening experience to see what is going on,” he said. “There is a forward momentum, and we need to continue that. I think Tallahassee is definitely going to be on the map as a premier location.”

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TAKING THE PULSE

When It Comes to Health Care, Could Tallahassee Hold the Key to the Future?

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or a number of reasons, Tallahassee might just be the place where health care’s bright new future begins — and, in fact, has already started.

“Tallahassee is very rich in its health care. I think one of the strengths of the community is the health care provided,” said Brian Cook, CEO of Capital Regional Medical Center. “Residents have two very good hospitals to choose from … they have lots of great doctors and many access points to choose from (including) walk-in clinics.”

The concept at the core of health care’s future, say those involved in the industry, is trending away from hospitals, emergency rooms and specialists and toward primary care — the family doctor, pediatrician or internal medicine doctor. Or maybe not even a doctor at all, but a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.

Mark O’Bryant, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare president and CEO, sounds practically giddy when discussing the subject.

“We are in a great, great environment for transforming health care. It’s going to be a very difficult transition in any market, but we’ve got the perfect laboratory population for really creating a new model of care,” he said. “It’s a large population but not too large. It’s large enough to have morbidity patterns that reflect what you see across entire communities. We’re a diverse population, which is a very positive thing because it also is representative of the challenges people have. Community health research is not something a lot of people want to do or can do well, but we think with the new medical school … (TMH can) partner with them to do community health research.”

In addition, primary care has been front-and-center in Tallahassee for decades.

Forty years ago, the TMH established the Family Medicine Residency Program, a three-year post-graduate program that has since graduated more than 300 physicians.

“If you look at … residency programs, one of the roles is to bring doctors into your community,” said O’Bryant. “Probably two-thirds of them are practicing somewhere in the bandwidth of North Florida and South Georgia. It’s been very effective at doing what it was designed to do.”

In conjunction with Florida State University’s College of Medicine, TMH recently added a residency program in internal medicine, now in its second year, with an ultimate capacity of 24 doctors.

It’s also in the midst of establishing a five-year-long residency program in general surgery, slated to begin in the fall of 2015.

HMOs have been around since the early 20th century and got a huge boost in 1973 when federal law encouraged employers to offer managed care plans in their benefit package and subsidized 10

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the creation of HMOs. But this “new” way to deliver health care caused a backlash, and many HMOs fell by the wayside.

In the midst of the HMO hullabaloo, in 1982, a group of local civic leaders created Capital Health Plan. While CHP embraced managed care, it has thrived over three decades, with about 126,000 members, a more than 30 percent share of the potential market in its seven-county service area — one of the highest rates of HMO coverage in the nation. It has received national acclaim, most recently ranked as the No. 3 private health insurance plan in the U.S. by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Why did CHP make it when so many other HMOs failed? Two words: nonprofit and local.

One distinct advantage in the beginning was that CHP was able to draw from a huge pool of potential members who work in government and education jobs. But John Hogan, CHP’s president and CEO, who has worked for the HMO since its inception, credits the hyper-local focus of the organization — and its responsiveness to the needs of both members and network physicians — with its continued success.

Many of the HMOs operating in Tallahassee that weren’t successful were operated from afar, often by insurance companies that were well versed in the payment end of things but not in the actual delivery of medical services, said Hogan.

Without taxes and shareholders to pay, Capital Health Plan can invest in local wellness projects such as CHP Champions, a joint effort with the Leon County school system to provide physical activity — “45 or 50 minutes in constant motion,” is how Hogan described it — to more than 18,000 schoolchildren in first to eighth grades.

In another project, CHP partnered with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare in 2011 to establish The Transition Center, a facility that provides follow-up care to patients after they are discharged from the hospital.

From inception, CHP has encouraged primary care, with free wellness visits and preventive screenings, and urged members to select a personal physician with whom they can have a longterm doctor/patient relationship.

“The primacy of the relationship between physician and patient is key to everything we do,” Hogan said. And decisions about appropriate care — even those that may entail telling the patient no for a particular test or treatment — are made easier when the doctors have long-standing relationships with CHP and easy access to the gatekeeper.

“If we have clinical issues going on in Tallahassee and a physician wants to talk to the chief medical officer about something,

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

By Rosanne Dunkelberger

Tallahassee’s health care leaders: (left to right) Mark O’Bryant, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare; Nancy Van Vessem, Capital Health Plan; John Fogarty, Florida State University College of Medicine; and Brian Cook, Capital Regional Medical Center.

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he picks up the phone and calls Nancy (Van Vessem). I think that’s their clinical training in doctor’s offices, nursing homes and other a huge advantage of our program and how we operate,” he said. facilities from board-certified physicians.

While it could serve as a model for other HMOs, Hogan said “We have over 2,400 community faculty that take students CHP is not interested in expanding its geographic reach. into their offices and provide them the six or eight weeks of rota“We get asked why don’t we go to Gainesville, why don’t we go tion experience,” Fogarty said, in such areas as obstetrics and to Panama City,” he said. “We don’t because we’re very local and gynecology, general surgery, pediatrics and family medicine. In focused on Tallahassee. We’re comfortable in our own little niche.” a typical medical school, a student might be assigned one or Another homegrown health care innovation is Patients First. two patients in a hospital, he said. “When you’re in the office, While the urgent care “doc-in-the-box” concept existed before you’re seeing 6, 8, 10, 12 patients every day … . Our students are the company started nearly 25 years ago, Patients First took it a delivering 20 or 30 babies over the course of their time in their step further, by combining the convenience of urgent care with third-year rotation. They’re picking obstetrics (for their residena family care practice. cies) at twice the national average, because they’re having such “I’m hearing it from everybody,” said President and CEO a positive experience.”

Brian Webb. “The concept we have is where the next generaA common comment when doctors are introduced to FSU’s tion is heading.” learning experience is, “‘I wish I could have gone to this medical There are now seven locations in Tallahassee with an eighth, at school.’ It really is unique,” the dean said. the intersection of Capital Circle and Crawfordville Highway, in the Since the FSU school started, several medical schools have works. Like CHP, Webb said his company doesn’t feel the need to expand into other regions. “We need to do it well in our hometown; that’s our main focus,” he said.

One of Tallahassee’s most advantageous assets when looking to the future of health care came in 2000, when Florida State University opened its College of Medicine, the first new med school established in the U.S. in a quarter century. The Florida Legislature funded it but with strings attached — this new school was tasked with graduating doctors focused on primary care, particularly for the elderly and in underserved rural areas.

Aside from the obvious benefits of In their final year of medical school, patient contact is a key component home-growing more doctors, FSU’s med of aspiring doctors’ education. school also adds a certain cachet to Tallahassee — O’Bryant said it was one of the reasons he chose to take his TMH position 10 years ago. The College of Medicine also attracts talented come online, including three others in Florida at the University doctors to its faculty as well as research projects to the community. of Central Florida, Florida International University and Florida In the ensuing years, FSU has not only embraced its mandated Atlantic University. All of them, said Fogarty, are using the more mission, but also chosen to create a new model for training the traditional teaching model rather than FSU’s. next generation of doctors that provides an exceptional opporBricks and Mortar and Doctors tunity for students to learn via hands-on care.

For the past 100 years, the standard for health care training Mention “health care” and “hospital” is one of the first images was centered on “big, academic medical centers,” according to that comes to mind. And hospital care does eat up the largest Fogarty, who came to FSU in 2008. But, he said, “in the last 25 part of the nation’s health care expenditures — 31 percent of the or 30 years, health care has changed dramatically, so the only total in 2010, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. people that are in the academic medical centers are the sickest (Physician/clinical services came in a distant second at 20 percent.) of the sick … the high-end folks with unusual diseases.” These Tallahassee’s hospitals are large and visible businesses — the days, “more and more care is being provided out in the commufourth (TMH) and 11th (CRMC) largest employers in the area. nity hospitals and more care (is provided) outside the hospital” So it’s a bit of a surprise to hear the chief executives of both in doctors’ offices and other medical settings. hospitals say the future of health care lies outside of their hallways.

