North Central

North Central

What comes to mind when you picture the perfect place to live in Florida? We’re betting that your ideal destination has one or more of these: sandy beaches, ocean views, moderate temperatures, perhaps a theme park within reasonable proximity. Now add a world-class university to this list and you’ve put yourself in Florida’s North Central region, where many who first came here as college students have stayed to raise families, join existing firms and/or launch new ones. Adding to this region’s appeal: ready access. Companies with customers and suppliers spread far and wide will find seamless road and rail connections here along with easy links to two of Florida’s busiest deep-water ports.

 

Innovation & Technology

North Central is home to the University of Florida — the nation’s 5th ranked public university — where innovations created in its classrooms and laboratories become products that can be licensed and commercialized quicker than at almost any other university nationwide. According to the think tank Heartland Forward, only Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University beats UF for turning knowledge into market power, a process otherwise known as technology transfer.

In 2022, for the first time ever according to the National Science Foundation, University of Florida surpassed $1 billion in research spending, almost half of which took place in the six colleges of UF Health. Leading the way was the College of Medicine in Gainesville and Jacksonville at $347 million with another $120.2 million generated by the Colleges of Public Health and Health Professions, Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing combined. And further adding to the pot: $278 million from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and another $131.8 million from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

Approximately $469 million of total research conducted at UF in 2021-22 was funded by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy and NASA. Another $171.7 million came from the state of Florida.

With its record $1.076 billion in research expenditures, UF joins an exclusive group of some 15 public universities across the country, including the University of Michigan, UCLA and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to surpass the $1 billion mark. And helping innovators move their discoveries from conception to commercialization are two UF-supported incubators — The Hub in downtown Gainesville and Sid Martin Biotech in nearby Alachua.

Furthering UF’s expanding reputation for innovation:

KEY PLAYERS: Applied Genetic Technologies, Gainesville; Axogen, Alachua; ELISA Technologies, Gainesville

Logistics and Distribution

Companies in need of “easy-in, easy-out” logistics will find exactly what they need in Florida’s North Central. I-75 bisects the region on its way north from Miami to Atlanta, and Gainesville is the halfway point. Another hour to the north is I-10 at Lake City, providing easy access east to Jacksonville and west through Pensacola to New Orleans. And reasonably close to further facilitate trade are two deep-water ports: JaxPort (80 miles to the northeast) and Port Tampa Bay (130 miles to the south).

There’s air access here too. Gainesville Regional Airport offers an average of 16 daily departures on American and Delta airlines with nonstop services to/from Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami. A recent upgrade at the airport includes a 15,200-sq.-ft., two-gate passenger terminal with expanded restrooms and a second food-and-beverage station, as well as a lactation room and outdoor pet relief area.

Logistics firms that have clustered here in recent years include FedEx, Chewy.com, Dollar Tree and Amazon, with more expected as this region’s warehouse capacity continues to grow.

KEY PLAYERS: Amazon, Seattle, Wa.; Chewy.com, Dania Beach; FedEx, Memphis, Tenn.

 

Renewable Energy

With an abundance of sunshine and wide-open spaces, North Central Florida continues to draw interest in solar energy development from Florida’s two primary providers: Duke Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light (FPL).

In July 2021, Duke announced plans to add four new 74.9-MW solar facilities across the Florida peninsula, three of which were to be located in the North Central region — one each in Suwannee, Levy and Alachua counties. Construction was expected to begin in early 2022 but, to date, all three remain on the drawing board as Duke shifts gears to accommodate 10 sites for its new “Clean Energy Connection” solar program. The first of these sites — the Fort Green Renewable Energy Center located in South Central’s Hardee County — opened in June 2022. Completion dates for the pending North Central facilities have yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, FPL continues pushing toward completion of its “30-by-30” plan to install 30 million solar panels in Florida by 2030. As of summer 2021, the firm was on track to have installed 15 million panels by 2022 putting FPL more than 50% toward realizing its goal.

In other energy news, a research team at the University of Florida has developed a system that can provide energy for homes during prolonged power outages. The Intelligent Control System is powered by rooftop solar energy and a battery that uses artificial intelligence to decrease the cost of keeping essential home appliances and other electronic devices running. The system has been tested through real-time computer simulations, and the next step is to install, deploy and test a real system in a house or similar-sized building, a process that could cost as much $100,000.

Health Care

Among hospitals statewide on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals 2022-23,” UF Health Shands in Gainesville once again stood out, earning Top 50 rankings in five specialties: orthopedics (No. 26); ear, nose and throat (No. 40); geriatrics (No. 45) and pulmonary and lung surgery and urology (tied at No. 48 each). Equally impressive, its sister facility with Top 50 rankings in five pediatric specialties, three of which scored below No. 30: diabetes and endocrinology (No. 13); pulmonology and lung surgery (No.18); and cardiology and heart surgery (No. 26).

In July 2022, UF Health became the first Southeastern U.S. site to house a groundbreaking device providing personalized cancer treatment with a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and precision radiotherapy to treat the most challenging types of cancers, such as pancreatic and liver.

 

Education

In addition to its U.S. News & World Report 5th place ranking among public universities in 2021-22, UF scored No. 28 on the list of national universities and, for the first time ever, earned top spot in the nation for its online bachelor’s degree programs. In 2022, Money magazine put Florida at No. 8 on its list of top ten “Best Colleges by Value.”

Other educational institutions serving North Central with reasons to boast include:

 

Life & Leisure

Take a Walk on the Wild Side
North Central spans 13 counties with tons of things to see and do indoors and out. Board a glass-bottom boat at Silver Springs, Florida’s oldest tourist attraction. Hang with free-flying butterflies in their climate controlled rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. Pop in to the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, the only college zookeeper training facility in the U.S. Go antiquing in Micanopy, Florida’s self-proclaimed antiques capital just 15 minutes south of Gainesville with dozens of shops to explore. Pay a visit to the little community of Cross Creek where author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings penned her Pulitzer Prize winning novel “The Yearling” in 1942. Then cap it all off with a trip to the Gulf Coast town of Cedar Key for a glimpse of “Old Florida” and a bowl of award-winning clam chowder.

Fancy a Little Horsin’ Around?
Then don’t miss the Ocala World Equestrian Center featuring indoor and outdoor arenas, events and a 248-room hotel aptly titled The Equestrian. A UF veterinary hospital has opened at the Ocala World Equestrian Center and is serving four-legged clients. Coming soon: A second hotel with 400 rooms; and a 1,000-acre facility to host weddings and equestrian events.

And How 'bout a Serious Dip?
The 82,252-sq.-ft. Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training complex is now open in Ocala with a 10-lane Olympic-size pool, one- and three-meter diving boards and 2,000 spectator seats.