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Alachua County’s job market growing

By Steven KatonaCorrespondent

It’s a good time to ap-ply for jobs in Alachua County.

According to Career-Source North Central Florida, the Gainesville metro area has added almost 2,000 jobs within the year, and employers are still looking to fi ll hundreds of positions.

Kim Tesch-Vaught, director of CareerSource NCFL, said job markets are looking up and registered nurses, hospi-tality, retail, and hotel and food services positions are projected to increase.

“There’s a lot of growth going on, and people can see that just looking around,” Tesch-Vaught said. “I think the economy is picking up, and it’s growing everywhere.”

The University of Florida, North Central Florida’s largest employer, lists about 350 vacancies from entry-level jobs such as student aides to experience-based jobs such as faculty.

Melissa Curry, UF director of Recruitment

and Staffi ng, said pre-emi-nence funding and a recovering economy have had a big impact on the growth of the university.

“After six years of budget cuts, UF’s funding has been restored,” she said. “Everything looks positive that we are going to continue this hiring trend.”

UF has already hired about 50 new faculty members with the UF Rising campaign, and it looks to continue to fi ll even more positions early

next year during the next hiring season, which starts in April.

Alachua County Public Schools also is looking to fi ll positions. Human Resources Supervisor Beverly Finley said the county has about 70 to fi ll — 14 teacher positions and 61 non-instructional jobs, ranging from food-service assistants to custodians to clerical.

Finley said the openings have little to do with the recovering economy, though. Many of these

jobs are due to workers either retiring or resign-ing.

“This is normal,” Finley said.

Alachua schools are especially on the lookout for Exceptional Student Education teachers and speech pathologists.

But it always has a high demand for non-instruc-tional positions, too.

Gayla Beach, UF Health Shands’ director of Recruitment and Staffi ng, said the economy has nothing to do with current

hiring initiatives at the hospital, either, but she is looking to fi ll up to 80 posi-tions for registered nurses.

“The recession didn’t really impact us,” Beach said. “For the most part, we are just steady as she goes.”

“The postings we’re listing right now are due to vacancies that need to be fi lled, plus new positions being received through the budget year.”

UF Health Shands is mainly looking for special-area nurses, ones that can work in different units, but it also may make some hires from the recent college graduate pool, too.

Tesch-Vaught said many

job-seekers make the mistake of not tailoring their resumes for the positions for which they are interested.

“A one-size-fi ts-all resume doesn’t really bring to the table what they can offer to the employer,” she said.

She said she encourages people to take the time in their resumes to show the employer what they can bring to their company.

But it’s important for people to stay connected and be actively searching for job postings on employfl orida.com.

“Employers are looking for it all,” Tesch-Vaught said.

Jobs that will see the most growth include nursing, retail and hospitality.

FILE

A nurse checks on the heart monitor of a patient at North Florida Regional Medical Center. Right now, the county has more than 400 jobs available for registered nurses.

Top job openingsTop 10 occupations with the most job openings in Alachua

County, as of Oct. 22:

1. Registered Nurses 409

2. Heavy Tractor Trailer Drivers 228

3. Retail Salesperson 223

4. First-line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 171

5. Nursing Assistants 145

6. Customer Service Representatives 130

7. General and Operations managers 117

8. Managers, all others 92

9. Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses 87

10. First-line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers

74

SOURCE: Employfl orida.com

2 | SUNDAY , NOVEMBER 9 , 2014 ALACHUA COUNTY PROGRESS THE GAINESVILLE SUN | www.gainesville.com

Alachua County ProgressContributing writers: Steven Katona, Emily Cochrane,

Kellie Hourlhan, Carla Vianna, Angela Skane, Carl McKin-ney, Anthony Clark, Brooke Baltinger, Michael Stone, Sean Stewart-MunizEditor: Anthony ClarkDesigner/copy editor: Sharon SullivanCover Design: Rob Mack

By Emily CochraneCorrespondent

The fi rst game at Ben Hill Griffi n Stadium on Nov. 8, 1930, saw a sold-out crowd of

21,769. The most recent game on

Oct. 18 fell a few hundred seats short of its intended capacity of at least 90,000.

Though stadium expan-sions have allowed attendance numbers to skyrocket in almost 85 years of play, UF now struggles to sell out a stadium affl icted with hot afternoons, a struggling team and competition from an in-home viewing experience.

“In this age of HD television, we are compet-ing with the in-home experience,” said Daniel Apple, the University Athletic Association’s assistant communications director, in an email. “That said, there is still nothing like experiencing Gator football in The Swamp, and we continue to look for ways to improve the fan experience in our stadium.”

Expansions for an additional 20,000 seats in 1949 and 1966 combined with two 10,000-seat additions in 1982 and 1991 helped increase Florida Field’s attendance to its current capacity of 88,548.

The 1990s marked some of the largest football crowds in the state’s history with more than 85,000 in attendance as Steve Spurrier led the Gators to win their fi rst SEC championship.

However, the Gators’ 137-game streak for sold-out home games ended Sept. 3, 2011, with

current coach Will Muschamp’s debut against Florida Atlantic Univer-sity.

Though UF won 41-3, it was the fi rst of three games that season that didn’t sell out, and the number of empty seats continued to grow as the team struggled in confer-ence play.

Apple said that many of the empty seats were not necessarily the result of UF students choosing not to attend the games.

“Travel expenses for visiting fans have played a large role in this,” Apple said. “The vast majority of unsold tickets in The Swamp are from the opposing team’s allot-ment.”

The UAA has turned to social media to help increase student involve-ment with Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts garnering likes of support for the team.

But the social media likes, the television and cellphone technology and increased interaction with UF cheerleaders and Dazzlers didn’t keep the 2014 ticket lottery from being extended beyond its original deadline to attract

more students.In another effort to raise

ticket sales, the UAA switched to variable ticket pricing for the 2014 football season and based prices after the historic demand for the games.