For their first two years, students learn on the college campus, “We’re creating more outreach efforts for people to see but for their final two years of medical school they are sent to primary care doctors and specialists,” said CRMC’s Cook. The one of six satellite campuses located throughout the state to get region’s for-profit hospital, part of the HCA chain, just added 2014 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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two floors — 44 patient rooms — to the top of its building, bringing the bed count to 242.

But much of the focus now, he said, is on developing physician practices around the hospital and in communities outside of Tallahassee. And enhanced select medical services are seen as growth areas in the future.

“What hospitals are realizing (is) their business model, which is filling beds, is the opposite direction of where things are going. The movement is to keep people out of the hospital,” said the FMA’s Stapleton of statewide trends. “They’re having to adjust their business model to deal with the outpatient side of things and to make sure they’re not just on the losing end of this. What we’re looking at more and more is sort of cooperative types of relationships.”

Cook said the model of physicians on the payroll model “started to blossom” six or seven years ago, with primary care doctors. “They were tired of running a practice — the billings, the collections, the hiring and firing,” he said, as well as expensive mandates relating to patient privacy and electronic records.

“The overhead became cost prohibitive, but also the time. Basically we run the practice; we give them a place to practice.” That has now expanded, with Capital Regional practices dedicated to such specialties as cardiology and obstetrics and gynecology.

Nationwide, HCA employs about 5,000 doctors, according to Cook, with the chain’s central service managing such things

as billing, collections, credentialing and insurance. And it’s not just the older, established doctors who are embracing employment. Newly minted doctors are also getting on board with working for a paycheck.

“A lot of the younger ones have no interest in running a practice,” Cook said. For Gen Xers and Millenials, “it’s work/life/family balance and being a doctor, not being a business person. It’s about balance with these doctors, more so than the money aspect.”

Another doctor-related trend is the rise of the hospitalist, a physician who cares for patients when they are in the hospital, rather than their primary care doctor. “What we are seeing are less and less doctors that want to round on their patients,” Cook said. “They feel they’re more productive, their time is better spent, by staying in their office seeing clinic patients. They have no desire to go to the hospital, they have no desire to be on call.”

When Dr. Gary Winchester started practicing medicine more than 30 years ago, he was not only responsible for his patients in the hospital, but was also on call to work in the emergency room. Today, he lets the specialists do those jobs.

With fast-changing medicines, techniques and equipment, for both inpatient and emergency room care, “medicine has just gotten too complicated,” he said. “It’s utterly impossible for somebody who does outpatient medicine to be able to do hospital medicine because they’re worlds apart.”

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Newly opened 24-hour TMH emergency care center off Interstate 10.

Tallahassee Memorial Hospital recently completed two major brick-and-mortar projects that are not directly attached to the main hospital campus. The TMH Cancer Center is located a few blocks away, while the freestanding Tallahassee Memorial Emergency Center – Northeast was built in that population center near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Thomasville Road.

TMH has also unveiled plans for a $170 million, 294,000-square-

foot Surgery and Adult Intensive Care unit expansion on the south side of the existing hospital. O’Bryant calls it a “50-year building,” because it is planned to meet the community’s needs for that long, with design flexibility to accommodate new health care equipment that might come along in the future and the ability to add more floors if they’re required.

TIME magazine dedicated most of its March 4, 2013, issue to an article named “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us,” and author Steven Brill aimed particularly harsh comments at not-for-profit hospitals that were, in fact, posting multi-million-dollar profits. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) reported TMH posted a profit of $66 million in 2011 (Capital Regional’s profits in the same time period were nearly $3 million.)

These profits, said O’Bryant, are used to fund construction and community projects as well as keep the hospital attractive to investors when it seeks bond money. Not to mention serve as a rainy day fund for unexpected expenses, such as lowered payments for Medicare and Medicaid — even federal sequestration is taking a financial toll, according to TMH Chief Financial Officer Bill Guidice, who estimates profits in 2013 will probably drop to about $40 million.

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O’Bryant doesn’t apologize for trying to keep a healthy balance on the books, even though his hospital is considered nonprofit. It’s a lesson he learned from a nun when he worked for a Catholic hospital system before coming to TMH. “Sister Thomas de Sales was a great mentor and boss during my early years as a health care executive. She would constantly remind me, ‘No margin, no mission!’ Sister would add, ‘All those visions you have are just pipe dreams if you don’t have a margin to support them.’”

If It Is To Be, It’s Up To … You With all the talk about coordination and cooperation between providers and payers, those on the front lines of health care’s evolution say one key player often seems to be left out of the conversation.

“One of my big frustrations with all of this discussion around health care reform is we talk about the government, we talk about the hospitals, we talk about the doctors, we talk about insurers — we very rarely talk about the patient,” said Dean Fogarty. “Maybe the paternalistic health care system that we’ve developed has created this, but at some point we’re going to have to empower patients to actually care for themselves.”

Half jokingly, he puts the blame on little Speedy Alka-Seltzer.

He might best known for the “Plop, plop; fizz, fizz” line, but in

one of his earliest commercial incarnations, he assured us “relief is just a swallow away.”

“We’ve created a little bit of a monster in terms of saying whatever you’ve got, we can manage it,” Fogarty said. “From the family physician’s viewpoint and from the generalist’s viewpoint I think we’re more interested in having you take care of yourself as opposed to me taking care of you when you have a problem.”

The Final Say “Nobody has a crystal ball that can say exactly what all the impacts of the (ACA) are going to be,” said CHP’s Hogan. “I’m optimistic that in spite of all the uncertainties of health care reform that Tallahassee’s in a good position to have sustainable high quality health care and hopefully increasing the healthy population going forward.”

O’Bryant has loftier ambitions.

He only half-jokingly says, “The goal is to have Tallahassee on the cover of TIME magazine as the healthiest community in the nation. I think the new models of care aren’t going to come out of the big academic centers. When we talk about community health initiatives, primary care programs and engaging around populations … I think people will be looking at the Tallahassees of the world and trying to figure out how (to) take population health management and move it into the communities.”

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I N NOVATION

3... 2... 1... LAUNCH Tallahassee is a great place for new businesses to grow

By Jason Dehart

T

allahassee might be an academic town, but there’s nothing academic about how its universities and research centers foster new businesses, promote new ways of doing business and prepare entrepreneurs for a high-tech, global job market. There’s no shortage of incubators, accelerators and high-tech test beds to do just that. Let’s take a look at two examples.

Helping New Businesses Help Themselves You probably know this by now. Starting up a new business is not exactly easy, what with all the regulations and rules that have to be followed. Fortunately, in Tallahassee, there are resources that can give the budding entrepreneur a roadmap of sorts to success. Among these resources are The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship and Florida A&M University’s Small Business Development Center.

The Jim Moran Institute in the College of Business at Florida State University is a world-class institution that has been on the leading edge of economic development and growth for nearly 20 years. It offers a wide range of innovative services and programs designed to develop and serve new entrepreneurs at home and across the world. One enterprise in particular, the FSU Student Business Incubator (also known as the InNOLEvation Accelerator), is aimed specifically at assisting student start-up businesses and helping them reach independence. The budding entrepreneurs in this program connect with mentors culled from faculty and community, and are provided with their own office space for research.

