Winter Garden: An example of nearby economic development success

Last week, I wrote an article about how an economic development department could help the Apopka City Center become successful. I asked a hypothetical question:

"What if Apopka hired a City Center Development Director in 2016?"

The question was to illustrate the lack of success Apopka has seen as it relates to the City Center. But I took the question a step further... I emailed other municipalities that bordered Apopka with similar makeups and asked them this question:

"Can I get a summary of your economic developmental success from 2016-current?"

Winter Garden, a bordering city next door to Apopka, has often been used in comparison. 

Tanja Gerhartz, the Economic Development Director from Winter Garden, sent back by far the most thoughtful and impressive response. It barely needs a lead-in. And although Apopka has debated the idea of launching an economic development department, her response was not sent as a comparison to Apopka.

Here is her response to my question:

• Our Downtown District is almost 100% occupied, and citywide is about 97% occupied. 
• Our Downtown District is comprised of over 500,000 SF of mixed uses.  Winter Garden Village is about 1.4 M SF.  With the commercial along the SR 50 corridor, I estimate that the City of Winter Garden has over 2M SF of commercial uses.
• Winter Garden Village remains one of the strongest retail centers in Central Florida and is going through a market correction based on current trends.  The stores are becoming much smaller.  They have been subdividing spaces making way for next generation retail/restaurant concepts.  Some of the new ones that have arrived are:  The Dolly Llama, Just Salad and Moda.  Please click on this link for a listing of the stores in this 1.4 M SF Outdoor Shopping District.

https://wintergardenvillage.com/

• The City has over 2,000 businesses, which has doubled in 10 years.   We add approx. 400 new businesses a year.
• Property Values have gone up 60% since 2016.
• Downtown CRA Values were $67 M in 2016, and in 2022 they were $242 M.
• We have added a strong retail cluster in our Downtown, anchored by a new independent bookstore.  We have added half a dozen women’s boutiques along with many restaurants.

You can see what we have downtown by going to this link and clicking on places to shop and eat and drinking:

https://downtownwg.com/

New Business Examples:

Retail:

• Artifact Candle Foundry
• The Writer’s Block Bookstore
• Shoo Shoo Baby
• Apricot Lane Ruby & Rust

Restaurants:

• Dolly Llama just opened
• Bruno’s Oyster Bar
• Hunger Street Tacos
• The Whole Enchilada
• Rosalie’s French Bakery
• The Hangry Byson
• Mangoni Italian Market
• Three Birds Café
• Beneficial Breads and Bakery
• Buku Vegan @ Main House Market
• Harrel’s Hot Dogs
• Sweetland’s Bakery
• Sweet Dee’s Cupcakery
• Bento Asian Kitchen & Sushi

Coming after the First of the Year

• Gator Lily’s – Women’s Retail
• Pressed Fresh Market & Café

We have a growing digital media cluster – here is one of the newest companies - 

• Plant Street Design Studio

We have a growing real estate and construction cluster – many are headquarters -

• Johnson Laux and Schmid Construction

We have a growing tech industry.  Here are two examples:

• Riegl (Laser Measurement Systems)
• ISS Medical Devices

Advent Health Winter Garden is probably the largest project that has been constructed over the last five years.  This has led to a clustering of healthcare-related businesses in the industry.  Nemours has located here, along with several surgery centers." 

Again, Winter Garden's success is not an attack on Apopka but rather a strong nearby example of what a comparable city that borders Apopka and has a similar population, forms of government, millage rate, and budget can do when a talented person trained in economic development gets up every morning and starts work thinking about how to make an economic engine that keeps running fast year after year for a city.