Home games against SEC teams were priced at $50 while games against non-conference teams such as Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky were priced at $25.

Despite the increased ticket prices, the games still attract alumni who can’t imagine not buying their Gator football tickets.

Ervin Hunter fi rst started buying season tickets in 1955 as a University of Tampa student when he would go to games with his then-girlfriend, now wife, and her uncle, a UF alumni.

It became a family event where they would bring their daughter, and eventually, their two grandsons.

Hunter remembers a smaller stadium, a cooler climate and a fancier 1950s crowd.

“People dress different for the games now,” Hunter said. “Boys used to come in coats and ties and the ladies in furs. They dressed up a whole lot more than they do now, but the fanbase is better than what it used to be.”

Though the Hunters pay a lot more for their tickets now, they have kept their season tickets and their Gator spirit for 55 years.

“You’re born a Gator, you die a Gator,” Hunter said. “That’s why I keep coming. I don’t wanna be Gator bait.”

Gator football ticket sales depend on team’s success

FILE PHOTO

Florida Gator fans cheer during fi rst-half action as the team takes on South Carolina at Ben Hill Griffi n Stadium in Gainesville in November 2006. The 1990s marked some of the largest football crowds in the state’s history with more than 85,000 in attendance for home games.

Gator footballticket sales

ROB MACK/Staff graphic

* Average

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

20132003-2012*

1993-2002*

1983-1992*

75,12075,12085,245

89,813 87,439

www.gainesville.com | THE GAINESVILLE SUN ALACHUA COUNTY PROGRESS SUNDAY , NOVEMBER 9 , 2014 | 3

Gainesville Regional’s air traffi c is taking off By Kellie HourihanCorrespondent

Reaching a peak of 216,463 annual enplanements, 1990 proved to be a re-

cord year for Gainesville Regional Airport.

The pivotal success was short-lived, however.

Over the next decade, the airline industry faced heavy turbulence brought on by airline mergers, changes in aviation models, economic reces-sions and an upward trend in fuel costs.

While many small airports are still strug-gling to stay afl oat, Gainesville Regional Airport has re-emerged seemingly unscathed from these trying times.

Although it took a harsh fall, the airport regained momentum and enplane-ments have been on a steady rise since 2008.

Many even predict this year’s numbers to fall just short of the 1990 peak.

Laura Aguiar, manager of public relations and governmental affairs for the airport, said a switch in engine models contrib-uted to the initial decline of enplanements in the 1990s.

“We had mainline jets, and then they switched out a few years later to turboprops,” Aguiar said, “which were not as popular with travelers.”

Turboprop engines, which provide thrust by a spinning propeller, are often perceived as slow, noisy and turbulent.

Many travelers prefer the comfort and speed of regional and mainline jets.

When Delta eliminated its mainline jets and moved to turboprops in 1997, Gainesville saw a drop in passenger counts.

Airlines began recogniz-ing distaste among travelers for the turboprop jets, and many transi-tioned to regional jets.

American Airlines’ turboprop service at Gainesville lasted merely nine months before transitioning to the preferred regional jets.

“The turboprops were certainly cheaper to operate, but just not effi cient for the airlines,” said Kinnon Thomas, longtime member of the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority Board.

The success of a small airport also relies heavily on what airlines and services are available.

At its peak in 1990, seven different carriers serviced Gainesville.

Eastern Airlines, in particular, brought in a lot of travelers but left in 1991, shortly after the record year.

Then in 1993, US Airways also eliminated its mainline service.

Aguiar said deregulation in 1978 and more recent economic recessions led to a wave of consolidation among U.S.-based airlines.

In the past, there were dozens of U.S. airlines, but in 1990 it was down to 13, then in 2000 down to nine or 10, she said.

Today, there are four mainline airlines, not including low-cost carriers which do not serve cities as small as Gainesville.

“It’s really just a tough industry,” Aguiar said.

Consolidations and mergers between airlines can often hurt or even eliminate smaller airports, particularly those close to larger airports serving the merging airline. However, major airline mergers may have actually helped Gainesville endure tough times by increasing traffi c growth. Many other airports haven’t been so lucky.

According to the Gaines-

ville’s updated Master Plan 2014, the average airport domestic traffi c growth has only gone up 2 percent in the lower 48 states since 2009. Gainesville saw a 31.1 percent increase during that time.

“So far so good,” Thomas said. “Certainly hasn’t seemed to hurt us.”

Airline mergers also often cause an increase in airfares, but Gainesville has done better than the national trend there as well. Aguiar said since the recession and mergers, the average fare for a fl ight within the continental U.S. has gone up about 16 percent, whereas Gaines-ville’s average fare has only gone up about 3 percent.

Aguiar credits the

resurgence of enplane-ments to Gainesville’s business-travel market and the growing appeal of fl ying locally.

“The people really driving our growth are the business travelers,” she said.

Currently, Gainesville’s average person per itinerary is 1.02, meaning there is a majority of single travelers. Aguiar said being a business-trav-el market not only boosts passenger counts, but it also makes Gainesville an economic asset to the Gainesville community by attracting businesses to the area.

“Air service is very important to business,” she said. “They need to know they have access to the global marketplace.”

Thomas said many companies are in Gainesville based on its local airport.

“It’s one of the economic-development engines, so to speak, here in the city,” he said.

Both Aguiar and Thomas said the convenience of fl ying locally also is contributing to Gaines-ville’s escalating passen-ger counts in recent years. Especially as it gets more diffi cult, with increased traffi c and gas prices, to make the drive to Orlando, Aguiar said people are seeing Gainesville as a more viable option.

“We’ve just become a much more attractive option to just stay home and fl y local,” she said.

Although Aguiar predicts it won’t quite make the 1990 record count this year, Gainesville continues to counter national trends of descent among smaller airports.

FILE

Delta representative Carole Kerr tickets Jennifer Stevens for her trip to Atlanta at Gainesville Regional Airport in January 2005. Even though the average airport domestic traffi c growth has only gone up 2 percent in the lower 48 states since 2009, Gainesville saw a 31.1 percent increase.