The student business incubator opened in the fall of 2009, said Matt Jarvis, JMI operations manager. Jarvis said that student business incubators were popping up at other universities, and to keep

FSU competitive it was decided to “put ourselves on their playing field,” he said.

The incubator is now ranked one of the world’s best university student business incubators for 2013 by the University Business Incubator (UBI) Index, a Sweden-based research group. The UBI Index is the first global index to benchmark performance and best practices of university business incubators. FSU’s InNOLEvation Accelerator ranked among the top 10 incubators in the Americas and in the top 20 globally.

Jarvis said the incubator was designed to give student entrepreneurs a space to lay the ground work and do research. It’s not a storefront, and not every budding businessman can get in. The program is so popular that students now have to go through an application process during which a five-member committee vets their proposals. Once you’re in, you’re golden. The resources of the entire Tallahassee community are at your disposal.

“We have established enough relationships in the community to provide them with in-kind services, like accounting and legal and marketing — anything a new business might need we try to bridge the gaps for them,” Jarvis said. This is very important for those students who may be from out of town and don’t know the lay of the land, he said.

“They’re not going to have the same connections, because they’re on campus most of the time and don’t have the ability to connect the way we do,” he said. “They don’t know who to go to. So hopefully by virtue of who we are we have the quality connections they can utilize.”

Until recently, the incubator had cubicle space for eight student businesses. But it has become evident that there are more than eight businesses on campus. So, some of the cubicles are being removed to open the space up and allow for an “E-Clinic,” a place where students who

have yet to establish a formal business plan can come in and ask questions.

“We’re getting a lot of applications, all the time. The incubator attracts a variety of people, and with 40,000 students there are businesses all over the place,” Jarvis said. “At the E-Clinic a student can come in and have resources for them in print, or a person sitting there in the room to help guide them. The clinic will be for people who want to know how to start up a business. We are positioning ourselves as the expert on entrepreneurship.”

Nearby, Florida A&M University’s Small Business Development Center, located at Innovation Park, helps other fledgling businesses perform marketing research and loan packaging, and helps them identify marketplace competition. It also performs an in-depth analysis of financial records, financial statements, income statements, balance sheets and cash flow analysis. It’s all a part of helping them isolate hidden profits and missed market opportunities.

But that’s not all. The SBDC has joined forces with the Leon County Research and Development authority to create the Technology Incubator at Innovation Park.

“That is still in development, and what we have agreed in principal is that we would provide technical assistance to companies within that incubator,” said Keith Bowers, Small Business Development Center director.

The SBDC also works with Leon County on a partnership called Small Business Enterprise, which allows small businesses to join in Leon County’s purchase of goods and services. This innovative program teaches young businesses how to compete in the bidding process.

“Some small businesses don’t have bonding capacity and that’s often a requirement if it’s a construction company, and what the SBDC does is put together applications with surety companies, gather 2014 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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financial statements and put together loan packages for working capital if they need mobilization funding,” Bowers said. “As small businesses are being encouraged to increase their contracting opportunities with Leon County, sometimes a gap exists in their level of expertise or capacity and the SBDC steps in to bridge that gap.

The idea is to expand contract opportunities with small businesses, and sometimes small businesses aren’t fully prepared to operate on those contracts.”

Over the last year the center has focused on providing more in-depth services to existing businesses. Its focus is on small and medium-size businesses that have three or more employees and have been in business for at least three years.

“Our strategy is to devote a higher level of resources to them, because they are the ones most poised to create the most economic impact in terms of job creation, sales growth and turning more money, recycling more funds and spending power into the community,” he said.

All in all, the SBDC helps bring the right resources to bear on particular small business problems, Bowers said. It might mean bringing in a higher level of expertise, or helping with cash flow management, financial management planning, increasing market visibility or helping them decide whether an e-commerce model would work for them.

“We have been developing resources to make sure we can meet the needs of that target market,” he said.

Post-grad students at the FAMU School of Business and Industry have also entered the mix as readily available mentoring resources.

“We have used MBA candidates in our service delivery model,” Bowers said. “Over the last year we’ve assigned probably 40 students to work with eight different clients of ours. It’s incredible what we’ve been able to do with the help of the students. A lot of business owners have a list of things they would like to do but don’t have the ability or the money

or manpower to devote to it, so we pair them up with our students who have lots of time and energy and skills. It’s been a really good pairing, and the students benefit as well from working on a realtime client in the real world.”

The SBDC has also formed a grassroots alliance with other entrepreneurial support organizations like The Jim Moran Institute, Workforce Plus, Tallahassee/Leon County Economic Development Center, the Tallahassee/ Leon County Chamber of Commerce, Tallahassee Community College, Leon County school district, the City of Tallahassee, the City of Tallahassee Minority Business Enterprise, Access Florida and the Leon County Women and Minority Business Development Center.

“We are networking all these partners together to help provide a roadmap of assistance and resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We started the effort in May, and our next step is developing a comprehensive website

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where they can go and plug in and it will list all the services and programs our community has to offer,” Bowers said.

“We are encouraged by the increase in economic development opportunities.

It’s refreshing to see that happening in the community as well as the commitment from the city, county and universities.

They realize that helping them helps the entire community to not be so dependent on state contracts and sort of become or have a community that is self-sustaining.”

Innovative Spin-Offs Thanks to not only personal inspiration but connections to the university system, innovative new manufacturing materials and new drugs are being commercialized right here in Tallahassee.

Bing Energy Big ideas often start out with simple questions. Probably the most relevant one today is, wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to make a more commercially

feasible and efficient fuel cell? Well, thanks to Dr. Jim Zheng, professor of electrical engineering at FSU and FAMU, we are getting closer to that reality. Zheng uses patented, cutting-edge nanotechnology (based on the pioneering work of Dr. Ben Wang, inventor of “buckypaper”) to replace or reduce the need for costly platinum in the process of making fuel cell components. Bing Energy International, a technology company that arrived in Tallahassee in 2011, has the exclusive commercialization agreement to use Zheng’s technology in its effort to create greener, cheaper and more efficient power generation systems.

Prevacus Sometimes, a “What if?” moment can form in the wake of a personal near-tragedy.

When Jacob VanLandingham suffered a concussion that nearly killed him, he began a mission to create a drug that could help treat concussions. Today, Dr. VanLandingham is not only an assistant professor of

neuroscience at the Florida State University Department of Biomedical Sciences, but he is the founder and president of Prevacus, a drug development company currently hard at work trying to bring new concussion therapies to market. Prevacus is another example of how new companies can spin off from their academic incubators.

“The majority of his ideas were created during his time at FSU,” said Jeff Johnson, head of investor relations and corporate communication.

To date, the company has raised about $4.5 million from more than 50 local investors. “It’s from people who believed in us from day one,” Johnson said. “Our financial foundation is our friends and neighbors.”

The first drug in the Prevacus product lineup is Prevasol, a neurosteroid administered through the nasal cavity. Most neurosteroids can’t be used for too long because of adverse side effects, but according to Prevacus, Prevasol doesn’t have the same side effects, and yet still offers great protective benefits.

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Gov. Rick Scott joined a host of political and sports stars to welcome Bass Pro Shops to Tallahassee.

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PHOTO BY MEREDYTH HOPE HALL

WHAT’S N EW

BIG NAMES IN TOWN

Notable companies and firms have discovered Tallahassee

By Jason Dehart

T

here’s been a lot of change in the landscape of Tallahassee business this past year, as many big names have decided to tap into the Capital City marketplace. Here are just a few of the new, big-name companies that have decided to make a new home in Tallahassee.

