The Business Landscape of Coral Gables

WHAT DRIVES THE LOCAL ECONOMY?

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES HEALTH CARE SOCIAL SERVICES

ALL OTHERS: GOVERNMENT MANUFACTURING TRANSPORTATION, ETC.

CONSTRUCTION

ARTS ENTERTAINMENT RECREATION

RETAIL TRADE

PROFESSSIONAL SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATIVE

13%

FINANCE INSURANCE REAL ESTATE

US Census 2018 American Community Survey.

WHOLESALE TRADE

In many ways, the corporate culture and employment mix of Coral Gables reflects the post-industrial world where manufacturing and agriculture have taken a back seat to professional services in particular and to the service economy in general, with a strong reliance on white collar workers and a growing high-tech sector.

Because it is home to the University of Miami, the largest number of employees (16,000+) in the city are involved

“THIS IS DEFINITELY A TOWN FILLED WITH SMALL BUSINESSES, BUT SMALL BUSINESSES THAT PUNCH ABOVE THEIR WEIGHT. THESE ARE ASPIRATIONAL BUSINESSES, OR DIVISIONS OF LARGER COMPANIES. THIS IS WHERE THE INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT COMES IN.”

MARK A. TROWBRIDGE CEO, CORAL GABLES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

in education, apropos for a city where two thirds of all adults hold a college degree. As a category, this is followed by another 4,000+ employees in healthcare, most working for Baptist Health South Florida.

From these twin peaks, the city’s business landscape devolves in several directions, and mainly into industries where there is a high degree of information processing.

First there is the international presence, with somewhere in excess of 120 companies based in Coral Gables to handle global operations, mainly in Latin America, but also in North America, Europe and beyond. Among the corporate giants with headquarters here are Bacardi, Del Monte, Millicom and HBO Latin America, all with between 200 and 300 employees in the city.

Following the thousands of employees in the international sector comes hospitality (1,000+ employees), banking (1,000+ employees) and city government (800+ employees). In terms of large, single employers, in these and other categories, the biggest are the Public Schools (600+ employees), the Biltmore Hotel (550+ employees), and Gables Engineering, Inc (300+ employees).

Altogether, approximately 50,000 workers enter the city each day, doubling the size of its population. This, of course, is the figure pre-coronavirus, and presumably will be the figure when business life returns to normal in 2021. The interim figures are in a state of

KEY SECTORS

TOP LEFT: HOSPITALITY (THE BILTMORE HOTEL)

TOP RIGHT: HEALTH CARE (DOCTORS HOSPITAL)

BOTTOM LEFT: SMALL BUSINESS (BOOKS & BOOKS)

BOTTOM RIGHT: EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI) flux, and something of a moving target. Many of the large multinationals report close to full employment, albeit with a preponderance of employees working from home.

Despite the cluster of Class A buildings downtown, and what they imply in terms of a corporate presence, more than half of all employees in the 1,380 firms registered to do business in Coral Gables work for companies with 30 or fewer employees. These smaller companies range from professional services such as law firms, accounting firms, real estate and wealth management firms, to retail operations, such as restaurants, cleaning services and shops.

“I think there are gradations, but the majority work in small businesses of 30 or under,” says Coral Gables Chamber CEO Mark Trowbridge. “They are the folks that come into the city each day by trolley. They are working for restaurants and retailers.” Add to this the small professional firms, “where their physical presence is a shingle,” he says.

“This is definitely a town filled with small businesses, but small businesses that punch above their weight,” says Trowbridge. “These are aspirational businesses, or divisions of larger companies. This is where the international footprint comes in.”

It is also where high-tech comes in, as the Gables is seeing growth in the IT sector, with companies like Cyxtera, AppGate, eMerge Americas and Bauer Financial. In terms of small business growth, the interface between innovation and technology is “behind a lot of our small companies,” says Trowbridge, something that shows up in our profusion of shared workspaces [Coral Gables has more per capita than any other city in Florida]. Here, smaller tech-savvy firms, like app creators, digital marketers, industrial design firms, med-tech companies, engineers and web builders are gaining traction and hoping to attract more like firms.

“We are looking to attract businesses such as professional service firms that will establish or relocate their offices in Coral Gables,” says Julian Perez, director of the city’s Economic Development Department. Perez cites the city’s large stock of Class A office space, and the lifestyle it affords executives, including superb housing, excellent restaurants and transportation ease that includes immediate proximity to a first-class international airport (Miami International). “Other areas where we have a focus include information technology, bio-medical and pharmaceutical firms,” he says.

On the retail side, in addition to more than 100 restaurants in the city, “we believe in a focused retail strategy, with an emphasis on home furnishings and women’s and men’s wear,” says Perez. The city’s former warehouse area between Bird Road and U.S. 1 has undergone such a transformation into home design and fashion shops that it was recently renamed by the city commission as the Design and Innovation District. ■

Leading Employers in Coral Gables (a sampler)