“The people really driving our growth are the business travelers.”

LAURA AGUIAR, manager of public relations and

governmental aff airs for Gainesville Regional Airport


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By Carla ViannaCorrespondent

With the Univer-sity of Florida and Gainesville Regional Utili-

ties owning a fair share of land in Alachua County, much of the property is off of the tax rolls.

Under Florida law, government-owned property is tax-exempt.

About 18 percent of the total land in Alachua County is government-owned and tax-exempt. About 29 percent of land is government exempt overall within the state of Florida.

Most of the government-exempt land in the county lies within the city of Gainesville.

The percentage of property on the tax rolls within the city’s corporate limits continues to decline, falling to about 41 percent in fi scal year 2012. This is the lowest of any Florida city, according to the city of Gainesville FY14 Final Budget data.

“The city has a lot of property off the tax rolls,” said Kamal Latham, vice president for public policy at the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. “Compared to other cities, we don’t get as much use or value out of the land.”

The total assessed value of Alachua County property comes out to about $22.3 billion, according to 2014 tax roll data provided by the Alachua County Property Appraiser’s offi ce. Almost half of that value is off of the tax rolls, however.

There are various types of exemptions, including homestead, governmental,

institutional (churches and nonprofi ts), and disability exemptions. The two largest exemption categories in Gainesville are governmental and institutional.

The city’s total assessed property value is $13.2 billion. Of that value, a total of about $7.6 billion is tax-exempt. About three quarters of that exemption is catered toward govern-ment-owned property.

UF did not provide information about how much property it owns in the city.

“GRU is a big, big number in that exempt amount,” Property Appraiser Ed Crapo said.

GRU owns about 6.8 square miles (4,349.5 acres) of land in Gainesville, including its fi ve utility plants, electric substation sites, lift station sites and other utility sites, said GRU spokeswoman Tiffany Small.

A general fund transfer from GRU, or its payment to the city in lieu of taxes, funds a signifi cant portion of the city’s budget — $37.3 million, to be exact. Property taxes make up a little more than $22 million of the city’s budget.

“As a result, some people believe that [the general fund transfer] is part of the reason why property taxes are not as high as they should be,” Latham said.

The city has high taxes because its population

demands high levels of service, Crapo said, but the actual individual millage rate, or tax rate applied to the assessed value of property, is relatively modest.

Compared to peer cities, or those that are similar in population size, Gaines-ville’s millage rate is right in the middle, said Mark Benton, fi nance director for the city.

“We didn’t raise the millage rate to generate higher property taxes,” Benton said.

In fact, the millage rate is slightly lower this year than last.

The average city millage rate for the state of Florida for the past fi scal year was 5, compared to about 4.58 for Gainesville, according to the property appraiser’s offi ce and the Florida Department of Revenue.

A mill levies $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value.

“Essentially what we’ve done is we’ve worked hard to identify solutions on the expense side,” Benton said, such as cutting the budget. He said the only new revenue source the city has added is a fi re assessment fee in 2010, to broaden the base of people who pay taxes.

“If GRU was a privately owned utility, there would be some signifi cant differences,” Crapo said. “The city of Gainesville millage rate would probably be higher because it wasn’t getting direct payment from utilities. However, it would be getting property taxes off privately owned land — maybe the two would offset each other.”

Much of the county’s property is tax-exempt

The city’s total assessed property value is $13.2 billion.


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Mom-and-pop businesses become trusted namesBy Angela Skane Correspondent

Despite economic struggles for busi-nesses over the years, Gainesville

is home to many fam-ily-owned businesses that have thrived. They have grown from mom-and-pop operations into brands Gainesville residents have come to trust. The businesses have evolved with the growing city, and many credit the University of Florida’s im-pact on the area for some of their lasting success.

W.G. Johnson and Son

Cristopher Baldwin gives credit to Gainesville for W.G. Johnson and Son’s successes. He said that due to the University of Florida, Gainesville’s population and economy doesn’t fl uctuate much.

“It can be benefi cial when things are not going so well,” he said. “But on the fl ip side, sometimes it can be a limiting factor to how much things can grow.”

William Glenn Johnson Sr. and his son, William Glenn Johnson Jr., started the site development company as a lawn mowing business in 1957.

The duo got involved in some site work and underground utilities in the 1960s, and their business grew from there.

William Glenn Johnson III, who goes by Glenn, is the owner.

He took the reins about two-and-a-half years ago when his parents retired.

Baldwin handles the business-management side of the company, and attributes some of the company’s success to

customer relationships. During the economic

downturn, which hit a lot of construction companies hard, several existing customers continued projects, Baldwin said.

He said that the family atmosphere that they run the company by is what has led to the business’s stability.

Some of the employees have been with them for more than 45 years.

Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors

J. Parrish, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors, said Gainesville’s econo-my wasn’t hit as hard in relation to other areas of the state, especially in real estate, during the recent recession.

He said that historically, Gainesville doesn’t see huge upswings and downturns.

M.M. Parrish has been in Gainesville for more than 100 years, and was started by Mercer Moorman Parrish Sr. and his father, James Howard Parrish.

The company included insurance and construc-tion, but took a focus on brokerage when Jim Parrish took ownership in 1971.

In 1982, the brokerage partnered with Coldwell Banker to become more recognizable to people who were moving to Gainesville from other areas.

J. Parrish became president of the company in 2007 and right away had to consolidate the business due to the economic situation. He said he went from 90 salespeople, 27 full-time salaried support personnel and six loca-tions to 80 salespeople, seven full-time personnel and two locations.

He said that for his success, it all comes down to good leadership, good planning and giving people opportunity to advance and grow.