Perhaps the biggest grand opening Tallahassee has seen in a while happened back in late August, when a Bass Pro Shops Outpost officially arrived in town. The event was attended by Gov. Rick Scott, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, Bass Pro Shop founder Johnny Morris and NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. The all-star event drew in hundreds of North Florida hunters, fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts.

“We have enjoyed a long relationship with Florida sportsmen,” Morris said. “We opened our first Florida store in Ft. Lauderdale 15 years ago and our new Outpost store, our seventh location in this great outdoor state, will be dedicated to better serving the sportsmen of Northern Florida and South Georgia.”

The 70,000-square-foot store is located next to Costco on Mahan Drive.

“We already have a great working relationship with Bass Pro Shops, from support for our youth conservation programs to our exciting new TrophyCatch program promoting catch and release of trophy bass in Florida,” said Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“They have always been a pleasure to work with and continue to show outstanding leadership and support for fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation in Florida.”

The addition of the Bass Pro Shops Outpost now means that Tallahassee is host to four notable sporting goods stores: Sports Authority, Academy and DICK’S Sporting Goods.

Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket and America’s first national certified organic grocer, opened its new Tallahassee store in October. Whole Foods Market Tallahassee, located at 1817 Thomasville Road, is the company’s 20th store in Florida.

The Tallahassee store will, like others in the chain, be committed to helping the community. Whole Foods Market Tallahassee anticipated donating 5 percent of net sales from the opening day to a local nonprofit organization. Four times a year, each Whole Foods Market store holds a “5% Day,” where they choose a local nonprofit or educational organization to receive 5 percent of a specific day’s net sales.

“This is just one of the many ways we plan on being involved in the Tallahassee community,” says Michael Muskat, Tallahassee store team leader. “Like many others, we’ve been looking forward to being a part of this community for a long time.”

Designed with Southern hospitality in mind, Whole Foods Market Tallahassee captures the essence of the neighborhood it serves. From community partnerships to unique and products and features, the Tallahassee store will be one the neighborhood can call its own.

Trader Joe’s Specialty grocer Trader Joe’s opened in October at the Carriage Gate shopping center on Thomasville Road at I-10.

The California-based retailer’s space there totals 13,000 square feet and will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Trader Joe’s carries an extensive array of domestic and imported foods and beverages, including fresh-baked artisan breads, Arabica bean coffees, international frozen entrées, fresh crop nuts and deli items, as well as such basics as milk and eggs.

Batteries Plus Bulbs, the nation’s largest 2014 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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Thomas Howell Ferguson congratulates Russell Perkins for being admitted as our newest Shareholder.

and fastest-growing battery and light bulb franchise, recently announced an important milestone: the one-year anniversary of its Tallahassee shop. To celebrate, franchise owner and Tallahassee resident Jim Clarke held a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce and other members of the community.

Clarke came to Tallahassee because he saw a need in the community for a specialty light bulb and battery retailer here.

His store is the first Batteries Plus Bulbs in this region. He is now an active member of the city’s Chamber of Commerce and felt like celebrating his first year in operation. The store provides locals with access to an unrivaled selection of batteries and light bulb products and services, ranging from battery rebuilds and installation, in-store recycling and business assistance programs. In addition, Tallahassee residents can meet with trained experts to learn more about new developments in home lighting trends, light bulb legislation and even the best – Michael Muskat, ways to save money with new Tallahassee energy-efficient options.

Whole Foods Kaye Scholer, a national store team leader law firm founded in 1917, has offices in Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles. But in 2013 they decided to move a 100-employee operations center to Tallahassee. This new office centralizes many of the firm’s support functions in one location.

“It’s a great day for the Economic Development Council when we can create new jobs in the community and add a centralized operations center to our tax base,” said Karen Moore, who was chairperson of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County at the time of the annoucement. “I’m proud of the coordination among all of our economic development, workforce and educational partners who came together in support of this important project.”

The firm looked at many states and evaluated several options but picked Tallahassee for many of the same reasons other businesses have over the years. Namely, an accessible highly skilled workforce, proximity to state government and the major education centers that are here. A wide variety of office space offered at reasonable prices and great quality of life also helped attract the firm’s attention.

“Clients expect and deserve quality legal services delivered as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible,” said Kaye Scholer’s Managing Partner Michael Solow. “Establishing an Operations Center in Tallahassee will help us meet that need by allowing us to centralize services previously scattered across our New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles offices.”

The company’s new hires are filling a variety of jobs, including accounting, document services, graphics, technology, library services, human resources and marketing.

“THIS IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY WAYS WE PLAN ON BEING INVOLVED IN THE TALLAHASSEE COMMUNITY.”

“Russell’s attention to client service, continued advancement of financial reporting skills, strong leadership and decision-making skills, and committment to our community are solid additions to our Shareholder group that will continue to benefit our clients.”

Winston Howell, Managing Shareholder

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E DUCATION

EDUCATING FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS

Schools focus on training and fostering entrepreneurship

By Linda Kleindienst

“A university is typically the primary asset (for attracting new business). The technologies and research that occur at universities are phenomenal in recruitment and the growth of existing business,” said Kyle Touchstone, executive vice president of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County. “The entrepreneurs bring ideas, technology and research out of the university and turn them into businesses that … we hope to retain here.”

Florida State University is a top-tier research university that

Tomorrow’s business leaders are nurtured at The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University.

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PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

A

s home to two state universities, one of Florida’s largest community colleges and one of the state’s best performing public school districts — and with close to half its citizenry having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher — Leon County has one of the most highly educated populations in the Sunshine State.

A skilled workforce and economic development go hand-inhand. But just the higher education presence itself is a major factor in the economic health and entrepreneurial focus of a community.

has prompted several research-to-industry spinoffs. And both FSU and Florida A&M University (FAMU) have nationally recognized business schools that graduate savvy entrepreneurs while also providing a wide range of resources to help the local business community, especially emerging companies.

FSU President Eric Barron’s vision for FSU has entrepreneurship at its heart. Not just an entrepreneurship program, which he says has become “fairly typical” at institutions of higher learning, but a cutting-edge concept like The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, which gives students start-up funds, office space, mentoring by gifted local business people and coaching by a dynamic faculty.

“What distinguishes Florida State is the extent to which we’re looking at this as an incubator program and the extent to which we’re assisting companies,” Barron has said.

To be truly unique, according to Barron, FSU’s entrepreneurship can’t be limited to a few programs, however effective; it must be comprehensive and campus-wide. It’s not expected that every FSU graduate will become an entrepreneur, but the idea is to instill the entrepreneurial spirit in all students.

“We’re opening the entrepreneur curriculum to the whole campus,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of FSU’s College of Business. “We will have entrepreneurs in residence in every college at the university and really be an engine of economic development for the entire state.”

Entrepreneurism, Beck-Dudley said, in recent years has become a “sexy topic,” and a lot of student businesses are being developed. There were more than 100 teams that competed in the 2013 InNOLEvation challenge, a business plan competition hosted by The Jim Moran Institute that is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It’s unique in that it is open to undergraduate as well as graduate students — and judges select the winners based on which companies they’d be more likely to invest in.

“There’s a pent-up desire, a new brand of student who is comfortable going out on his or her own, who is able to market themselves and network,” she said.

One of the more popular programs is the Sophomore Experience run by Jim Dever. Students work in small groups to identify and create a business using seed money from The Jim Moran Institute. The program will only take 40 students — and more than 100 applied in 2013.

“They apply as freshmen and come in as sophomores,” Dever said. “They’re handpicked. Over five years we’ve only lost one student who wasn’t admitted to the College of Business (in the junior year).”

The business ideas come from the students, and about 12 are selected. The students work on developing the companies for two semesters, then have the option of keeping the business and continuing to run it outside the university or shutting it down and walking away. Over half of last year’s businesses

Florida A&M University has a nationally recognized business school.

were profitable. One group built a website — then sold 3 percent of the company for $15,000.

