It’s no secret that business is booming in Baldwin County, and growth is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. Lee Lawson, president and CEO of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance (BCEDA) presented statistics of all kinds to the members of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce at the Feb. 9 Leadership Luncheon. Lawson not only presented the digits, but the details and reasons behind these numbers; what we have been doing as a county and what the future is projected to look like.

BCEDA leads economic development efforts in our county, which we know is one of the fastest growing the United States.

“You all are in the hottest spot in Baldwin County, which is the hottest spot in our state, which is one of the hottest spots in the country right now,” Lawson said. “So, me standing here telling you what’s going on in economic development is a little ‘preaching to the choir,’ because you have so many great projects going on in your backyard, and you’ve been the forefront of it.”

What is the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance?

BCEDA was formed about 20 years ago, when private and public sector leaders came together and wanted one voice for economic development in the county that would represent all areas to the outside business world.

“Another key those leaders did was set up as an alliance with the five chambers of Baldwin County,” Lawson explained. “Unlike any other economic development alliance I’ve come across in this country — and I’ve talked to a lot of counterparts, seen a lot of organizations in my travels — and unlike any other organization, we have five chambers of commerce. They appoint the private sector board members. Like our name, we have a real alliance with our chambers, as well as our private sector businesses.”

BCEDA is a three-legged stool.

This organization represents Baldwin County to the outside world, works with workforce development partners and works with existing business and industry. It focuses on three categories: advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurial development and research and data.

“We are a data-driven organization,” Lawson said. “We collect a lot of data; we track everything that comes in to our office and everything that comes out of our office. When I talked to my board, I’m not asking them to approve something anecdotal, it’s all going to be data driven and backed up.”

What is economic development?

As Lawson said, economic development is a hot-button topic and the term is used as a positive aspect for just about anything.

“What we view economic development as, is the growth of high-wage creation jobs and new wealth and community,” Lawson said. “It’s what our growth is and what really drives us.”

BCEDA’s key mission is to facilitate growth.

“We don’t own a single acre of property. We don’t have a single vote in a council or county commission,” Lawson said. “So, our job is really to take what we have here in this county, work with our county, work with our partners, work with our corporate entities and represent that to the outside world and even those here in our community.”

Baldwin County is in a competitive landscape for new jobs and capital investment.

“We’re the fastest growing county in Alabama,” Lawson explained. “Last year, we were the No. 1 county in Alabama for incoming business investment.”

Baldwin County now has about 204,000 people in the county. That’s a 45 percent growth rate over the last 16 years, since 2000.

Accolades

BCEDA tracks the accolades throughout the county and examines the metrics behind them.

Who are we? Where do we sit?

“… In a very geographically blessed area,” Lawson said. “We’re sandwiched between two metros (Pensacola and Mobile), and with our population growth, the Office of Management and Growth at the White House, gave us our own metropolitan statistical area (MSA). This gives us more data about growth and about what happens in our county.”

Lawson said it’s interesting to see how Baldwin County stands out as a county and how it stands out as a location.

“If you look at Madison County, Lee County and Baldwin County, we made up for over half of the growth in our state in the last five years,” he said. “So, for the last five years, those three counties alone were the leading counties from a percentage basis, and we led the state in growth.”

Looking even further in to business investment, job creation and all other statistical analysis, those three counties led the way.

“It’s amazing to see where we are as a location, versus the rest of the next 22 counties,” Lawson said. “Out of 67 counties, there’s only 22 of them that were growing.”

Lawson said residential sales are up, and that means buyers have confidence. Confidence is a driving reason for people to build or buy a house.

“People say, ‘Oh, that’s just people moving from Mobile to the Eastern Shore,’” he said. “Let me dispel that rumor: 65 percent of our growth is from outside our region. That’s IRS data.”

Where are we going in the future?

From 2000, the 2020 projection predicts we will add another 62,000 people to Baldwin County, a conservative projection from the University of Alabama economists at the Center of Business and Economics.

Lawson explained the data collected is census data with educated estimates.

“Many people say, ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of retirees in your community, not creating jobs. They like the weather and it’s almost retirement time for the Baby Boomer generation.’”

Wrong.

“We are creating jobs,” Lawson said. “Look all across southwest Alabama and into the panhandle of Florida (referred to as the ‘trade area’: Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida and Baldwin, Mobile, Clarke, Monroe, Washington and Escambia counties in Alabama). We were the only county, looking back seven years, the only county with positive job growth. Mobile was flat and the rest of southwest Alabama was either flat or regressive, some in the double digits of that span.”

Looking at the next four years, Baldwin County in the only county of those with positive job growth projection, another seven percent estimated.

“As an employment standpoint, as a county, we are heavily invested,” Lawson said.

Growth in all areas

Tourism is big business for our state and big business for our region.

“We are continuing to see diversification of job creation and that’s really where the rubber meets the road for us and our partners like chambers and cities,” Lawson said. “We’re not trying to take away from tourism; we want to make sure every year is better from the last, but we want to make sure all sectors are rising as well.”

