Everywhere you turn, the economic landscape is booming in the Town of Davie, Florida, with the completion of several major projects that were underway when Business in Focus last profiled the community in July 2021—and a lot more besides.
Davie, vibrant and burgeoning, abounds in new residential, medical, and commercial space and is now playing host to another round of development. Civic boosters have been working hard to attract new residents and companies alike to this sun-drenched South Florida locale, while enhancing existing services.
“We promote the concept of people living, working, playing, and learning in Davie,” says Phillip Holste, Assistant Town Administrator and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) director.
A place with promise
Located in Broward County, roughly 25 miles north of Miami, Davie is served by Interstates 595 and 75, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Ronald Reagan Turnpike, and Port Everglades (the deepest port in the state). In 2023, a total of 106,412 people resided in Davie, reports Data USA (up from 105,054 people at the time of our previous profile). The median age in Davie was 37.2 and median household income $87,171 in 2023.
The booming sectors that employ the greatest number of people in the Town are management, business, science, and the arts, followed by the sales, office, service, natural resources, construction, maintenance, production, transportation, and material moving sectors, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Prominent projects completed since our last profile include the 300,000-square-foot HCA Florida University Hospital. Opening in mid-November 2021, the hospital is located in the Academical Village, an ongoing 2.5 million-square-foot development featuring academic facilities, residences, businesses, and medical offices. “Everything that was envisioned at the Academical Village is coming to fruition now,” says Holste.
New residential projects, such as Zona Village and the Main Street Lofts, are also thriving. The former has become one of Davie’s restaurant hubs, offering a diverse variety of foods, says Holste, while the latter was “the first condo project in the downtown Davie corridor.”
Developing fast
Developers aren’t resting on their laurels but have plunged ahead with new construction. The District in Davie, for example, is a massive new building project set to encompass 1.6 million square feet of residential space and 36,000 square feet of commercial space spread over an 8.5-acre site. Once completed, this development will feature five buildings soaring upwards of 25 stories, says Holste.
Another new residential project, Saddlebridge at Downtown Davie, is set for Davie Road, near the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, an entertainment hotspot for rodeos, concerts, festivals, and other events.
Saddlebridge will offer approximately 286 apartments, 20 percent of which have been designated as affordable housing (three residences are set aside for people earning less than the area median income, while 54 apartments are reserved for people making just above the area median income), says Holste. “It’s great that we’re going to get people into the downtown Davie corridor, but we’re also providing additional affordable housing that’s needed in the area,” he says.
This focus reflects the overall mission of the Community Redevelopment Agency, which aims to alleviate conditions of slum and blight, facilitate affordable housing, and stimulate public sector investment within the redevelopment area.
“Following the start of COVID, housing prices went up significantly in Broward County. It became a priority to make sure new residential development has affordable housing, and the Town has put a lot of effort into that. We have an inclusionary housing ordinance that requires any development of 100 units or larger to have 20 percent affordable housing within it,” explains Holste.
In 2023, the median property value in Davie was $433,600, which was 1.4 times higher than the national average ($303,400), reports Data USA. The home ownership rate in Davie was 66.6 percent that year.
Aerospace taking off
There have recently been several prominent commercial developments in the Town. The Davie Business Center, a 1.1 million-square-foot industrial space cited in our previous article, is now fully occupied, and has proven to be particularly popular with aerospace firms. “You have Boeing, Embraer, and Kellstrom Aerospace all located in that Business Center. It’s turned out spectacularly,” says Holste.
“Aviation as a whole is one of our target industries for the Town,” adds Debbie Thomas, Economic Development Manager of the Town.
The Center accommodates aerospace manufacturers and ancillary firms alike. Kellstrom, for example, specializes in aftermarket aviation solutions and services, while AeroThrust handles maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) duties.
And, amid all this construction, a new Davie Town Hall is being built near the Bergeron Rodeo grounds. The 83,000-square-foot, four-story civic building should be ready for occupation by summer 2027.