In 2011, the brokerage partnered with Beau Berry and Todd Rains-berger and expanded into commercial real estate. J. Parrish said the presence

FILE PHOTOS

ABOVE: Benny Walker, owner of Walker Furniture, stands before his new 28,000-square-foot furniture store on Southwest 34th Street in July 2008. Walker Furniture is in its third generation of family ownership since the store started in 1940.LEFT: J. Parrish, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors, poses in a boardroom in February 2008. M.M. Parrish has been in Gainesville for more than 100 years and was started by Mercer Moorman Parrish Sr. and his father, James Howard Parrish.

BUSINESSES on Page 9

William Glenn Johnson Sr. and his son, William Glenn Johnson Jr., started the site development company as a lawn mowing business in 1957.


in the commercial side has been a reinforcement of the company brand.

Walker Furniture Walker Furniture owner

Benny Walker also pointed out UF’s positive impact on local businesses and the economy. He said that when UF can grow, the local economy can benefi t.

Like Parrish, Walker said any business can succeed with good management, and Walker Furniture is no different. Walker Furniture is in its third generation of family ownership since the store started in 1940, and the fourth generation is in place to follow.

The store has a down-town Gainesville location, and has recently added a store in Southwest Gainesville.

Walker said that like anyone in retail, the store has stayed competitive and they are grateful to their customers.

Ward’s Supermarket

Danielle Ward Williams said Ward’s Supermarket experienced an increase in sales, contrary to the economy. People realized how much further $100 could go in a grocery store than a restaurant.

Williams, daughter of owners Bill and Trish Ward, manages cashiers and baggers at Ward’s Supermarket but said being a part of the family business means you have to know how to do a little bit of everything.

Ward’s Supermarket started in 1951 as a produce stand and evolved from an open-air market

into the store on North-west 23rd Avenue. The store pulls from more than 350 local vendors for everything from produce, meat and seafood to organic sunscreens and soaps.

Williams said Gainesville is supportive of a local business, and attributes success to the community along with quality and the store’s commitment to catering to customers.

BUSINESSES: Ward’s started as a produce standContinued from 8

FILE PHOTOS

ABOVE: Ward’s Supermarket shoppers Dominic Isgro and Nancy Kohutek shop for produce in March 2012. Ward’s started in 1951 as a produce stand.LEFT: In August 2011, Ward’s Supermarket marked 60 years as a family business, with four generations of family. Trish and Billy Ward, center, are shown with extended family and employees who have been at the business for more than 10 years, at the store at 515 NW 23rd Ave. in Gainesville.

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Walker Furniture is in its third generation of family ownership since the store started in 1940, and the fourth generation is in place to follow.


By Carl McKinneyCorrespondent

Inventors and research-ers from the Univer-sity of Florida create products and make

new discoveries, but it is the university’s Offi ce of Technology Licensing that helps those products and discoveries make money in the marketplace.

The OTL works with inventors with patentable or copyrightable technol-ogy to bring new products to the marketplace. Many of those inventions go on to see large fi nancial success.

GatoradeGatorade has been one of

the most successful products to come out of the university, said David Day, director of the OTL.

“It created its own industry,” Day said. “UF still received signifi cant revenue from that.”

A 2009 Gainesville Sun article places the approxi-mate annual royalties the drink generates for the university at around $12 million.

It was originally licensed to Stokely-Van Camp. The Quaker Oats Company purchased the Gatorade brand in 1983. PepsiCo purchased the Quaker Oats Company in 2001.

High Oleic peanut plants

High Oleic peanut plants are a series of strains of peanut plant that the university licenses to more than 30 different compa-nies.

High Oleic plants have a shelf life that is up to 30 times longer, said John Beuttenmuller, a research-er with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

UF researchers discov-ered plants with high amounts of oleic oil, and developed plants to contain the trait.

TrusoptThough the patent ran

out about three or four years ago, Day said glaucoma drug Trusopt was one of the most successful moneymakers in terms of the royalties it brought to the university.

For years, Trusopt brought in more money than any other invention, according to the UF College of Medicine website, and was respon-sible for about one third of the university’s royalty revenue.

The drug was developed in the 1980s by UF researcher Thomas Maren, and licensed to Merck in 1986. It hit the market in the mid-1990s after clinical trials and testing.

SentriconSentricon, a product for

controlling termite colonies, is one of the top

moneymakers for the university, said Jane Muir, assistant director for the OTL.

Over 3 million homes have used the Sentricon system since it hit the market in 1995, said inven-tor Nan Yao Su.

Sentricon uses bait stations that use an insect growth regulator. When worker termites take it back to their colony, it

eliminates the nest mates by preventing their ability to molt, Su said.

Sentricon was licensed to Dow AgroSciences around 1991.

RTI SurgicalRTI Surgical, based in

Alachua, is one of the university’s largest spinoffs, Muir said. In 12 years, the OTL has helped create more than 140 tech startups, according to material on the offi ce’s website.

The Alachua implant company, which licenses several technologies from the university, reported more than $60 million in revenue in the fi rst quarter of this year.

RTI is in a unique position, Day said, because it is both an already successful company and also one that is still growing.

Some inventions out of UF fi nd huge success

FILE PHOTOS

ABOVE: Regeneration Technologies Inc. is a human tissue processor in Alachua. BELOW: Nan Yao Su is the inventor of the termite bait system Sentricon.

Gatorade has been one of the most successful

products to come out of the university.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Rising UF spinoff companies full of promise

By Carl McKinneyCorrespondent

The University of Florida is one of the top schools in the country for generat-

ing royalties off of patent-able and copyrightable ideas and inventions.

Between 2010 and 2012, the university saw nearly $92 million in licensing revenue.

The UF Offi ce of Tech-nology Licensing facili-tates the transfer of an idea or invention into the marketplace.

The OTL boasts success stories such as Gatorade, glaucoma drug Trusopt and the Sentricon termite removal system, but there are more up and comers to watch.

David Day, the director of the OTL, said there are several rising UF spinoff companies that are full of promise.

EnteradeScientists at the UF

Health Cancer Center have developed a medical food that can be useful to people suffering from radiation exposure, including those undergo-ing chemo treatments.