Per capita income is up; people are making more.

“From IRS data, people moving to Baldwin County make an average of $60,000 a year, the average person moving in from outside our region,” Lawson said. “The person leaving Baldwin County is making about $30,000 a year. This is really interesting data to understand.”

There are about half a million people in our trade area (those counties in Alabama and Florida).

Sixty percent of our people have some form of college education, whether it be a basic bachelor’s degree or an advanced degree.

Lawson explained white collar jobs are expected to grow seven percent, like healthcare or IT, in addition to manufacturing jobs, which are expected to grow four percent.

“The Mobile MSA added more advanced manufacturing jobs than any other MSA in the country through the recession; let that sink in,” Lawson said. “We have a great base here. And that great base is not only growing, but diversifying as well.”

The two largest growing demographics are either near retirees or retirees or professional families.

“The school system is growing,” he said.

The median labor force age for the Foley area is 47.2, up from six years ago, 40.

“The labor force growth is up 15.7 percent in the past six years,” Lawson said.

He also explained a very important statistic: commute time in Foley.

Seventy percent of people in Foley commute less than 25 minutes to work. BCEDA collected zip codes from all top employers in Baldwin County. There is a tight commute pattern here, especially given that the average Alabamian commutes 30 minutes or more to work.

A hot topic in Baldwin County, especially in south Baldwin County is sports tourism.

“It’s huge; the market and money there is huge,” Lawson said. “It’s an untapped market. These people still came during the oil spill. They don’t cancel those baseball tournaments. This is huge business for our community and for our state. Every year has been the best year since the oil spill.”

Lodging tax is up 11 percent in 2015, and up 30 percent since 2012.

“People are coming and staying,” Lawson said.

And shopping. Baldwin County is up 24 percent in sales tax.

As far as property tax valuation, 70 percent of all valuation lies within municipalities. Fifty-four percent of that 70 is in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

And elementary, middle and high schools are not the only education growth in Baldwin County.

“We are about to be the king of the community college system in Alabama with Faulkner State Community College going to Coastal Alabama Community College,” Lawson said. “A lot more students, a lot more resources … a new board that’s business minded … They want two year colleges to be a tool for business and industry, not just a springboard to a four-year college.”

Key projects

“People are always asking me about projects, especially in Bay Minette, asking me about the Mega Site, and rightfully so,” Lawson said.

Last year, Lawson explained, there were eight Mega Site opportunities. These opportunities were businesses that made several visits to the site.

That’s $3 billion in capital investment project opportunities; we’re not talking about small deals. That’s 7,000-plus jobs in project opportunities.

“We’ve got a great strategy and a great product, and because of that great product, we’re seeing opportunities we wouldn’t normally see,” Lawson said.

2016 was a banner year for project announcements.

“And the diversity of projects was amazing,” Lawson said. “You saw healthcare investments, educational partnerships … businesses say, ‘We don’t want to see a brand-new brick-and-mortar school.’ What we’re hearing from folks is they are keenly interested on where you’re investing in education. Corporate businesses that invest, want to see you spending alongside them. They want to see the community pouring money into infrastructure, pouring money into preparing their place for business and job growth.”

Lawson said Baldwin County had the largest aerospace announcement in the state of Alabama last year with UTC.

“A world-recognized brand … and Foley has become the crown jewel of their company,” he explained. “They’ll tell you that. They’ll tell you their leadership comes here and uses it as an example for the rest of the company.”

And Baldwin County has other projects in place.

“You’ve got other things happening in your community; you don’t need me to tell you that,” Lawson said. “OWA — what a huge project and what a key piece to the puzzle it’s adding to our tourism economy. The DISC project in Daphne is providing white-collar investments, knowledge-based jobs. We’re working on preparing a place to support that sector.”

Action isn’t just happening on the ground in Baldwin County, the air is just as active, especially at the John Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores.

“The Gulf Shores airport is the No. 1 airport in the state outside of the four metros from a traffic standpoint,” Lawson said. “Almost as many planes as any metro in the state, which all have Delta, Southwest, all these carriers … So, what do we have? Very wealthy individuals flying their planes into our community and we came up with a campaign down there to help them understand it’s a great place to do business.”

That’s where the Business Where You Beach campaign came from.

“We’re a top place,” Lawson explained. “We have a top 10 site in the south where mega projects are happening, and we’re a top 50 place to do business according to Forbes. We have a lot of accolades, a lot of opportunity in front of us. It’s because of the partnerships in this room, partnerships we have not only with your city.”

Baldwin County leaders are leading the way for economic development.

“Believe me, when we bring someone to your community, they notice,” Lawson said. “They notice the investments, the existing business and industry. They notice the hospital and investment in healthcare. They never say, ‘Tell us about that.’ They already know and can already see. That’s why you’ve been successful, and we feel like we’re going to continue to be successful, not just in Baldwin County, but especially in south Baldwin County.”