Most importantly for Tallahassee’s future economic growth, Dever said, “A lot of the students talk about going back to South Florida, but we strive to connect them with people in the community so they have roots in Tallahassee.”

That’s what universities should do, insisted Beck-Dudley, “be active in the community, research and spin businesses out. A lot of that has been going on, we just didn’t talk about it.”

Many educational offerings and programs in the region have also been designed to complement the targeted industry sectors that match the region’s strengths and goals, ensuring the local economy is diversified and sustainable while providing quality, high paid jobs. Those sectors include: aviation, aerospace, defense and national security; engineering and research; health sciences and human performance enhancement; information technology; renewable energy and the environment; and transportation and logistics.

About one-third of FAMU’s students are majoring in disciplines such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics and the health sciences — matching their interests with where the county wants to grow its economic base. At Tallahassee Community College, training is offered in fields where workers are most in demand, and the Advanced Manufacturing Training Center provides customized quick response training for businesses that are here.

TCC also operates the Ghazvini Center for Healthcare Education in the heart of the city’s burgeoning health care corridor, close to both major hospitals and the Red Hills Surgical Center.

At Ghazvini, students train on cutting-edge technology.

“If we could retain just a small portion of our students along with our young professionals, imagine that youth and energy and what it can do for us,” Touchstone said. “This used to be a sleepy college town, but now it’s really moving forward with business and technology.”

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TRANSPORTATION

BY ROAD, RAIL AND PLANE

Connecting you from here to there

By Jason Dehart

T

allahassee’s traffic demographic is a reflection of the people who call the Capital City home. There are construction workers, heavy equipment drivers, downtown office workers, state government commuters, college students, pedestrians, bicyclists, mopeds, and motorcycles. Not to mention public transit busses (including a new downtown trolley service) and golf cart shuttles, Greyhound buses, a smattering of smart cars and the occasional freight train. All meshed together into one award-winning community that keeps the local economy ticking like a Swiss watch.

Tallahassee is a bustling crossroads of commerce, education and politics and it has to have the roads and railroads in place to meet the demand of today’s markets and growth.

There are approximately 271 miles of major highways and 343 miles of secondary roads throughout the Tallahassee-Leon County area, and these serve as important ground transportation corridors within the central Panhandle. From a business perspective, Interstate 10 is a major highway with easy access from several points in Tallahassee. Pensacola and Jacksonville are just a three-hour trip in either direction, and Interstate 75 is about 90 minutes away.

The other important roads of commerce are U.S. Highway 90, U.S. Highway 27, State Road 267 and U.S. Highway 319. U.S Highway 231, an important north-south route between Panama City and Montgomery, Ala., is little over an hour west of Tallahassee.

Perhaps the one thing that makes this capital town a real transportation hub is the city-owned Tallahassee Regional Airport.

The airport serves a market with more than 1.4 million people in Tallahassee, 11 surrounding counties and 12 counties in southern Georgia. Our airport accounts for 32 percent of air passenger travel in Northwest Florida. The airport is served by American Airlines with daily flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami; Delta Air Lines, which offers daily flights to Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale, with connections to any destination on the globe; U.S. Airways Express, which makes daily trips to Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C. But there’s also a new “face” at the airport these days. Silver Airways arrived in November and now offers daily flights to Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale.

But our local airport isn’t the only option for air travelers. Jacksonville International Airport is a two-and-a-half hour trip, but from there you can fly to the Bahamas, Boston, New York, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., Miami, Las Vegas, Ft. Lauderdale, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and more. And two hours west of Tallahassee in Panama City is Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, which opened in 2010. Beaches International offers flights by Delta and Southwest. Delta runs nonstop daily flights to and from Atlanta with connections to destinations worldwide. Southwest runs daily nonstop flights to and from Baltimore, Houston and Nashville, with connecting service to destinations across the country.

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COM M E RC IAL RE AL E STATE

AN UPDATE ON REAL ESTATE

Commercial properties are once again attracting new investors

By Chay D. Baxley

T

alk to one of Tallahassee’s commercial real estate gurus, and you’re certain to hear reassuring turns of phrase like “stability” and “consistency,” generally followed by a short yet telling sigh of relief.

Following the 2007 rupture of the housing bubble, a stable commercial real estate market was a luxury Tallahassee and its surrounding areas simply did not possess. Today, things are beginning to bounce back to a shadow of the market’s former glory, and for those in the real estate business, the current respite is much appreciated.

But according to Clay Ketcham, owner of Ketcham Appraisal Group Inc. and a Tallahassee native, there’s nothing wrong with encouraging the slow-and-steady approach to winning this race — at least for the time being.

“All in all I think the decline in values have stopped — that’s a good thing, that’s a positive thing,” assured Ketcham. “We haven’t seen any increases in value. It’s pretty much stable right now. From the commercial aspect, if we can get a stabilized market to develop, I think that overall no one could ask for anything better.”

Though many are still reserved in endorsing an overtly optimistic future for commercial real estate in Florida’s capital city, others believe that as a number of Tallahassee’s retail and commercially based neighborhoods continue to maintain a healthy level of expansion, the best may still be yet to come.

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Midtown, the budding commercial and hospitality haven nestled between Tallahassee’s downtown and Interstate 10, has managed to develop an outstanding track record in recent years for enticing upscale local and national vendors alike. The Gaines Street District, CollegeTown, SouthWood and the Market District have also seen a spurt in expansion efforts as of late.

For Ed Murray, director, president, broker and founder of Tallahassee-based NAI TALCOR and chair of the Chamber of Commerce, the success of Midtown and places like it means that growth in Tallahassee is not only possible, but probable.

Murray and his team have handled many of the high profile real estate transactions that characterized 2013, including CollegeTown and Miracle Plaza off of Thomasville Road where Whole Foods is located, as well as the Gateway Center at the intersection of Monroe and Tennessee, which is scheduled for completion in early 2014.

For Murray, the surge in commercial real estate speaks volumes about not only Tallahassee’s economic future but also its cultural potential.

“It shows we’re healthy, and it shows that this is a place that people want to live,” said Murray. “I also think it shows that the next three to five to 10 years here are going to be just fantastic.”

In other words, the horizon is bright.

“2014 is looking good,” continued Murray. “There aren’t necessarily as many high profile projects on the books, but there’s still a lot of projects out there.”

Residential development is on the upswing — and that’s good news for the commercial market.

According to Murray, success in one branch of the real estate market often translates into anther, so it’s not surprising that Tallahassee’s residential arena is also experiencing a substantial increase in activity.

“Retail wants to see a relatively healthy residential market,” explained Murray. “If residential is flat, retail is not as excited.

They’re tied in.”

In 2013, the Tallahassee Board of Realtors reported having multiple successful months. From September of 2012 to September of 2013, the number of sales jumped by 19.8 percent in Leon County.

During that same time, the average sale price rose by 8.5 percent to $189,000.

For Steven Louchheim, executive director of the TBR, those numbers can

PHOTO BY SCOTT HOLSTEIN

only mean one thing: progress.

“Every month has [consecutively] been the best month since 2007, 2008,” explained Louchheim of Tallahassee’s residential real estate.

Both the residential and commercial markets are only as productive as the economy that funds them. For Floridians and venture capitalists looking to invest, Louchheim said a secure economic climate is the decisive factor in allocating funds.

“In Florida, especially, you [now] have a much better job market, everything starts with that,” emphasized Louchheim. “Everything starts with the economics.”

The entry of Whole Foods into the market kicked off redevelopment of a Midtown shopping center.

