Alachua second nationally in wage increases

Even with a sour economy, some bits of news continue to shine through the clouds.  A recent Yahoo Finance article named Alachua as the second in wage increases nationally from December 2008 to December 2009.  With a 10.1 percent increase in wages, Alachua was among 15 cities noted in the findings, which are based on census data.

In the Yahoo article titled “15 Up-and-Coming Cities,” only Douglas County, Colorado rated higher on the increased wages front.  With a 9.5 percent increase in wages over the same time, Durham, North Carolina trailed Alachua.  The article also rated the biggest increase in employment, the fastest growing cities, highest migration and largest increase in income.

The increased wages may not have been generated within the city of Alachua, but are at least attributable to those living in the rural town of about 9,400 residents.  Although it is not clear where the wages were earned, the city of Alachua has proven to be a biotechnology and biomedical hub, which employs hundreds of highly-skilled and highly-educated workers.

In 2009, Santa Fe College opened a satellite campus in Alachua, focusing on biotechnology training and offering one of the college’s first bachelor’s degree programs at the location.  That facility is located along U.S. Highway 441, across from Progress Corporate Park, home to University of Florida Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator and dozens of biotech companies.

Dozens of Alachua companies have been catapulted to success in recent years.  The largest company in Progress Corporate Park, RTI Biologics, got its beginnings as the University of Florida Tissue Bank before becoming Regeneration Technologies, Inc.  The company later merged with Tutogen Medical, another tenant in the park, and the two became RTI Biologics, a worldwide leader in sterile surgical implants.

In recent months, several million dollars in grants have been awarded to biotechnology companies in Alachua.  Most recently, Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. announced Tuesday that it had been awarded $26 million by the Department of Defense to develop a diagnostic test for traumatic brain injury (TBI).  It is estimated that up to 20 percent of combat veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have been afflicted with TBI as a result of bomb blasts.

Last month, Applied Genetic Technologies, Corp. was awarded with $2 million in grants to find treatments for emphysema and blindness resulting from genetics.

The Yahoo Finance article published Sept. 17 is not the first time the spotlight has been shined on Alachua.  In 2007, the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator was first runner-up in competition for National Business Incubator Association’s (NBIA) Incubator of the Year – Technology Category.  The Alachua incubator was edged out by Montpellier Business and Innovation Center in Montpellier, France.

In addition to Alachua’s thriving biotechnology industry, the city has also been home to three major distribution centers run by Dollar General, Wal-Mart and Sysco Foods.  Those distribution centers employ in excess of a thousand workers.