September 13, 1972
Businessmen generally report that spending and production are advancing. Business sentiment is bullish. One of the leading sectors is construction, especially in Florida and Atlanta.
According to one report, "there has never been a housing boom to compare with the current statewide boom in Florida". There have been a number of large projects announced such as a 31,500-acre community development in southwest Florida, a $600 million residential-hotel-industrial complex to be build on 2,700 acres south of Orlando near Disney World, and two beachfront condominium projects in northeast Florida totaling $16 million. Building permits in the Miami area are reported to be running 20 percent over previous record levels.
The construction outlook is strong elsewhere, especially in Atlanta where several large projects have been announced, including a 1,200- room hotel, an $80 million planned community, a 600-unit high-rise condominium, two fifteen story office buildings, a large second-home and resort community, and a community of 950 single-family homes. Commercial construction is also setting the pace in New Orleans where two skyscrapers have recently been announced, one to be the tallest in the southeastern addition. The mobile home industry reports to be booming throughout the District.
All indications are that the summer tourist season was very strong outside Miami. Most central Florida attractions had good attendance, and most of these attractions are planning to expand their operations. Opryland near Nashville projected that its first season attendance would be one million, but it had an attendance of 0.7 million by Labor Day and is planning to spend $3 million on increased entertainment. The Tennessee Walking Horse Festival this year was attended by 133,000 versus 123,000 a year ago. In Knoxville, it is reported that a company has bought land with the idea of building another large amusement park. Oddly enough, a study by the state of Florida following the Democratic convention found that "delegates spent virtually no money on activities which are followed at typical conventions and their presence kept away the usual summer tourists." Large numbers of vacant hotel and motel rooms have been reported, and many of the so-called "glamour night spots" have reported a low average summer season.
There have been a number of new plant announcements, the largest being a $280 million oil refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. When a plastics plant recently opened in Jackson, Mississippi, the company announced that it would be adding a facility twice the size of its new plant. Other recent plant announcements include a mobile home plant in north Florida, a plastics plant in Nashville, a plumbing fixtures plant in Knoxville, and a cement plant in the Miami area.
There is a labor shortage in several areas of the District, evidenced in central Florida by an increase in help-wanted advertising on television and radio.