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DEMOGRAPH IC S

Age Breakdown of Population Leon County Persons under 18 years

18.6%

Population (2012 estimate) Leon County

283,769

Persons 18 to 64 years

71.1%

Florida

Persons 65 years and older

10.3%

Education Level

Bachelor’s degree or higher (age 25+) Leon County

43.1% Florida

26.0%

Government —

Leon County — $37,553 Florida — $42,446 Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County

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Persons per square mile Leon County

416.4 Florida

355.7

54.5%

20.6% Education and Health Services — 20.5% Professional and Business Services — 17.5% Leisure and Hospitality — 17.2% Trade, Transportation, Utilities —

Leon County — 19.8 minutes

Average Annual Wage

19,317,568

Leon County’s Five Largest Industries/Percent of Workforce

Mean Travel Time To Work Florida — 25.7 minutes

Leon County is Florida’s 22nd most populous county

Recent National Rankings:

#10

Top 10 College Destinations (Small Metro), American Institute for Economic Research

#10

Ten Best Cities for Millenials, Huffington Post

#1

Best Retirement Destination for Baby Boomers

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JOURNAL

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CAPITAL CORRI DOR

TOM PAINTER’S PATH

A magnet maker joins an international experiment that could change the world

By Kathleen Laufenberg

I

t sounds like science fiction: a giant ball of star-energy suspended inside an enormous chamber, providing the world with clean power.

But sci-fi it’s not. It’s an international science project based in France called ITER (pronounced “eater”), which in Latin means the way or path.

Thousands of Americans now work on this futuristic energy experiment, including several researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee. MagLab engineer Tom Painter is one of them.

“Working on ITER is definitely exciting because it could be a world changer,” says Painter, 48. “I would love to be able to tell my grandchildren that I helped deliver even one small component to this project and made it successful.”

To work on ITER, however, Painter first had to accomplish several big tasks. Perhaps the biggest: He had to start his own company — something he’d always wanted to do — so he could bid on an ITER contract. He also needed a unique place to house his new business, someplace where he could lay out a half-mile of expensive ITER cable.

He would need to slash his time at the Mag Lab, too — from 40 to 10 and 20 hours a week — in order to get his fledgling company, High Performance Magnetics, off the ground.

“There’s a whole lot of uncertainty in becoming an entrepreneur,” he allows. “My own money was at risk.”

But the opportunity to become his own boss and work on ITER was just too compelling. He took the leap.

Engineer Tom Painter inside his shop at Compass Pointe with a compaction mill, a specialized machine that compacts a steel tube snugly around a superconducting cable.

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ITER is an experiment to create fusion, a type of nuclear energy, on a scale never before attempted.

The genesis for ITER came in 1985, but the chamber where the fusion reactions will take place — called a tokomak — won’t be operational until 2020. And while ITER began as an acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the words “thermonuclear” and “experimental” sitting sideby-side made many people uneasy; today the ITER

PHOTO BY DAVE BARFIELD

ITER: What Is It?

community prefers to link its namesake with its Latin meaning.

Fusion is literally star power: Our sun’s warmth and light are the result of fusion reactions. Fusion happens when the nucleus inside a hydrogen atom smashes into the nucleus of another hydrogen atom, causing the two nuclei to fuse into heavier helium atoms.

When they fuse, they release tremendous energy.

But fusion is not the type of energy produced in today’s nuclear plants. That’s fission. Fission (which in Latin means to split apart) is what happens when an atom’s nucleus is split open. Fission, when done slowly, can generate electricity. When released all at once, it’s an atom bomb.

“Fission and fusion are similar in that both get away from continuing to rely on oil,” Painter says. “The advantage of fusion over fission is that it’s cleaner and safer.”

Nuclear fission plants, such as the Fukushima facility in Japan, have had meltdowns that result in environmental and human disasters.

But fusion is quite a different process, Painter and others say.

Big Technology, Big Bucks “I liken fusion to trying to light a match on a cold, wet, windy night in the forest. It’s very hard to get the reaction to start, and if anything happens, it just goes out,” Painter says. “And because it’s made from gases and not heavy metals, there’s very little radioactive waste. Fission waste lasts for tens of thousands of years. But with fusion, the byproducts — the reactor and whatnot — become benign in about 40 years.”

So why aren’t we using fusion to power our communities now?

Well, it’s complicated. Literally. To contain and control such power is tremendously complex: The ITER tokomak alone will have more than a million parts. It’s also supremely expensive: The latest estimate puts the cost for ITER’s tokomak and other building at roughly $21 billion. It took seven of the world’s most technologically savvy powers — the U.S., the European Union, Russia, Japan, China, India and South Korea, which represent 34 countries and half the world’s population — to join together to create and pay for ITER. One of the biggest problems with a massive fusion reaction is that there’s no material that can contain it.

“Fusion recreates the power and the conditions inside the sun, and all that energy is very hot: 100 million degrees,” Painter says.

“It can’t be contained in any material.”

So how do ITER’s top scientists plan to control such a big, hot mess?

“They’re going to contain it with high magnetic fields. They’re going to levitate it in space and contain it inside the tokomak (estimated to weigh 23,000 tons when finished — about the weight of three Eiffel Towers).”

Coming in for a Landing This is where researchers such as Painter, who got his master’s degree in engineering from MIT, enter the picture. Painter’s an expert in high-magnetic fields and magnets that use superconducting wire — wires that conduct electricity without resistance or loss of energy. The catch with superconducting wire, however, is that it must be kept extremely cold using liquid helium, an expensive resource.

In 2011, Painter put his expertise with superconductors to work for ITER. He and his team of eight employees at High Performance Magnetics began to set up the tools and equipment they needed to insert a half-mile-long cable of very expensive superconducting wire inside a protective metal tube of conduit.

Now, on most days, you’ll find him out on a barren stretch of flat, sandy terrain at the old Tallahassee airport, now a private airport. It’s next to the city’s new airport and about six miles from the MagLab. Painter had two buildings constructed that are 800 meters, or about one-half mile, apart. Between the two buildings, he placed a row of 140 steel posts connected by a long steel beam. Each post rests on a concrete foundation anchored five feet into the ground.

Painter’s contract requires his team to weld together eight 100-meter-long tubes of conduit, then place this one half-mile metal tube onto the posts. Then the exacting process of pulling the expensive cable of superconducting wires through the tube of conduit begins.

Superconducting wire costs about 10 times what regular copper wire costs, making the cable his team inserts worth about $5 million — which is one reason having this part of his business behind the private airport’s security is a necessity.

In addition to making sure his materials and machines would be safe from harm, Painter also worked with the state to relocate some endangered gopher tortoises from the area. That took several months and had to be done before any construction began.

The contract has included some travel, too. He’s gone to the ITER site in Cadarache, in southern France, on several occasions, as well as to an ITER meeting in Japan.

“In Japan, we went to the forge where they actually melt the metal, and we also went to the place where they actually make the tubes. It was pretty exciting.”

Early Lessons Pay Off To set up his super-specialized, high-tech company, Painter sought the help of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/ Leon County, a private/public partnership.

“If it weren’t for them, I probably would have never gotten started. They put in one of the initial proposals for us for a planning study when we were just a virtual company.”

But Painter also learned a lot about overcoming obstacles as a kid. He grew up the youngest of eight children; his dad, a steel worker, died before Painter was even one year old. His mom raised the family by herself.

As the baby of the family, “I was spoiled by my mom and tormented by my brothers,” he recalls fondly.

In addition to torment, one of his older brothers also inspired him to become an engineer.

“He went to Penn State extension campus, and he was in the library every night until 11 o’clock, and he got straight A’s. I said, ‘Well, that’s what you’ve got to do.’ And if he could do it, I could do it.”

