But today, Marion County is again become a tourist destination, including one-day or weekend trips. People visit the World Equestrian Center, visit the many springs in the Ocala National Forest or hike trails on the Cross Florida Greenway.
The reason Marion is again experiencing a new heyday is also thanks to the heavily traveled I-75, which now boasts 100,000 daily vehicle trips through the area of State Road 200.
As the population begins to near 400,000, it is getting increasing difficult to get from the east side of I-75 to the west side without knowing a few ways around the traffic jams that often plague the SR 200 and County Road 484 exits.
Just two years ago, Red Rock Developments broke ground on a 617,000-square-foot spec warehouse in the Ocala/Marion County Commerce Park, located just east of Interstate 75 off Northwest 35th Street.
It was one of Red Rock’s first spec projects, and its first in Florida. Spec, short for speculation, means the company invests millions of dollars to build a facility before a buyer, or tenant, has been identified.
Soon after Red Rock took that chance, Amazon came calling. Now Red Rock has decided to gamble again. The plan is to add 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space, part of the 5 million square feet area officials say will be built by next spring.
What we have going on here is geography at work, said Mark Davis, president of the Mid-Florida Regional Manufacturing Association board. If you look at it closely, Ocala is halfway between Atlanta and Miami.
Davis said the continued growth of distribution and manufacturing will enhance the trend of diversifying the area workforce.
During the recession 13 years ago, Marion had one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation because local jobs leaned heavily on hospitality and retail. During COVID-19, that job diversity prevented a similar employment dip.
Building on spec
It s called building on spec, which is short for speculation. Construction companies – some with ties to national distribution and manufacturing businesses – build warehouses that can meet the needs of companies planning to branch out to Florida.