Ocala/Marion: Top 10 growth rate in US with home starts heating up ocala.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ocala.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Marion County s economy, including its tourism industry, is not only rebounding from the year-long pandemic, it is reaching record-breaking new heights, according to county tourism and airport data.
While area home sales continue to climb at breakneck speed, and commercial and residential development continues to explode, so are the indicators that Marion County is becoming more of a tourist destination than just a stopover.
The Tourist Development Council (TDC) announced recently that it broke a record for the most monthly tourism tax revenue generated from short-term accommodations. There is 4% tax on daily room rates at hotels and other lodging throughout the county.
Just two years ago, Red Rock Developments broke ground on a 617,000-square-foot spec warehouse in the Ocala/Marion County Commerce Park, located just east of Interstate 75 off Northwest 35th Street.
It was one of Red Rock’s first spec projects, and its first in Florida. Spec, short for speculation, means the company invests millions of dollars to build a facility before a buyer, or tenant, has been identified.
Soon after Red Rock took that chance, Amazon came calling. Now Red Rock has decided to gamble again. The plan is to add 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space, part of the 5 million square feet area officials say will be built by next spring.
About 15 years ago, Marion County’s healthy economy was fueled by mostly service industry jobs. When the national recession struck in 2008, the local unemployment rate soared into double digits, and at one point was among the Top 5 highest in the nation.
Marion County officials, including state Rep. Stan McClain, who was a Marion County commissioner back in 2008, said the board vowed to diversify the local workforce before the next national recession, or other crisis, came to town.
Flash forward to today, and the job market in Marion is much more diversified. The community has more manufacturing and logistics jobs. That workforce diversity means Marion’s economy faired much better during COVID-19 pandemic.