Enterade USA, based in Newberry, received a $100,000 grant in 2012 from a science institute funded by NASA to develop a drink that limits stomach problems from

radiation exposure. Enterade-R was released

in 2012. It improves uptake of

fl uid and electrolytes in patients undergoing chemotherapy, according to the company’s website.

It allows such patients to stay hydrated while limiting common prob-lems, such as nausea.

Shadow HealthIn a discreet offi ce on

Southwest First Avenue in Gainesville, Shadow Health works to make edu-cational software for health care professionals.

“It’s revolutionizing how nursing is taught,” Day said.

The company has interactive training programs that allow students to conduct virtual exams on a patient.

It licenses part of its tech-nology from UF and is growing rapidly, he said.

eTectJonesville-based eTect is

cutting years out of the process to get drugs to the marketplace, Day said.

The company is develop-ing a capsule with sensors that send a signal to a monitor worn by patients to ensure they are taking medicine.

The system also helps drug companies gather aggregate data from clinical trials, Day said, making the journey a drug must take to reach the

marketplace shorter.

OBMedicalNewberry-based

OBMedical is developing a less invasive, more sensitive way of monitor-ing a fetus than traditional methods, some of which are decades old, Day said.

LaborView is a wireless fetal monitor that can keep track of contractions, as well as the heart rate of both mother and fetus.

Current devices use outdated sensors, accord-ing to the company’s website, and are problem-atic with obese mothers.

LaborView is in some ways a response to the obesity epidemic, Day said, since doctors have a diffi cult time monitoring the fetus of obese patients using other methods.

AxoGenAlthough many would

say AxoGen is already a success story, Day said, it isn’t done growing and shows promise for the future.

AxoGen develops ways of protecting and restor-ing nerves.

Edward Bonfi glio, a United States Navy Corpsman who lost use of his left leg in Afghanistan, was able to recover use of that leg using the AxoGen Avance Nerve Graft.

The company reported record revenue in the second quarter of this year, with $4.21 million.

Co-founder and CEO of Enterade USA LLC, Hari Thrivikramji, is shown with their product, Enterade-R, a medical food used for hydration of radiotherapy and chemotherapy patients.FILE PHOTO

Operations specialist Jonathan Gatson,

with AxoGen, works in the research and

development laboratory.FILE PHOTO

Many of the up-and-comers focus on health care.


Economy fueled by private-sector jobs

By Anthony ClarkBusiness editor

The business of Gainesville is gov-ernment.

The public sector accounts for a third of the economy in the Gainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area, with the value of goods and services — in this case, mostly services — amounting to $3.6 billion out of a total gross domes-tic product of $11.1 billion in 2013, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

That rate has budged less than a percentage point since 2001, with the public sector growing 65 percent compared to a 67 percent growth rate for private industries over that time.

Four of the top fi ve employers and seven of the top 10 in Gainesville are public sector, with the University of Florida and UF Health Shands Hospital — a private not-for-profi t affi liated with UF — well out front, followed by the VA Hospital, the Alachua County School Board and the city of Gainesville rounding out the top fi ve, followed by Publix Supermarkets, North Florida Regional Medical Center, Nationwide Insurance, Alachua County and Santa Fe College.

The largest private-sec-tor category belongs to fi nance, insurance and real estate at $1.719 billion, with real estate, rental and leasing making up 73

percent of that. Real estate also was one

of the fastest-growing segments of the local economy, more than doubling from $593 million in 2001 to $1.26 billion in 2013.

While home values were hammered during the recession and recently started to climb back up, other real estate segments saw growth, said Thomas McIntosh, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Trend Realty.

“You can look around and see some apartment complexes that got built, some signifi cant retail that got built, some signifi cant residential developments that got built,” he said. “Just look at the number of CVS’s and Walgreens that got built during that time.”

Government spending also helped the real estate segment, with government tenants, in particular the VA, leasing private property, he said.

Despite 112 percent growth that outpaced the local economy, McIntosh said that doesn’t sound that outstanding com-pared to other areas of Florida, pointing out that infl ation would account for part of the higher value with the prices of con-

struction materials and labor going up.

Not surprisingly, the category that includes health care is right behind fi nance among the largest private-sector segments of the local economy at $1.51 billion, having slightly outpaced overall econom-ic growth at 72 percent above the 2001 value of $876 million.

UF, Shands, VA Hospital, school board and the city of Gainesville lead the way

FILE PHOTOS

TOP AND ABOVE: UF Health Shands Hospital and the University of Florida are the top Gainesville employers.

The largest private-sector category belongs to fi nance, insurance and real estate.

JOBS on Page 13


JOBS: Manufacturing one of fastest-growing segments

UF Health Shands Hospital, the VA Hospital and North Florida Region-al Medical Center are all top 10 local employers, with a combined job growth of 76 percent since 2001.

Dr. David Guzick, president of UF Health, attributes the growth in GDP to both higher costs and more use of health care services.

Higher costs are attrib-uted in part to new, more expensive technology, he said.

More use results from both per-person use as people live longer and need more medical care, and from more people coming into Gainesville from around the state to use UF Health Shands, he said.

“We’ve recruited faculty nationally that have various areas of expertise that are very well-recog-nized in the fi eld, and other physicians are aware of this reputation, and patients become aware by word-of-mouth, and we become the go-to place for health care, so we’ve experienced an increase in the number of hospital transfers and patients from outside Gainesville being referred in to see our faculty,” Guzick said. “That’s good for Gainesville.”

Manufacturing also has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the

local economy, growing from $256 million in 2001 to $537 million last year. Of that, durable-goods manufacturing — which includes machinery, electronics and medical devices — makes up the largest portion at $419 million. Nondurable-goods manufacturing — which includes chemicals and printed products — grew the fastest, from $37 million to $118 million.

Wholesale trade — which includes distribu-tion centers and restau-rant suppliers — also doubled from $198 million in 2001 to $396 million in 2013.

