As would be expected from JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis, he is bullish on Jacksonville.
Davis presented an optimistic vision for at least the next five years to the Northeast Florida Builders Association Sales & Marketing Council on July 8 at the University of North Florida.
Jacksonville has become a destination city for people who want to relocate with the advent of remote working and to companies that want to move to a more receptive business climate, he said.
Davis said 67 companies are exploring the possibility of moving to Jacksonville.
“Because of the policies the elected leaders have put in place locally and statewide, we are seeing companies wanting to move away from places who could care less if they have business,” he said.
“They want to move to a place that is business-minded and wants to actually see growth.”
Davis is a presumed Republican mayoral candidate to succeed term-limited Mayor Lenny Curry next year but did not confirm nor talk about it at the meeting.
He said the Jacksonville Jaguars games in London have provided city leaders inroads to meeting with companies throughout Europe.
Companies now know Jacksonville and are seeking opportunities, he said.
“Much of the fintech growth we have seen in this community is because of the FIS headquarters deal,” he said, referring to Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and financial technology.
“Now fintech companies are coming to us asking if they can get time with us instead of us trying to get time with them,” Davis said.
“We are already talking to companies from the wake of the Dun & Bradstreet move,” he said.
The financial services and data firm announced in 2021 it is moving its headquarters from New Jersey to Jacksonville and is receiving $25 million in city and state incentives.
By becoming a business destination, Jacksonville is seeing the growth it has sought for decades, Davis said.
“We are the second-highest metro area in population growth in the country. The second-hottest housing market in the country. We are the fourth-strongest economic growth community in the country and number one in the state of Florida,” he said.
“We are selling our community exactly like we should be selling our community.”
He continued by citing job numbers.
In 2021, 2,900 new jobs and $500 million in capital investment were announced in the Jacksonville area.
By the second quarter of 2022, another 1,200 jobs with $250 million in capital investment were announced.
Davis also talked about Downtown residential growth.
He said the goal is 10,000 Downtown residents within two years. After that, the goal is the construction of enough units to reach 10,000 living spaces.
The Downtown Vision Inc. advocacy and support nonprofit reports there are almost 5,000 multifamily units and almost 7,000 residents Downtown.
There are 2,500 new units in the pipeline
Business growth depends on a vital city, Davis said.
Today’s new employees consider what a city has to offer before contemplating the career benefits of taking a new job, Davis said.
“We need to have 10,000 residents living in Downtown Jacksonville. That creates an urban environment that is sustainable and then you have the retail and restaurants that will follow.”
The chamber wants to expand opportunity throughout the city and encourages City Hall to make infrastructure a top priority.
Without that, some areas of town will continue to struggle.
“We need to have infrastructure in place so that if a company wants to come here and wants to move into a community that needs to be revitalized they would be able to do that.”
Davis cited a mistake that growing cities have made. While there are many luxury apartments in the works and allowances have been made for workforce housing, he said there needs to be affordable housing for those in the middle.
“One of last things that they thought of was, ‘Oh we don’t have affordable housing.’ We are fortunate where we can work on that now. We know the growth is coming. We need to make sure we lock in housing for firefighters, nurses and teachers.”
Also:
• He would like to see a convention center built along Bay Street. “We are not going to be Orlando or Vegas. I don’t want to be in that convention space but I’d like to be in that niche space and ask ourselves the question, ‘How is Savannah beating us in attracting convention and visitors?’ ”
• He applauded the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for upgrading Skyway infrastructure to create autonomous vehicles that could travel in a Downtown loop. “It was started where nobody was and went where nobody wanted to go,” he said of the current Skyway.
• He referred to Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s proposed hotel near Metropolitan Park as the Four Seasons several times. He said the hotel will be in charge of managing the reconstructed marina and boathouse on the riverfront property. “It will be maintained at a Four Seasons level,” he said.