july2017

120 121 business-friendly community from start to finish. For decades, our message to the business commu- nity has been consistent: if you’re willing to invest in us,we will invest in you and you can trust that your investment in Sunrise is safe.The City staff and City Commission recognize that we are com- peting regionally, nationally, and even internation- ally to attract and retain capital investment, jobs and residents. So we work together to create a supportive environment to get businesses open on time.That maymean providing guidance as some work through issues at a regional level, offering strategic assistance to build and expand, and providing incentives to businesses that intend to invest long-term in Sunrise.We work with busi- nesses, large and small, every step of the way. Sun- rise is now recognized as a great place, not only to live, but also to build and grow a business.” If that’s Sunrise’s master plan, it’s already achieved some exemplary results: The cityhas been home,since 1990,to SawgrassMillsMall,one of the largest retail shopping centers in the country. In fact,it’s the secondmost popular tourist destination in the state of Florida,after DisneyWorld.“Sawgrass Mills attracts approximately40million visitors a year. Approximately25million are visitors fromoutside the area,and about 12million are fromoutside the U.S.,”Salamon says.“It’s verywell-known in Latin America.Cruise ships come into Port Everglades and their shore excursions include shopping for a dayat SawgrassMills.” The mall has over350 stores across 2.4 million square feet of retail space and sits in a four- square-mile area called the Sawgrass Business SUNRISE, FLORIDA and Entertainment District, an already thriving part of the city that is targeted for evenmore de- velopment.“In addition to thousands of homes,we have approximately$3.5 billionworth of corporate investment andmore than 30,000 jobs,”Salamon reports.“In that same area,over the next ten years or so,we have planned development of another $2.5 billion-plus capital investment generating between 10,000 and 20,000 additional jobs.” Salamon elaborates on other commercial and economic assets: “In addition to the Sawgrass Mills Mall,we have two other significant assets in that area.One is the Sawgrass International Corporate Park,which is the largest office park in South Florida.At over 600 acres in size, the Sawgrass International Corporate Park is home to manymajor corporations with national and inter- national presence.One new addition is American Express,which just built a 400,000 square-foot re- gional headquarters housing over 3,200 employ- ees.There are also significant industry clusters in healthcare, insurance, financial services, technol- ogy, and biomedical.The roster of corporations operating in Sunrise is impressive, and includes HBO Latin America, Grant Thornton, Emerson, Sprint,NewYork Life, Cigna,HCA, Centene Health, Marsh Insurance, Fortinet,NCL, Synergistix,Actavis Pharmaceutical, Broadspire, and the University of Florida MBA program. “The other major asset we have in this area is the BB&T Center, a 20,000-seat arena that’s home to the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. It’s consistently ranked as one of the top ten indoor concert venues in the country.We get all the big names.”The $200 million arena is owned by Broward County and surrounded by more than 100 acres of parking and other devel- opable land. Broward recently engaged the Urban