AMELIA ISLAND — Whatever the topic, there was something to learn: the uncharted territory of artificial intelligence, Florida’s role in the upcoming election, Tallahassee’s new healthcare boom, the inside story of what companies look for when choosing a city to relocate to.
The Saturday afternoon workshop at the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce conference drew a large crowd of attendees who showed up eager to hear what they didn’t already know.
The message of increasing employment was repeated in nearly every workshop conversation, with many saying that change will happen, whether it happens slowly or at lightning speed.
How does Tallahassee prepare its sites when businesses are ready to move?
The lengthy discussions centered on site selection, how Tallahassee can become more competitive and the possibility that decades-old documents could be key to the next phase of development.
The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department is working with consultants to evaluate the Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for how development will occur in Tallahassee. This will be the first major analysis of the Comprehensive Plan since it began in 1989.
“It shows how overdue this analysis is,” said Richard Darabi, a shareholder at Moore Bass Consulting, who moderated the site selection workshop. “So you can imagine the comprehensive plan is like an all-encompassing document that guides development beyond the comprehensive plan. Then the next level down is the zoning, which also guides development. And then below that is the site plan, which tells you where the buildings are actually going to be, how big they are, what the buffer zones are, etc.”
In terms of momentum, Daravi said there are hurdles that affect competitiveness, such as Florida’s lack of incentive packages compared to other states, including Georgia. In Tallahassee, he said, the challenge is identifying land that’s ready to break ground and providing easy information for companies to find it.
More work is being done on that front, said Keith Bowers, director of the Tallahassee-Leon County Economic Revitalization Agency. In 2021, OEV hired an independent firm to identify local locations suitable for development. The list has been whittled down from 40 to 24, and the focus has recently been on promoting the four or five locations at the top of the list, he said.
“Our next step is to do a little more due diligence,” Bowers said, adding coordination between public works, planning and other departments.
The panel, which featured Rose Burden, managing director of business tax credits and incentives at Ernst & Young, and Chris Wimsatt, director of business development and site preparation for the Florida Department of Commerce, said data centers, which house large computer servers, are always looking for land.
“Data centers around the world, AI and all that stuff, should be proactive,” Burden said, acknowledging that some people might be opposed to building data centers. “What else does this data center or any other use fit with?”
“I own a community, and from a planning standpoint, I’m saying I want to build sidewalks and green space around them. If I can do that in my backyard, I want to see what additional benefits I can get.”
Tallahassee’s Healthcare Sector is Booming
Panelists said the collaboration between startups, experienced healthcare companies and two powerful economic drivers will provide a major boost to Tallahassee’s healthcare sector.
One of the most notable news stories this year is the partnership between Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare to create a future academic medical center called FSU Health, targeted to open in fall 2026.
Stacey Patterson, FSU vice chancellor for research, said FSU Health is rooted in a philosophy.
“Everybody wants to have it inscribed on a building or a person or a lab, but it’s so much more than that,” Patterson said. “It’s everything we do at Florida State University to contribute to improving health and healthcare in our region and beyond.”
Patterson said FSU conducts about $450 million in research annually. He went on to talk about the university’s schools of medicine, nursing and education, which are particularly vital to the “business of health care,” adding that “FSU Health brings those forces together.”
WellConnector, the brainchild of Allison Aubuchon, is another example of collaboration from a startup perspective.
Aubuchon had an idea for a way to cut down on the repetitive paperwork patients have to fill out when getting medical care, so she partnered with Ruvos, a Tallahassee health care technology company, to launch an app-based platform to make the process more seamless.
Aubuchon said healthcare startups and innovations like WellConnector can play a key role in economic growth.
“They have the potential to create jobs,” she said. “At WellConnector, we see a need for clinic support, including onboarding and staff to assist clinic staff as things get rolling. We have a sales team and a support team. Companies like Lubos have started and grown here, and we hope WellConnector will follow suit.”
Tallahassee housing market trends
Housing experts say inventory in Tallahassee remains low compared to demand, and except for a slight dip this year, median prices have been rising for the past seven years.
“It’s still pretty high, so there’s still the issue of housing affordability,” said Steven Rusheim, CEO of the Tallahassee Association of Realtors.
Panel experts also discussed the range in purchasing power across age groups, with Millennials (38%) in a position to purchase a home, and Baby Boomers (31%) who want properties that fit their active lifestyles.
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
