Back-to-back hurricanes that caused an estimated $30 billion in damages probably won’t effect Florida’s top ranking as the nation’s epicenter of growth and development, says a top Jacksonville region commercial real estate broker.
Walter Dickinson, founder and chief executive officer of Colliers Dickinson Commercial Real Estate Services, said the northeast Florida region is on the fast track for economy-driving growth and development.
“Florida is the direction the rest of the nation is headed, and Jacksonville is Florida’s gateway city,” said Dickinson. “A recent nationwide survey of building permits issued over the past two years shows that Florida issued the most building permits of any state, and in fact issued 11 percent of all the building permits issued in the U.S. in 2003.”
Dickinson said Jacksonville ranks as the nation’s third “hottest city” for corporate relocation and expansion in 2004, according to Expansion Management Magazine, a leading trade publication that monitors corporate growth.
“All the available indicators lead us to believe we are entering a period of sustained economic growth,” Dickinson said.
“From our vantage point, we know that most retail and commercial property investors in the U.S. rank Florida at the top of their lists, and the Jacksonville region likewise ranks near the top of most domestic and many foreign investment wish lists,” Dickinson said. “Foreign investor demand is stronger than it has ever been.”
Dickinson said Colliers Dickinson is preparing its third quarter report and he projects growth will average better than 15 percent over the same period last year. Office leasing has exceeded all of last year in the first three quarters of this year, he added.