St. Johns County, Florida

Another key master-planned development in St. Johns County is Twin Creeks. Comprised of over 1,000 acres of mixed-use projects, Twin Creeks offers more than two million square feet of retail, commercial, office and industrial space, along with 3,000 residential units. “Twin Creeks continues to grow on the residential front,” confirms Andrews. “They’ve recently announced the grand opening of their first apartment complex at Sentosa Beachwalk, followed by a new Publix supermarket to be built. Now they’re weighing other offers for commercial developments, including a medical office and possibly a warehouse club.” The Twin Creeks development includes a unique, 14- acre Crystal Lagoons amenity, surrounded by beaches and mixed-use developments along the Sentosa Beachwalk. It is now open, and currently operates as the largest lagoon in Florida. One of the other significant economic development projects recently completed in St. Johns County is Northrop Grumman’s $80 million Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence. The 361,000-square-foot facility houses 1,400 employees and created 400 new high-paying manufacturing jobs. It has also played an integral role in assisting with the development of the local workforce. “We’ve been working on a training program with our local colleges and manufacturers who’ve partnered to design programs to target the necessary skills required for industries that we want to grow in St. Johns County,” says Andrews. “Northrop Grumman is our largest manufacturer and they’re spearheading a program that will bring together a group of public and private sector partners in order to generate this new training initiative. This will not only benefit them in terms of providing a robust talent pool, but it will also benefit other manufacturers in the area.” “We’re also working closely with First Coast Technical College,” she adds. “They have an aircraft assembly program that supports Northrop Grumman’s efforts, and we believe this will help attract other manufacturers to the