North Florida’s growth will stay steady, and that’s even better than you might think, says one of the area’s top business leaders.
Jerry Mallot, who heads the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s unit that attracts businesses, told last month’s Sales and Marketing Council meeting that our growth would remain at about two percent and that we can expect a steady flow of businesses locating here.
“We’re going up about two percent a year and that’s fine,” he said to the 200 attending at the Marriott Southpoint. “If you’re below that, it’s not satisfactory. If you spike at 4-5 percent, like Atlanta and Charlotte have done, you risk moving too far ahead of your ability to handle the growth.”
Mallot and his staff of 25 seeks business relocation from all over the world, plus help local businesses with expansion plans. They operate in a regional partnership with other North Florida counties.
“We actually work in four different areas,” he said. “Business recruitment is the best known, but we also work with the existing businesses and our workforce, with small businesses, and with international trade development.
“We work in partnership with the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission but we do different things: we are the private sector, they are the government.”
Mallot said the main goal is simple: to bring in clean businesses with high-wage jobs.
“We like to see people coming here who will buy the high-end homes you’re building and selling,” said Mallot.
He cited several plusses for the area:
• “A vibrant and growing downtown Jacksonville.” He said that a better downtown “reflects on the image of the community as a whole.”
• The Better Jacksonville Plan. When Duval County voters approved a half-cent sales tax hike two year ago to fund new arenas, a courthouse, libraries and road work, they got more than just the bricks and mortar. “We have so many construction projects underway that we haven’t had the layoffs that other communities have faced,” Mallot pointed out.
• The emphasis on environment throughout the region. Mallot pointed to the Preservation Project in Duval County, which has taken 200 square miles out of any possible development. “It shows others that we have a master plan to manage the tremendous growth.”
Mallot cautiously predicted a continued upturn in the economy.
“I’m optimistic that it won’t be too long before we’re really getting back to normal,” he said. “The economy has bottomed out. I think there will be a gradual rise. I don’t foresee a spike.”
And, he said that business would remain solid here.
“We have tremendous advantages,” he said. “We are more diversified than many, the cost of doing business here remains low, the cost of construction here is among the lowest and we maintain an excellent quality of life.
“We don’t have the prospect of a company imploding on us, like a WorldComm or an Enron. That could be devastating to a community.”
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A panel of top leaders and corporate executives will share their ideas and strategies for reestablishing a true foundation of trust for every team member, customer and investor in a special program on Nov. 12.
The program will be broadcast via satellite around the world.
Chambers President Walter M. Lee III will make the opening remarks at 10:45 a.m. here at the UNF University Center.
The satellite-broadcasted program will include speakers as diverse as Dr. William Bennett, former education secretary and author of “The Book of Virtues”; Dr. Tom Morris, chairman of the Morris Institute for Human Values and author of “The Art of Achievement and True Success”; and Lynn Brewer, author of the soon-to-be released “House of Cards: Confessions of an Enron Executive.”
To register or for more details, call 620-4242.