North Port, Florida

8 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 Alaina Ray, Neighborhood Development Services Director says the city has identified several industries as economic development targets, including healthcare. She relays, “We do have a partnership with the Sarasota Memorial Hospital system, they will be building a brand new full- service 100-plus bed hospital here. They will also be building a second Health Care Center on the western edge of our city in the Wellen Park area.” With millions of square feet of industrial space coming online within the next two years, North Port is also looking to attract manufacturing to the city, which has the youngest median age workforce demographic in the North Port–Bradenton– Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area. “We are looking at anything that is light manufacturing related, including plastics companies,” she explains. “King Plastic is located here in North Port, their headquarters are here, and they are a huge employer. We’re looking at anything where most of the operations are internal to a building. We are looking to attract logistics, distribution, or any of those types of businesses.” NORTH PORT, FLORIDA Entertainment-related enterprises are another attraction-related focus, bringing in more opportunities to expand the city’s tourism base. Currently, the Atlanta Braves use North Port as the location for their spring training, which is a tourist draw the city hopes to expand. Warm Mineral Springs, the only natural warm mineral spring in Florida is also a major international attraction. With over 152,000 visitors last year, North Port is looking to expand on the popularity of the warm spring, with the potential for a public-private-partnership in the resort health and wellness industry. Mascarenhas recounts, “about 90% of our workforce commutes outside of the city to go to work every day. We don’t want to be the bedroom community for Sarasota and Charlotte counties any further. As we build out our infrastructure, and as we continue to look for development, we are also keeping at the forefront of all of our minds, to decrease the commute time for our residents and increase their quality of life by finding people that want to bring in quality high paying jobs to keep folks living and working here in the city.”