Florida: Navigating Success For Business

By land and by sea, the Sunshine State attracts investment from various sectors.

“Siting ChemTech’s flagship facility here in St. Lucie County creates great synergy due to the high demand for home-building materials in our region and as we expand our area’s advanced manufacturing capabilities,” said Pete Tesch, President of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County (EDC). “This was an exciting project for both the EDC and our county.”

Florida Business
Contender staff with the company’s first boat manufactured in St. Lucie County. (Photo: EDC of St. Lucie County)

Also in Fort Pierce, Contender Boats has begun production in the city’s iconic Packers of Indian River facility.

The Florida-based boat manufacturer was set to start making its premium semi-custom boats in August at the 100,000-square-foot facility that was formerly a hub for area citrus fruit packing. At full operation, approximately 200 employees will be crafting Contender’s 32-foot and smaller boats in St. Lucie County; larger boats will continue to be built at the company’s headquarters in Homestead, FL.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our operations here in Florida,” said Joe Neber, Contender Founder, Owner, and President. “Fort Pierce has a longstanding reputation in the boatbuilding industry, and we are looking forward to leveraging local talent as we grow our team.”

“We are proud to have Contender join St. Lucie County’s thriving marine community,” said St. Lucie County Commission Chairman Sean Mitchell. “With the Fort Pierce inlet offering safe and speedy ocean access, multiple high-quality boatbuilders, the largest mobile boat hoist in the U.S. and an experienced workforce, our county’s blue economy is flourishing.”

Fintech Grows In Florida

In Jacksonville, Lake Parime, a UK-headquartered digital infrastructure company that transforms low-value energy into high-value sustainable computing power, plans to open an in-house hardware repair and manufacturing facility. The facility’s operations will focus on high-performance servers used for mining cryptocurrency as its first use case.

Florida Business
In Jacksonville, UK-based Lake Parime is opening a facility focused on hardware for the fintech industry. (Photo: Ryan Ketterman)

“Fintech is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and I am excited to welcome London-based company, Lake Parime, to Jacksonville with their first stateside headquarters. This has been a long time in the making, and it is incredible to see this firm choose Jacksonville as the place to plant their flag in the United States,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said.

Lake Parime will redevelop a former manufacturing site and the first phase will create 50 jobs.

“Lake Parime is an exciting, innovative company and we appreciate them choosing to invest and grow in Jacksonville,” JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said. “This investment is a direct result of the relationships we are building in London, and we look forward to building on this important partnership overseas.”