Building success
As a pro-business community, Davie continues to extend services and support to private companies. In 2021, Davie formed a partnership with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) to launch a business development program. “SBDC has been playing a great role as a partner, offering all businesses within the Town the opportunity to look at various avenues for financial assistance, continuity of operations plans, being able to get grants and loans, even just business planning as a whole,” Thomas says.
Civic officials have also “branched out with other partners to do different types of workforce development incentives,” she says.
These partners include Broward County, CareerSource Broward, CareerSource Florida, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, and the Levan Center. Based at Nova Southeastern University, the Levan Center offers meeting and co-working space, seminars, networking opportunities, and other services for fledgling entrepreneurs.
“Between SBDC offering financial assistance and the Levan Center offering further assistance when it comes to tech-based companies, we have a lot to offer new businesses and existing businesses that want to grow in our Town,” says Thomas.
Family matters
Asked what might attract a family to Davie besides job opportunities, Thomas points to a strong school system (Davie features over 30 K-12 schools and five post-secondary institutions), abundant restaurants and retail, and diverse housing options (everything from affordable housing to luxury residences).
Also, despite its emergence as an economic powerhouse, the community retains a down-to-earth vibe, she adds. “We have a robust equestrian, rural lifestyle. One of the reasons the Town has been known historically as Cowboy Town is because of that cultural component,” notes Thomas.
The Town of Davie owes its existence to a decision by the state government in the early 20th century to drain swampland in the Everglades to enable settlement. An entrepreneur named R.P. Davie purchased several thousand reclaimed acres and encouraged people to settle. A handful of hardy souls began farming the area, which was originally called Zona but was renamed Davie in honor of its founder.
Despite the occasional flood (hurricanes have wreaked havoc in Davie along with other South Florida communities), the Town grew. A 1920 Census of Broward County listed 190 residents in Davie. Five years later, the Town of Davie was officially incorporated. By 1970, some 5,859 people lived in Davie. The population continued to rise, goosed along by the establishment of the South Florida Education Center (SFEC) among other developments.
Originally launched in the early 1960s, the SFEC is a consortium of post-secondary institutions that reside in Davie (Broward College, McFatter Technical College, Nova Southeastern University, Florida Atlantic University – Broward, and the University of Florida). Over 20,000 students attended Davie-based universities, and more than 7,500 degrees were awarded in 2023. Some 37.2 percent of Davie residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, reports the U.S. Census Bureau.
Now, Davie officials have launched some new initiatives to offer further assistance to companies and to highlight the community.
Talking business
The “Let’s Talk Business Program” enables qualifying firms to participate in a video promoting their enterprise, which is then posted on the Town of Davie’s website and social media profiles. These professionally made promotional videos offer production values beyond what most local businesses (with small marketing budgets at best) could achieve.
The Town of Davie Corporate Outreach Retention & Engagement (CORE) program, meanwhile, aims to cement relationships between civic officials and Davie industry leaders. Businesspeople are invited to discuss challenges, goals, expansion plans, workforce development, or other related topics with municipal staff. The idea is to glean insights into the needs of the business community so local government can respond accordingly.
Another brand-new venture seeks to spotlight the charms of the community itself. “When people think of South Florida, sometimes they just think of Fort Lauderdale and Miami because those are the bigger municipalities. So, we’re trying to get out there. We call our brand the ‘Davie 10 Initiative.’ We want to show people that yes, we are a cowboy town, but we are more than that, too. We are very competitive when it comes to our market,” says Thomas.
Davie’s competitiveness, she says, largely stems from its growing reputation as an epicenter of industry and education.
“It would be great to get to the point where people hear ‘Davie’ and they immediately think, ‘Oh—that’s a very well-educated workforce! That’s a great place to bring our business or to relocate our family!’ I would love for people to hear ‘Davie’ and know who we are and what we have to offer, just by name recognition,” says Thomas.