Gross domestic productGainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area (Alachua and Gilchrist counties)

2001 2013 Growth rate

All industry total $6.674 billion $11.098 billion 66%

Private industries $4.477 billion $7.466 billion 67%

Government $2.197 billion $3.632 billion 65%

SELECT INDUSTRIES

Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, leasing

$932 million $1.719 billion 84%

Finance/insurance $339 million $461 million 36%

Real estate/rental/leasing $593 million $1.257 billion 112%

Manufacturing $256 million $537 million 110%

Durable goods manufacturing $218 million $419 million 92%

Nondurable goods manufacturing $37 million $118 million 219%

Professional and business services

Admin/waste mgmt. $152 million $204 million 34%

Other industries

Educational services, health care, social assistance

$876 million $1.510 billion 72%

Retail trade $540 million $699 million 29%

Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodations, food services

$309 million $459 million 49%

Wholesale trade $198 million $396 million 100%

Construction $280 million $368 million 31%SOURCE: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Continued from 12

LEFT: Real estate signs line a neighborhood in High Springs in 2005. Real estate also was one of the fastest-growing segments of the local economy, more than doubling from $593 million in 2001 to $1.26 billion in 2013.BELOW: North Florida Regional Medical Center is among the city’s top 10 employers.FILE PHOTOS

UF Health Shands Hospital, the VA Hospital and North Florida Regional Medical Center are all top 10 local employers, with a combined job growth of 76 percent.


Business incubators help products and services get off the groundBy Brooke BaitingerCorrespondent

Business incuba-tors promote the growth and success of entrepreneurs by

providing a variety of ser-vices such as offi ce space, coaching and networking connections. Companies expand within the envi-ronment of the business incubator and then gradu-ate, offi cially placing products or services on the market.

Many incubators are sponsored by private companies or public institutions, such as

colleges and universities. Alachua County is home to a number of business incubators, many of which are sponsored by the University of Florida and Santa Fe College.

■ ■ ■

UF’s Sid Martin Bio-technology Development Institute, at 12085 Research Drive in Alach-ua, opened its doors in 1995.

The institute primarily incubates bioscience companies.

The companies vary to include therapeutics, diagnostics, medical and

green energy. Some of the institute’s

most successful graduate companies include Applied Genetic Technolo-gies Corp., which develops gene therapy treatments for genetic eye diseases; AgBio Inc., a green technology company; and AxoGen Inc., which has products on the market related to nerve-damage repair. The institute’s most promising current tenants are Nanotherapeutics, which specializes in biodefense, and Pasteuria Bioscience, which devel-ops biological products to

control plant-killing nematodes.

■ ■ ■

The Florida Innovation Hub at UF, at 747 SW Second Ave., opened in 2011 and recently celebrat-ed its three-year anniver-sary. It specializes in technological companies, such as its successful graduate company Shadow Health, which makes digital interactive simulations that allow medical students to conduct virtual patient examinations.

■ ■ ■

FILE PHOTO

Chief scientifi c offi cer Kevin Wang, left, and director of clinical research Stefania Mondello observe ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay), a biochemical technique used to detect brain and head trauma injuries, at the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator in Alachua in October 2010.

INCUBATORS on Page 15


Helping protect theplaces that matter.

Since 1988, AlachuaConservation Trust has helpedprotect more than 50,000 acresof land in North Central Florida.

In 2013, ACT receivedthe National Land TrustExcellence Award fromthe Land Trust Alliance.

A name synonymous with insuringGainesville for more than 50 years.

Duke Insurance is nowTreweek InsuranceNew name, same location, same great service.

352.333.388013005 SW 1st Rd, Suite 223Located in the Tioga Town CenterINCUBATORS: Starter Space focused

on digital and mobile companies

The Gainesville Tech-nology Entrepreneurship Center, at 2153 Hawthorne Road, opened in 2000 and specializes in service, technology and light manufacturing.

Its most recent success-ful graduate company, Optym, focuses on optimizing transportation networks.

One promising current tenant is Biotork, which develops cost-effective methods for producing fuels, enzymes and plastics.

■ ■ ■

The Santa Fe College Center for Innovation and Economic Development, at 530 W. University Ave., opened in 2009 and supports service and lifestyle companies as well as not-for-profi ts. Its most successful graduate companies include Student Maid, a commer-cial and residential cleaning service, and

Altavian, which manufac-tures drones.

■ ■ ■

Founder’s Pad, at 253 S. Main St., Suite 206, opened in 2012. It special-izes in technology busi-nesses, such as its success-ful graduate company TapShield, a mobile safety app that allows people to notify police at the touch of a button. Founder’s Pad’s most promising current tenants include MaidSuite, which is a scheduling application that can be accessed via cloud, and Sportody, which allows users to search for their next sporting adventure by location.

■ ■ ■

Starter Space, at 308 W. University Ave., opened in 2013 and is primarily focused on digital and mobile companies. Its most successful graduate company is Haulbox, which is an on-demand storage service in which customers rent a storage

box rather than a unit, and the company will deliver the box back to the customer on his or her timeline. Its most promis-ing current tenant is Immersed Games, which introduces education into video game formats similar to World of Warcraft.

■ ■ ■

Skyward Capital, in the Seagle Building at 408 W. University Ave., opened in July. It supports a range of technological companies, from those that develop physical products to those that produce apps and social media. It does not yet have a graduate company due to its recent opening, but promising current tenants include Spin Chill, which chills beer in less than one minute compared to 30 minutes in a cooler, and ToneRite, which devel-oped a play-in device for musical instruments to achieve and maintain vintage sound.

Continued from 14

FILE PHOTO

Lindsey Tropf and her husband, Ryan, with Immersed Games, work from their Starter Space offi ce in Gainesville in July 2014. The company is making an educational game called “Tyto Online.”

www.gainesville.com ALACHUA COUNTY PROGRESS SUNDAY , NOVEMBER 9 , 2014 | THE GAINESVILLE SUN | 15

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Tobacco, pecans among Alachua County’s strong agricultural points

By Michael StoneCorrespondent

As the farming of to-bacco has declined across Florida, Alachua County

has moved to be its No. 1 seller.

