Florida’s Space Coast booms again
TITUSVILLE, Fla. — A decade ago, Florida’s Space Coast was in the doldrums.
The space shuttle program had ended, and with it the steady stream of space enthusiasts who filled the area’s restaurants and hotel and motel rooms during regular astronaut launches.
The Kennedy Space Center’s 7,400 laid-off shuttle workers struggled to find jobs in their fields, and many left for other states. The county’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to almost 12 percent, and foreclosures were rampant after a housing crisis that struck Florida harder than most states. The Miracle City Mall, a once-thriving shopping destination that had been around since the Apollo moon shots in the 1960s, was abandoned in the mid-2010s, and other stores and restaurants were shuttered.
“It was devastating. Along with program.
Along the Space Coast, new subdivisions have been permitted, new hotels have been built, small manufacturing plants supporting the space industry are under construction in industrial parks, and a gleaming outdoor shopping area recently opened in the footprint of the Miracle City Mall.
Last year, the Milken Institute ranked the Space Coast metro area as having the second-strongest economy in the U.S. using an index based on jobs, wages and high tech growth. The ranking for the metro was up 47 spots from three years prior.
Jessica Costa, owner of C’s Waffles restaurant in Titusville, remembers how quiet the Space Coast became following the end of the space shuttle program.
“I’m just happy it’s booming the way it is,” Costa said. “I’m happy they got the program back up now. I’m happy people can come out and enjoy it with us.”