Businesses know the value of hitching their wagons to successful professional sports teams — such as the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers.
As the entirety of Broward County seemed to descend on the beach, bars and restaurants last June, several area CEOs marveled at the success of their companies’ commercial partnerships with the team.
“We’ve gotten a lot of brand recognition,” Jerry Plush, the chairman and CEO of Amerant Bank, whose name adorns the side of the Panthers’ arena in Sunrise, said at the time. “It’s almost immeasurable, to be honest. It’s put us on the map.”
Now, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the county’s public-private economic development agency, is writing its own chapter in the Panthers’ book of business partnerships with a promotional campaign featuring one of the team’s stars, Matthew Tkachuk.
At its annual dinner on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, the alliance gave 650 guests a short tease of a video interview with Tkachuk. In it, the player offers how he feels about Broward as a place to live and work.
Produced by Zimmerman Advertising, the campaign is designed to tout the area to companies that are considering relocating to the area.
(Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance has enlisted Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, shown hoisting the Stanley Cup aloft in June, as a spokesman to tout Broward County as a destination for businesses to relocate. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“I would say my favorite thing about Fort Lauderdale is the energy in the city, because everybody seems to be happy 24/7,” he tells an interviewer. “It doesn’t matter who you meet or where they’re from — I think they all come down here for the way of life, and that’s the number one thing that I’ve noticed, is just how happy people are.”
According to an alliance-supplied list of newly arrived companies and business expansion projects in Broward during its 2023-24 fiscal year ended Sept. 30, there were 860 newly employed people who saw the wisdom of migrating to the county to work — and play. Companies also “committed more than $159.6 million in new capital investment,” the organization said in a statement released late Thursday.
“For more than six decades, the Alliance has been an integral driver of economic growth in Broward County,” Bob Swindell, the alliance president and CEO, said in the statement.
He asserted the agency’s efforts have been successful to promote the county as a “premier destination for high-value targeted industries such as aviation MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) services and high-tech manufacturing “
The most impactful project ahead in terms of jobs and services is the construction of a hangar at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that would house a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility for commercial airliners.
Xtreme Aviation, in partnership with Sheltair Aviation, the nation’s largest privately owned aviation network, are teaming to build the $30 million facility. The objective is to offer a place that cuts down on the costs and turnaround times for the airlines serving the airport.
The facility is expected to employ 400 skilled workers.
There are other notable projects coming in the aviation field, which is a prime industry target area for the alliance. They include:
- Aerothrust, an aviation maintenance repair and overhaul firm that is adding 85 airframe and powerplant technicians at a new 45,000-square-foot facility in Davie. The $15 million project will include a training center.
- ARC 145, an FAA-certified, MRO firm specializing in avionics and small components for commercial and military planes, relocated to a 5,000-square-foot facility in Miramar, where 20 new workers will be hired over the next three years
- Ontic, a leading global manufacturer of aviation and aerospace parts, is expanding into Florida with a 64,000-square-foot MRO center in Miramar. The company is creating 88 jobs for the center, which is being relocated from North Carolina and will start operations early next year.
The food and restaurant industry is making additions in the county.
- Chick-fil-A is opening a food and beverage logistics center in Weston, creating 116 jobs at a cost of $50.5 million.
- Grand Western Beef and Crazy Fish, two Cheney Brothers Inc. affiliates, are expanding into a new 70,000-square-foot food-processing facility in Pompano Beach. It will be home to nearly 150 new employees who will join 100 existing workers. More than $40 million is being spent on the project.
Other companies in other industries include:
- ARG America, a company focused on designing and manufacturing devices to reduce ship sway, is creating four jobs and making a capital investment of $2 million in Fort Lauderdale.
- ATI Inc. of Dallas is establishing an additive manufacturing facility in Margate, developing highly engineered parts through advanced manufacturing methods including metal 3D printing. The company, which leased a secure 132,000-square-foot facility earlier this year, will create 60 new jobs.
- Life Wear Technologies, a leading manufacturer of innovative sports medicine products, is spending $2 million to expand operations in Pompano Beach, creating 20 jobs and retaining 40 others.