Today he’s trés contente that he did.

“I think we’re entering a golden age of magnets and materials here in Tallahassee,” he said. “I’d encourage any young people to consider getting into the engineering field, as an opportunity to contribute not only to their own lives but to the world in general.”

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GROWI NG COM MUN ITI E S

GROWING COMMUNITIES

As the economy bounces back, the city’s most distinct districts are embracing a new lease on life

By Chay D. Baxley

PHOTO BY TRISTIN KROENING

L

eon County residents have been whispering lately. There have even been a couple of smirks.

If it’s been a while since you’ve explored Florida’s capital city, perhaps you should consider taking a stroll down Gaines Street or a jaunt through the Market District to see what all the chatter’s about. After a few steps, you’ll start to realize what’s been going on … the evidence of expansion is everywhere.

Tallahassee is reaching its potential, and the city is flourishing.

For those who have witnessed Tallahassee’s steady metamorphosis from sleepy college town and parttime legislative powerhouse to booming metropolis, the upward progression is irrefutable. And city officials are eagerly encouraging this transformation.

To equip up-and-coming neighborhoods with what they need to succeed, the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department established its “Sense of Placement” initiatives in the hopes of enhancing the heart and soul of many of Tallahassee’s most diverse districts.

Neighborhoods like Gaines Street, Midtown and the Market District — all of which have developed largely organically over the years — were among the first communities of distinction.

“When you think about a Sense of Place, you think of a Sense of Place as being one that can be considered a destination where people want to be,” explained Earnest McDonald, principal planner at Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department.

“It’s a unique area that has characteristics that are either physical or somehow unique to that particular area.”

Along with their counterparts at the planning department, the City of Tallahassee’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has been instrumental in getting these niche neighborhoods up and running. After formulating and presenting “action plans” to local community leaders, they work hand-in-hand with merchant

New stores have opened on Downtown’s Gaines Street, close to both universities.

associations and committed investors to bring to life some of Tallahassee’s most charming places.

GAINES STREET: The Project That Started Them All Just steps away from Railroad Square Art Park, the Gaines Street District was the first initiative of this magnitude. Renowned as an eclectic place for creative endeavors, this stretch of land is located snuggly between Florida State and Florida A&M universities. But for years, it did more to separate the two campuses than it did to unite them.

Luckily, the fate of Gaines Street changed drastically when the city got involved in 2007. According to Roxanne Manning, 2014 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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executive director at Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency and one of the visionaries behind Gaines Street’s reconstruction, the city capitalized on Gaines’ potential for walkability with calculated due diligence.

“One of the things that we really focused on when we were designing the street was making the physical scale of the street friendly to people rather than just automobiles,” explained Manning.

“We incorporated elements like, for example, benches that face each other, to create little social spaces. We were very particular about the width of the sidewalk and the height of seating walls that we incorporated all down the street so that it becomes very clear to the pedestrian that we want people to gather here, we want them to be comfortable here.”

Now, Gaines Street is a fluid continuation of artistically developed, urban-inspired prime real estate within walking distance of both university campuses as well as many other downtown venues and dwellings.

every budget, this district is always buzzing with excitement.

For Carrie McNeil, owner of Cole Couture, one of Midtown’s most iconic boutiques, the achievements of Midtown are due in large part to the tight-knit merchants association the neighborhood has formed.

“I think [visitors] get a feeling of family,” McNeil said of the overall vibe of the area. “I think they leave with a sense of community that’s been carefully threaded together.”

COLLEGETOWN: The Mold Breaker

Unlike its fellow districts of distinction, CollegeTown materialized in less than a decade, entirely through the encouragement of city officials and generous investors.

Driven by Florida State’s Seminole Boosters, this largely corporate endeavor, situated just off of Gaines Street and Madison on Florida State’s campus, has managed to combine upscale living options for students with Tallahassee’s love for FSU football into one supremely located place of interest.

CollegeTown wowed patrons when it officially opened its MIDTOWN: A Delicious Success Story doors in the fall of 2013 with the debut of Madison Social, a Encompassing everything from Hotel Duval and Level 8 Lounge casual American fusion restaurant with a rustic motif. at the intersection of Monroe and Tennessee, to the new Miracle “It’s the up-and-coming area,” enthused Jason Walker, Plaza where Whole Foods resides on Thomasville Road, Midtown general manager at Madison Social and a long-time Tallahassee may indeed be the most geographically extensive district Tallaresident. “It’s where everyone is going to want to be.” hassee has to offer.

According to Will Butler, the real estate asset manager for the As both a commercial and residential hotspot for Leon CounSeminole Boosters, Walker’s assertions are exactly right — and ty’s growing professional population, Midtown has embraced they come as no surprise. Before local, regional and national an upscale, yet relaxed persona that is visible throughout at all investors would get involved, ample analysis was conducted to times of the day and night. ensure that their investment would be a profitable one.

In Midtown, dozens of retail and dining options await, as well “We did a tremendous amount of research to establish if the as some of the city’s most acclaimed salons and spas. From market was ready for CollegeTown,” said Butler. “The overstate-of-the-art personal training facilities to gourmet coffee whelming answer was yes.” shops, upscale shopping and award-winning restaurants for Now, with more than half a dozen restaurants, eateries and bars under its jurisdiction, CollegeTown executives are confident that the current infrastructure is only the Whole Foods has helped boost first phase of what is destined to be the offerings in Midtown. a far larger district.

Officials have recently been paying close attention to Tallahassee’s growing Market District, located on the cusp of northeast Capital Circle.

A bustling, family-friendly environment with more than 50 specialty shops, the “Market District” encompasses Market Square, The Verandas, The Gallery at Market Street, The Pavillions, Cornerstone Place and Market Plaza at Timberlane.

With more than enough recreation to warrant a day trip, the Market District is characterized by the beauty of Alfred B. Maclay Gardens as well 38

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PHOTOS BY TRISTIN KROENING

MARKET DISTRICT: The Next Frontier

as by high-end service providers, French bakeries, authentic Mexican cuisine, locally owned clothing boutiques and designer home goods stores. Strictly speaking, the Market District has something for everyone.

And according to Sam Varn, owner of Awards4U and president of the Market District Merchants Association, with such close proximity to Interstate 10, location is on their side, too. “[The Market District] can become a gateway into Tallahassee for people,” explained Varn. “It’ll be great exposure for the Tallahassee community. It can give people a little taste of our shopping and dining experiences on our end of town, and maybe even encourage them to think about Tallahassee as a place to move or open a business or just see as a great place to live.”

CollegeTown mixes retail, residential and restaurants.

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WH E RE TO GE T H E L P

NEED FINANCING?

Here’s where to seek help

T

here are a wide variety of financing options available for businesses looking to locate in Leon County — or local businesses looking to expand their footprint.

Business dollars already go a lot further here because there is no state personal income tax, no corporate income tax on limited partnerships and subchapter S-corporations, no statelevel property tax, no property tax on business inventories and no sales and use tax on goods produced in Florida for export outside the state.

There are also federal, state and local government programs that provide low-cost loans, tax breaks and/or grants that will specifically help boost job creation and business development. Several state programs provide seed money to inventors of commercially viable products, or work to pair the inventors with investors and local entrepreneurs — an especially important tool to promote technologies being developed at the state’s universities. And, in an effort to boost the development of manufacturing jobs which pay above-average wages, the state eliminated the sales tax on new manufacturing equipment.

There are programs designed to increase the number of qualified black business enterprises, support the export of goods and services from the state and provide low-cost capital to Florida manufacturers. Others will help with the training of workers needed by new businesses moving into the area or the retraining of currently employed workers.

