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Economic Development Through Diversification
By Pat Merritt, CEcD, Director from presentation by Don Sims
 DIVERSIFICATION DON SIMS |
The lessons learned by this community can apply to any rural community in America…Focusing on entrepreneurial manufacturing companies, developing their historic downtown and through tourism, attracting visitors who are looking for a place to retire.
Don Sims, President of the Thomas County (Georgia) Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Authority spoke to breakout session participants at the NREDA Annual Conference about the strategies that worked for a rural county in deep south GA located only 32 miles from Tallahassee, Florida. He shared Thomas County's three strategies: 1) Recruiting Companies of 50–75 Employees; 2) Downtown Redevelopment; and 3) Retiree Attraction.
Recruiting companies of 50–75 employees
Sims, a 35 year veteran of rural economic development, having worked for the past 21 years in Thomasville–Thomas County, has worked to achieve a balanced economy by recruiting 122 industries, none exceeding 450 employees with skills varying from bread making to boiler making. Recruiting smaller, niche industries keeps Thomasville–Thomas County protected from the loss of one or two major industries. Recent locations included Alltech, Bayly, Inc. and International Design and Display Group. Alltech, is a Kentucky-based manufacturer of yeast utilized in pet food and one of the leading animal health companies in the world. Bayly, Inc., is a 148-year old family–owned Florida company that manufacturers hats for the military, marching bands, the post office and police and fire departments. International Design and Display Group, formerly in Florida, designs and builds upscale trade show displays, real estate sales offices, model residence furnishings and just about anything else a client requires. They specialize in building anything that is three dimensional that relates to marketing or advertising.
Downtown Redevelopment-Thomasville's award winning Main Street Program
Thomasville's Historic Downtown is a shopper's dream–come–true, offering dozens of charming retail shops, antiques and restaurants. Thomasville was designated a Great American Main Street City in 1998 and in 1999 was named one of a dozen top places to visit in the U.S.A. by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. To learn more about their activities, visit http://www.downtownthomasville.com
When the 90 year old company, Flowers Industries, relocated its shared services and IT staffs into two long-empty buildings in downtown Thomasville, the move poured new energy into the central business district. Flowers Industries restored two abandoned white elephants, the old Scott Hotel and the JCPenney department store, and provided high quality jobs for 183 people downtown. This move added new energy to the businesses already there and spurred the creation of many new restaurants and shops in the downtown business district.
Retiree Attraction
Don Sims shared a humorous quote to make his point about why Thomas County wants to attract retirees: When bank robber Willie Sutton was asked, "Why do you rob banks?" he replied, "Because that's where the money is!" Having had a retiree attraction study completed by Thomas Warren + Associates, the community decided to focus on attracting some of the $7 trillion that comes with attracting people aged 50 and older. Sims realized retirees weren't already in Thomasville, but would come from the vast baby boomer population that was now beginning to reach retirement age. Over the next two decades more than 78 million of them will be moving to new homes and more than a quarter will be choosing Florida as their destination.
Sims and his team at the Chamber of Commerce have decided that their market is going to be retirees located South of Interstate 10 where 80 percent of the people in Florida reside. Sims says. "That [area] has become more congested, property prices have raised substantially as have the cost of insurance rates due to hurricanes." Perhaps the best–kept secret for retirees is legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2003 that makes the first $74,000 of income exempt from income taxes for those 62 and older.
Sims said the study emphasized things that retirees are looking for, such as high quality healthcare, safe places to walk and smaller residences close to shopping. Today, the Archibald Hospital now has hospitals in 4 surrounding counties, the City of Thomasville is investing in a series of walking pathways that will meander throughout the city and private developers have created Madison Square in downtown Thomasville which combines upper floor housing with art galleries, restaurants and other retail on the first floor.
In closing Sims offered some final comments on Retiree Attraction for those seeking to pursue a similar strategy.
- Hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study
- Take advantage of free media coverage — Thomasville has been featured in USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, Retirement Living, NBC News, CBS News, Where to Retire and others
- Join retirement organizations
- Develop a targeted relocation package
- Upgrade your community's website