One of the cities to also receive a top listing is Tampa Bay, coming in as the 19th top city for employment. Like Santa Clarita, the Tampa/Hillsborough area economy is healthy as commercial real estate development, employment, cost of living index scores and other economic factors are showing positive momentum, according to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC).  An influx of new residents and developers have populated the Tampa metro and surrounding neighborhoods, and heralding this positive overall trend for Tampa.

On the jobs front, Tampa metro added 39,100 jobs year-over-year and Hillsborough County’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent – the lowest level since November 2007, reports the EDC.  One of the prime reasons many businesses and residents are coming into the area for living and working is the Cost of Living Report from the EDC that lists Tampa/Hillsborough at a favorable index of 92.6.  This is positive in comparison to many other top markets located in throughout the southern and western parts of the U.S.

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Commercial real estate and development is also robust and many new Class A office spaces on millions of square-feet in Tampa metro is being acquired, studied and developed.  The EDC reports vacancies in top tier office space have declined in 2015.  Developers such as McDonald Development acquired a 69 acre site in a business center – making it a prime location and 859,000-square feet of development for “speculative building or build-to-suit.”  

Another development site in the Tampa metro area is the Crescent Westshore.  This will become a 375-luxury residential unit property that will open in the summer in 2016.  Next to this property will be a commercial development for 285,000-square feet of “Class A” offices.

The Westshore district is redeveloping its 1960s-era office complex — called the Austin Center.  Redstone Investments has acquired the land and property and has a team from CBRE to ascertain use-case scenarios for the site.  Other commercial developments include the following:

• The Fifth Third Center, purchased by Fairlead Commercial Real Estate last summer, announced a $1.5 million renovation project to include a 281,000 square foot office building located in the downtown business district will implement considerable upgrades.
• A 36-story SunTrust Financial Centre and the 515,000 square foot Rivergate Tower, both located in Tampa’s central business district, will be going under renovation and development.
• USAA insurance and financial services is constructing a new 16-acre site including 261,000-square feet of new office suites that will accommodate over 1200 employees.  Currently the insurance giant already owns a 500,000-square foot new office space – with 2,000 employees.  

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In addition to the robust commercial real estate industry, another leading indicator that Tampa/Hillsborough is burgeoning in development is that cargo activity has risen 4.4-percent year over year at the Tampa International Airport.  In addition, container traffic in the area’s bustling port reported container traffic increase of 15.4 percent.  “A combination of an improving economy, low interest rates and reduced inventory are all contributing to rising residential and commercial real estate prices and in the greater Tampa metropolitan area,” notes a senior executive at Homeowners Choice Construction LLC, a leading residential construction company in Tampa, Florida.