Below is just a sampling of help that is available. A more comprehensive listing can be found on the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County’s website, taledc.com.

Enterprise Zone

The Tallahassee/Leon County Enterprise Zone is nearly 20 square miles in size. New businesses that want to locate there, or existing businesses that want to expand jobs, equipment or square feet, can earn a monthly credit against their state corporate or sales and use tax for wages paid to new employees.

Florida Opportunity Fund

This $29.5 million program directs investments into venture capital fund managers, who invest in seed and early stage concepts.

Florida Growth Fund

This is $250 million capital venture initiative managed by Hamilton Lane that invests in technology and growth-related businesses.

Florida Institute for Commercialization

Commercially viable technologies and products provided by publicly supported institutions are paired with seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.

Clients Remain the Center of All We Do.

City of Tallahassee/Leon County Targeted Business Program

Incentives are offered to new and existing businesses that create value-added jobs within the city and county, rewarding businesses that will diversify the economy, are suited to the local business mix and will generate revenue growth from the sales of goods and services outside the local economy. The program also seeks to reward businesses that locate in designated target areas for economic growth and development; that build environmentally sensitive projects; and that do business with other local businesses.

Community Redevelopment Agency

The Tallahassee CRA, created in 1998, consists of more than 1,450 acres of residential, commercial/retail and industrial land uses, all conveniently located near the heart of downtown Tallahassee. Included within the boundaries of the redevelopment area are 13 neighborhood communities; seven major commercial/retail areas; and numerous mixed-use areas. The area borders parts of Florida A&M University and Florida State University. Extensive city infrastructure, including water, sewer, electricity and gas, are available throughout the redevelopment area.

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TOURISM

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TOURISM IN TALLY

Why Florida’s capital city is more than just the sum of its givens

By Chay D. Baxley

Florida State University’s football games are a major tourist draw for the city.

PHOTO BY KANSAS PITTS

T

allahassee has a unique advantage when it comes to attracting visitors. It’s a little thing people in the tourism industry refer to as “the givens.”

Givens, or the factors in an equation or situation that are well established, vary from destination to destination. For Tallahassee, the givens consist of two major universities, Florida State and Florida A&M, both of which have extensive athletic departments, as well as a lively state government.

For Lee Daniel, executive director of the Leon County Division of Tourism Development, Tallahassee’s givens are a very good thing.

“We’re very fortunate,” beamed Daniel.

“The universities bring an amazing amount of people to the community, not just for football but for meetings and other related activities. The universities [help increase tourism] through graduations, move-in weeks and previews and those kinds of things. The Legislature is also a terrific asset to have for a couple months out of the year.”

The city’s hallmark activities make for a great foundation in a fickle industry. So great, that it would be effortless for Tallahassee to rest on its laurels, to give in to the hype of being a “college town” and strive for little else.

But the reality is with approximately 52 weekends to fill every year, only 12, or just over 23 percent, are characterized by the excitement of the city’s higher education facilities. Likewise, the majority of tourism generated by legislative activity at the Capitol is mid-week

and does little to increase revenues in hospitality-oriented businesses.

For Daniel and his colleagues at the county level, highlighting Tallahassee’s other assets is crucial to maintaining a wellbalanced, sustainable tourism industry.

“I think we’re really blessed to be able to complement [our core attractions] with just an amazing array of nature-based activities, history and heritage, which a lot of people travel for, and visual and performing arts,” Daniel said.

Beyond the Givens Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park, located off of Thomasville Road just a half mile north of I-10, is exactly that kind of blessing.

A lush and fragrant property, the grounds of Maclay were shaped by the historic gardens methodically developed

by Alfred Barmore Maclay in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Deemed a “masterpiece of floral architecture” by the state, it is one of Tallahassee’s most beloved locales.

Since the property was signed over to the state in 1954, it has been the backdrop for countless marriage ceremonies, family picnics and romantic strolls.

“This was the winter home for the Maclay family,” explained Beth Weidner, park manager, on Maclay Gardens’ rich history.

“The gardens were designed to bloom when they were here in the winter and early spring. January through April is the peak blooming season, and a special fee is charged for garden entry during that time.”

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TOURISM

Woven between the park’s hundreds of camellias and azaleas is over five miles of rustic roads perfectly suited for the avid walker and three miles of trails created by the Tallahassee Mountain Bike Association. Trailahassee.com, one of Leon County’s newest initiatives geared at promoting the area’s trail systems, featured Maclay as an ideal outdoor experience for any novice hiker, runner or bicyclist.

With opportunities to canoe, fish, swim and horseback ride, the gardens this year attracted 172,360 visitors, a slightly higher number than their usual annual average of 160,000.

The diverse topography of Northwest Florida gives way to a variety of outdoor activities. At the Tallahassee Museum, located on the banks of Lake Bradford on the southwest side of town, natural and historical elements of the region have been combined into one compact experience.

The museum boasts an 1880s farm and schoolhouse, an extensive three-course zip line known as Tallahassee Tree to Tree Adventures and an abundance of native wildlife, including the Florida panther and black bear.

“It really gives the visiting tourist a good sense of what the 850 region is all about,” said Russell Daws, executive director and CEO of the Tallahassee Museum. “At least from the 1800s to the current times, our natural history and our culture are so closely interrelated.”

According to Daws, the Tallahassee Museum hosts between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors each year. Generally, the park recommends carving out a two-hour time slot to fully experience all of the exhibits, but the outing can also be made into a daylong event.

“There’s a lot of interesting components our region has to offer, from Indian mounds to historical civil rights movements,” continued Daws.

“Because we’re a living museum and have a 52-acre campus, we can impact visitors of all ages from preschoolers to senior citizens, and we do it in some very meaningful ways.”

History aficionados will also appreciate Mission San Luis, another one of Tallahassee’s major attraction and a nationally recognized living museum.

The Mission’s history is wide-ranging, dating back to the mid 1500s. Scholars believe Mission San Luis was the location of North America’s first Christmas — a humble mass held in 1539 that was followed by a feast of seafood and fruit. Both the Apalachee Indians and Spaniards inhabited the museum’s current location from 1656 to 1704. At its peak, the mission was home to more than 1,400 residents and was the primary religious and military center for both ethnic groups.

Today, the 60-acre living museum hosts a variety

Miles of rustic roads and trails await outdoor enthusiasts at Maclay Gardens.

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Visitors learn the region’s Spanish and Indian history at Mission San Luis.

Kelsey Appellate Law Firm, P.A. Florida Appellate Practice of educational and community events. Visitors are invited to explore the facility’s rich past or simply take in its beauty with a relaxing picnic.

Karin Stanford, program supervisor at Mission San Luis, said not only is this museum historically significant, it also represents a timeless message of cooperation.

“It’s an absolutely lovely site with an incredible history,” said Stanford. “It’s a place where the Spanish people who came over … lived together with the Apalachee Indians. They became a village and lived here for three generations. I think people relate to [Mission San Luis] as far as living together and making two cultures come together.”

Leon County tourism increased by 14.6% during the last six months of 2013.

Those traveling on business or to conventions 7,440 room nights and brought more than $3 million in direct spending.

SUSAN L. KELSEY Tallahassee | Admitted 1988

The 11,973 visitors coming to Tallahassee for leisure in 2013 booked 9,049 room nights — an estimated $3.8 million in direct spending.

Sports, or Tallahassee’s primary “given,” led to more than 40,000 visitors booking 19,064 rooms nights and putting $13.7 million in direct spending into the local economy.

Hotel revenue increased by 11% between January and August 2013.

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2014 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

The county’s tourism website, visittallahassee.com, had 417,473 total website visits — a 9% increase over 2012.

2014 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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