In all, there are fi ve producing counties left, according to 2012 data, the most recent, released in May by the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service. That’s compared to eight coun-ties in 2007 and 14 in 2002.

There are a few reasons farmers are abandoning tobacco for other prod-ucts, said Cindy Sanders, the Alachua County Extension director through the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

They include anti-smok-ing campaigns; farmers receiving government payments under the Tobacco Reform Act from

2005 through this year to start other agricultural endeavors; and China becoming the global leader in tobacco growing.

“Any ag product that we buy from other countries — whether it’s Mexico or China — they don’t have a USDA, they don’t have regulation on their agricultural products. Whether they get the quality [and] safe prod-ucts, who knows?” Sanders said. “I think that’s another reason some tobacco is starting to come back slowly [in the U.S.], especially with organic tobacco.”

There are four Alachua County tobacco produc-ers, including one organic farmer, Sanders said. The USDA data doesn’t disclose total tobacco profi ts to avoid revealing individual farms’ rev-enues.

Overall, there were seven Alachua County agricul-

tural products that made it into the top fi ve statewide: tobacco, based on sales; pecans (fi rst), based on 2,400 acres; goats (sec-ond), based on 3,400 goats; other animals/animal products (second), based on undisclosed sales; land used for hay and other grass products (fourth), based on 20,800 acres; grains, oilseeds, dry beans and dry peas (fourth), based on $4.98 million in sales; and horses and ponies (fi fth), based on 3,300 animals.

Goat farmer Larry Reeves, 66, runs his 75-acre operation outside Hawthorne with his wife, Susan. They had raised cattle for decades but switched to goats about eight years ago because one acre can be used by up to eight goats compared to one cow and because of the growing ethnic diversity in the U.S.

AGRICULTUREBY THE NUMBERSAlachua County’s state rank/

number of Florida counties farming by product*

2002Forage (land used for hay and other grass products): 1/65Pecans: 1/45Goats (and sheep): 2/65Corn for storage in a silo: 2/29Quail: 3/37Snap beans: 4/48Horses/ponies: 5/65Tobacco: 5/14

2007**Goats: 2/65Other animals/animal products: 1/67Tobacco: 2/8Forage (land used for hay and other grass products): 3/66Corn for storage in a silo: 4/27Quail: 5/41Horses/ponies: 5/66Snap beans: 5/54

2012***Pecans: 1/45Tobacco: 1/5Goats: 2/65Other animals/animal products: 2/67Forage (land used for hay and other grass products): 4/67Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, dry peas: 4/53Horses/ponies: 5/67*67 counties in Florida**Pecans not listed individually in the data***Quail not listed individually in the dataSOURCE: National Agriculture Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Goats are one of Alachua County’s main agricultural products.

FILE

AGRICULTURE on Page 17


AGRICULTURE: Average farm size in the county is 113 acres“Interestingly enough,

goat meat is the most consumed meat in the world. … In the United States, it’s never been a main meat product,” Reeves said. But, he added, goat meat has risen above $2 a pound — an “all-time high” — and moves are being made to push it more mainstream.

Goats, horses and ponies, grass products and pecans have proved to be consistently strong for the county over the last 10 years.

Conversely, if a county does see a decline in certain products, reasons include urban expansion,

weather events such as deep freezes, or a big company pulling out, said Karl Schmidt, a USDA statistician.

“Around Jacksonville,” he said, “it used to be pretty strong in the broiler chicken operation, and then the big company that was up there just closed it down. … Something else comes in behind some-times, but it’s never the same.”

Other points of interest from the data on Alachua County include:

There were 1,662 farms ■

in the county in 2012 — comprising almost 200,000 acres — up from the 1,532 in 2007. Mean-while, the average farm

size, 113 acres, stayed the same.

Over the same six years, ■

revenues of sold products

grew by about $9 million — from $92.1 million in 2007 to $101.2 million in 2012. In the 2012 total,

crop sales far out-valued livestock, with revenues of $69.3 million and $31.9 million, respectively.

Farm operators included ■

382 females and 1,280 males.

The average owner age ■

was 61.3.Nationally, when pitted ■

against 3,079 other U.S. counties, Alachua’s

highest rankings were: odds-and-ends animals/animal products (16th), bee colonies (64th), pecans (64th), peanuts used for their nuts (74th), and fruits, tree nuts and berries (98th).

According to IFAS, agriculture provides the county with 37,147 jobs and makes up 23 percent of its workforce.

Excluding the Panhan-dle, “in North Florida, Alachua County is still known as a large agricul-tural county,” Sanders said. “And when you look at the numbers — that’s what a lot of people don’t understand is you’ve got to get outside of Gainesville to see the agriculture.”

Continued from 16

LEFT: Wayne Oelfke treats two twin heifers that were born just hours earlier with a mix of their mother’s milk and added nutrients. RIGHT: Kokomo Ranch manager Steve Herndon bottle-feeds a young zebu.

FILE PHOTOS

There were 1,662 farms in the county in 2012, comprising almost 200,000 acres.

Goats, horses and ponies, grass products and pecans have proved to be consistently strong for the county over the last 10 years.


Small town of Micanopy slowly losing residents

By Sean Stewart-MunizCorrespondent

Micanopy is bleed-ing people.

Its quiet streets have never

bustled, but every year they get quieter.

Some say there’s nothing to keep residents from leaving. It’s a bedroom town, where people work in neighboring towns and spend their idle time enjoying the serenity big cities can’t offer.

The one-square-mile town has a handful of shops that sell antiques, baked goods and ice cream — but even those are owned by out-of-town-ers. Most shops open at 11 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

It’s surrounded by conservation land, keeping big expansion out of the question. The town itself is protected by the resident preservation society that fi ghts to keep every inch of pavement the same as it was 100 years ago. Its city limits haven’t grown in years.

