The 1960s classic film Where the Boys Are opens with an aerial shot of Fort Lauderdale Beach, depicting the nascent city as a sleepy tropical paradise that comes alive for two weeks of the year as college students descend on the city for spring break. Despite many industries and professions thriving, Fort Lauderdale has long been, for the most part, inexorably tied to the image of spring break, of sun and fun—in other words, tourism and hospitality.
Then, it all came to a skidding halt.
“So, we realized when COVID hit us, it was a wake-up call that we could not rely on travel and leisure as a component of our economy that we could always rely on,” says Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis. “We realized that diversifying the economy is very important for the sustainability of Fort Lauderdale.”
Mike Balter is the southeastern regional leader for CBIZ, a professional services advisor for mid-market businesses. He says that pre-pandemic, real estate and hospitality were the backbone of the Greater Fort Lauderdale area’s economy. “But if you look at it today and you ask me now,” he adds, “in terms of Fort Lauderdale, there are significant sectors like finance, retail, and technology, which definitely were not part of my vocabulary back in the day.”
Manufacturing, high tech, and aviation repair are blossoming in the Broward economy. And truthfully, the spring break rep short sells a hospitality industry that generated $124 million in tourist development revenue last year.
Trantalis envisions medical tourism taking root in the area where patients come from out of state for elective surgeries and procedures.
And the numbers don’t lie. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport saw more than 35.2 million passengers pass through its gates in 2024. Port Everglades, which is anticipating a record 4.4 million cruise passengers this year, is the 12th-busiest cargo port in the U.S. and provides more than 10,000 local jobs.
But Matthew Schnur, research and innovation manager for the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, says that downtown, spurred on by development, has more than doubled its population since 2010, with many young professionals and families calling it home. The DDA says downtown has added more than 3,000 jobs—a stunning number. “Our city is starting to come into its own as one of the most in-demand destinations to live and work in the country,” Schnur says.
Las Olas Boulevard is now home to an array of businesses, adding to its footprint of legal and real estate firms. The DDA says downtown Fort Lauderdale, driven by technology, finance, real estate, and professional services, has an annual economic impact of $35 billion.
Balter of CBIZ gushes about The Main Las Olas, the mixed-use community that came online in 2020. “After COVID, those investments —other clients of ours—came into and spent money on infrastructure and developed this modern office,” he says. “The Main is all luxury residences and nice retail establishments.”
A budding tech hub has developed, with some estimates that the sector already contributes $2.5 billion to the local economy. There has been a 27% surge in tech job openings, such as in cybersecurity, which boasts jobs with an average salary of $123,353 a year.
It’s not brain surgery. If you build it, they will come—to paraphrase another famous movie. And Fort Lauderdale’s investment in broadband infrastructure that boosted speeds by 40% doesn’t hurt in attracting these types of businesses.
“So, what are we doing to diversify? We have focused a lot on trying to encourage financial services and tech industries to come to our area,” Trantalis says.
And, the mayor says, Fort Lauderdale hopes to be the next hot spot for filmmaking. In a public-private partnership, a studio is being developed at the 60-acre site of a former incinerator dump. Paying for the nearly $170 million construction is Fort Lauderdale Studio Initiative LLC, a corporation spearheaded by developer Michael Ullian and Infinite Reality. And in April this year, the New You Studio television and media production facility broke ground on a 9,500-square-foot renovated state-of-the-art studio.
Trantalis is hardly alone in forging a brand for the greater Fort Lauderdale area. There are the DDA and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance—and private players like CBIZ. All are playing Johnny Appleseed to grow orchards bearing different varieties, so when one sector hits a bump, such as with the current real estate downturn, the Broward economy keeps humming.
The competition, however, is stiff. Miami-Dade County is an economic hydra, with South Beach, Calle Ocho, Miami Medical Center, and University of Miami. Delray Beach is thriving, especially in real estate, and West Palm Beach aims to become the Wall Street of the South, attracting financial companies to its downtown.
Fort Lauderdale was incorporated in 1911—so, let’s call it a late bloomer. “Part of what makes Fort Lauderdale unique is it’s such a young city really trying to establish a brand that stands apart in this Southeast Florida region and not trying to compare [itself] with Miami or Palm Beach or West Palm or Boca for that matter,” says Jenni Morejon, president and CEO of the DDA.
One man with his finger firmly on the pulse when it comes to diversifying the economy is Bob Swindell, the president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. His enthusiasm for the future of Greater Fort Lauderdale is contagious. “We look for industries where we have pockets of existing workforce and talented people working in that industry,” Swindell says.
A good example, he notes, is maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of aircraft—commercial and private. He points out that when Eastern Airlines went out of business in 1991, a large number of out-of-work mechanics eventually migrated to Broward County. “A lot of those employees started up their small businesses, opening repair shops and doing that kind of work, and that laid the foundation,” he says. “Those companies moved north into Miramar, which has a strong concentration, but we’re working with companies right now on building new maintenance, repair, and overhaul [facilities].”
Another sector ripe to grow is aviation finance, he says, pointing to the company Azorra moving into a 10,000-square-foot office space in downtown Fort Lauderdale in August 2022. And then there’s advanced manufacturing: Dallas-based ATI Inc. cut the ribbon in February on a 132,000-square-foot facility in Margate that contains high-powered 3D printers to make aircraft components. “They are making component parts for aircraft,”” Swindell says. “They’re doing a lot of work for the Department of Defense.”
Sintavia in Hollywood, which moved into a new facility in 2019, does similar work. And Swindell says he would be remiss not to mention the homegrown heavyweights, such as the computer company Citrix and online pet supply company Chewy.
Still, these business and elected leaders haven’t forgotten what fed the coffers for decades. As for spring break reputation, Mayor Trantalis says hospitality is still a big kahuna — including those college kids. “It’s still ‘where the boys are.’ Why? Because we lay out the red carpet for young people to come here and enjoy themselves. And they did this year. We had a great time,” Trantalis says. “Everyone was safe.”
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