MIAMI—Amazon has been making inroads into South Florida. Some industry watchers think Fort Lauderdale may be next. GlobeSt.com caught up with Bob Swindell, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, to get his thoughts in this exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: For the past decade Fort Lauderdale has quietly attracted major technology and financial organizations from Microsoft to American Express. What makes your area desirable and could it work for Amazon?

Swindell: Greater Fort Lauderdale has a lot to offer a technology company with thousands of highly skilled employees. We're located at the center of the eighth largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the nation, we can easily access the business and cultural assets of Southeast Florida, and with four professional sports teams, major sports fans have great choices.

It is a region of high growth with more than 70,000 jobs added over the past year across Southeast Florida, ranking number one in the nation on the Kauffman Foundation's Index of Startup Activity. Our workforce is diverse, multicultural, multilingual, educated and entrepreneurial. We have proximity and strong ties to Latin America, an area with promising growth opportunities.

GlobeSt.com: The majority of the boom for your city though has come west of Interstate 95; what are you doing to create more urbanization and bring these corporations into a city environment?

Swindell: Southeast Florida reflects the national trend of people migrating back to urban areas. The draw of the natural excitement and vibe that comes from urban density and the growing preference for walkable communities is shaping where people choose to live.

In line with where employees want to reside, there has been a great deal of growth and interest in companies locating in urban core areas. We worked with Uniform Advantage recently, a South Florida-headquartered company with locations nationwide, which made the strategic decision to leave a suburban location and invest in a more expensive office space in Fort Lauderdale because they wanted to be able to recruit and retain the top available talent.

Uniform Advantage is not alone. Companies are taking notice and locating near talent. The Brightline train will soon connect the area's urban centers by offering direct high-speed rail to downtown Miami and downtown West Palm Beach.

GlobeSt.com: What specific programs or incentives are being offered to not only attract organizations to your city but create separation from other areas in South Florida and attract companies like Amazon now or in the future?

Swindell: Florida's attractive tax climate consistently ranks at the top nationally. No personal income tax is one of the most compelling incentives, especially for a highly skilled workforce, and part of why we adopted “Life. Less Taxing” as our motto and tagline at the Alliance, and why we own the domain LessTaxing.com. We have well-managed state and local governments with tax surpluses each year and no unfunded taxpayer obligations. We believe that the right fiscal policy has a much greater financial value than a one-off incentive that expires over time.

People are choosing to move here, and our communities support and plan for growth. We want more skilled jobs for our residents and diversity among the types of jobs and industries. We compete effectively with other parts of the nation and world to bring those high-wage jobs here. Our Florida Targeted Industry Incentive allows us to compete if we need something beyond our very attractive tax structure. Additionally, our county and cities have community-specific incentives, but we are very selective in how we use those programs.

We find that what most often tips a company's decision in our favor are two factors—the availability of skilled talent, along with the personality and scale of the community. Incentives help influence location decisions, but at the end of the day, companies locate here to be near our diverse, talented workforce and have access to three international airports while enjoying a great climate and geography that offers extensive choices in how people recharge and spend their time outside of the office.

(Will Amazon dominate the grocery store market? Here's one take.)

GlobeSt.com: The majority of the boom for your city though has come west of Interstate 95; what are you doing to create more urbanization and bring these corporations into a city environment?

(Will Amazon dominate the grocery store market? Here's one take.)

Instant Insights /

Why Amazon May Move Into Fort Lauderdale Next

Related Stories

Recommended For You