Micanopy has stagnated like its neighboring swamps — but residents like it that way. They want to walk in a town with no sidewalks, where the only noise is idle conversation and the occasional car cruising along its two-lane roads.

Mike Roberts, who sits on the town’s commission, said Micanopy used to have thriving stores in the 1960s and ’70s. Hardware, grocery and general stores supplied the townspeople with everything they could need.

For one reason or another, the shops began closing one by one. People migrated to bigger towns, and those who stayed found work in neighboring communities such as Gainesville.

Recent numbers from the U.S. Census show roughly 65 percent of the population is working age. Industry has left the town. The local crate mill, once one of Micanopy’s biggest employers, closed more than a year ago.

There have been chances for the town to expand. Roberts’ family offered to incorporate the hundreds of acres they owned, but the town government declined.

“They didn’t want Micanopy to change,” he

said.In the late ’70s, antique

shops began fi lling the void in the town’s econo-

my. Even then, Micanopy was losing a handful of residents every year. By 1990, the town had

dropped from 737 people to 612.

John Thrasher, a long-time resident and volun-teer at the town museum’s

archives, said the numbers don’t quite add up. Though the town’s population is falling, new faces show up frequently. It has felt busier than ever.

Thrasher said one reason might be people choosing to live outside the city limits — they benefi t from the town’s fi re services and community while keeping the rural lifestyle.

Thrasher himself lives outside of town on a 17-acre patch. A solitary private road leads to his residence, and most passing by would never realize it was there.

“Big fences make happy neighbors,” he said.

Data from county government’s Geographic Information System show that 32 homes have been built in Micanopy during the last 12 years. There are 248 homes within the city limits.

Roberts said the small size is what keeps people living there throughout the decades. It’s a place to raise a family and be left alone.

“There’s no chance of it leaving the map in my or your lifetimes,” he said.

ROB MACK/Staff graphic

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NEWBERRY

MICANOPY

HAWTHORNE

GAINESVILLE

ARCHER

HIGHSPRINGS

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FILE PHOTOS

Brendan Ebersole-Boswell and Colby Anglin sit outside the Micanopy Country Store in Micanopy in January 2006. They took a day off to escape Gainesville and go antique shopping along Cholokka Boulevard.

The one-square-mile town of Micanopy has been losing a handful of residents every year.

Residents like the quiet life of the antiquing town.


Newberry’s growth spurt in ’90s puts it on the mapBy Sean Stewart-MunizCorrespondent

Like many small towns in Florida, Newberry didn’t see much change over

the years. It was another pit stop on Route 41 as it cut through Alachua County’s farmland.

The town’s population inched upward, and the closest Publix or Wal-Mart was nearly 20 miles away in Gainesville.

But a growth spurt in the mid-1990s breathed new life into the town. New-comers came by the thousands to grab their slice of quiet life. For a time, its landmass was greater than Gainesville’s.

The change began when Freddie Warmack was elected mayor in 1984.

At the time, towns had to prove to state government that they had the infra-structure to expand under the Comprehensive Growth Management Act. On top of that, the county’s Boundary Adjustment Act limited how much terri-tory a town could annex every fi ve years.

John Glanzer, one of the commissioners who worked closely with Warmack, said the mayor and the commission decided to ignore these acts.

The mayor allowed anyone to incorporate — and many did. Land owners in surrounding areas fl ocked to Newber-ry.

“The county let him do it,” Glanzer said.

He said landowners loved talking with the mayor one-on-one instead of going through loops with county government. It was a place they could get things done.

Most of the landowners were farmers who brought

hundreds of acres at a time. In a few years, the town grew from a few square miles to 53.

But that land was still empty, and in 1990, Newberry’s population dipped into the 1,600s.

It took a new mayor to start fi lling in the gaps. Grady Herzog took offi ce in 1994 and began tack-ling the town’s issues.

“Grady brought in a change in attitude,” Glanzer said.

He slowed the fl ow of annexations and began looking at the town’s ability to support what it already controlled.

Most of the engineering had been done in-house, but Herzog wanted to hire outside help.

He and the commission chose Lowell Garrett, a planner for the state’s

Regional Planning Council. Garrett took charge as Newberry’s fi rst

offi cial city planner in 2003.

He said development applications in the town leapt from one or two a year to almost 20.

Housing developments brought hundreds of homes to vacant land, and thousands of people moved in to fi ll them.

Glanzer said the town is fi lled with commuters — residents who work in Gainesville or other neighboring towns — and many come for the small-town atmosphere.

The roads swelled with new traffi c. Newberry’s roadways fed into state roads, which are con-trolled by the state. Newberry had no way to alleviate traffi c. They did

their best by resurfacing the local roads and encouraging residents to travel on them.

But with the economy crashing in the late 2000s, Garrett said residents lost their jobs and had no reason to travel. The roadway issue was solved.

People continued to move to Newberry, and the town’s population jumped up another thousand by 2010. With plenty of vacant land still available for development, the town has plenty of room to grow.

Glanzer just hopes it won’t lose the small-town charm it had when he fi rst moved there in the ’70s.

“The town is changing,” he said.

Alachua County’s population change1980 2014 % Chg.

Alachua County 151,369 250,730 65.6%

Newberry 1,826 5,264 188%

Alachua 3,561 9,479 166%

High Springs 2,491 5,533 122%

La Crosse 170 373 117%

Unincorporated 57,666 100,380 74%

Gainesville 81,371 125,661 54.4%

Hawthorne 1,303 1,356 4%

Waldo 993 953 -4%

Archer 1,230 1,137 -7.50%

Micanopy 737 594 -19%SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau

FILE

Cars travel near the intersection of West Newberry Road and Northwest 254th Street in Newberry. The town went through a growth spurt in the mid-1990s, and it breathed new life into the town.


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