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Cornerstone Promotes Northeast Florida
12/18/2009 1:28:11 PM
Source: Clockwork Marketing
More than 25 members of the Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership, the economic arm of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, recently headed to Atlanta for a two-day economic development mission to promote Northeast Florida as a pro-business environment.
Cornerstone Chair Greg Smith and Chamber Chair Mike Hightower led the mission that brought together business leaders from Florida and Georgia. According to Cornerstone President Jerry Mallot, the trip’s purpose was to reintroduce Northeast Florida to an important group of executives in real estate and site consulting and to generate new business leads that will potentially create future job growth and business relocations or expansions to the region.
“We are actively and aggressively promoting this region as a dynamic area for businesses that are looking to expand or relocate,” Mallot said. “Northeast Florida is one of the fastest growing regions in the U.S., making it extremely attractive to large corporations and business owners. It is our job to make sure such companies are aware of our region’s successful business climate and understand the benefits of doing business here. This trip alone has generated several new economic development prospects for the region.”
During the two-day trip, Cornerstone attendees had the opportunity to meet with more than 30 site selection consultants, real estate executives and companies from Atlanta. One such Atlanta executive attendees met with was Ashish Bahl of Parador Partners, LLC, the group of investors who recently purchased controlling interest of the SunTrust Building in downtown Jacksonville. Bahl is one of a growing number of Atlanta executives who find Jacksonville an attractive place to conduct business.
“Jacksonville seems to have a very unified decision making body at the governmental level, and unlike other large cities, we liked the relative speed it takes to get things done,” Bahl said. “Lastly, the city has a very aggressive pro-business agenda, much like Atlanta during its heyday.”
According to Mallot, there are several factors that make Jacksonville an attractive business environment for relocating or expanding businesses. He states that Jacksonville is home to three Fortune 500 company headquarters and more than 80 companies have national or divisional headquarters in the city. Jacksonville also was ranked by
Bizjournals as one of the Top 25 “Best Places to Start a New Business” as well as being named the 12th “Best Large City for Business” by
Inc. magazine.
“Northeast Florida is home to a young and dynamic workforce, many of whom serve in the region’s top sectors such as financial services, logistics, aviation, life sciences and others,” Mallot said. “It is our job as the lead regional economic development agency in Northeast Florida to promote our region and generate new jobs, business headquarters and growth.”
Jackie Artybridge
Clockwork Marketing
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