August 13, 2026 — Northeast Florida (First Coast) new business activity

• commercial cleaners: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board, City of Palm Coast, City of Jacksonville City Council, Baptist Health, City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• electricians: City of Palm Coast, City of Jacksonville City Council, City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• landscapers: City of Palm Coast, Baptist Health
• medical equipment suppliers: City of Palm Coast, Baptist Health
• medical staffing agencies: City of Palm Coast, Baptist Health
• plumbers: City of Jacksonville City Council, City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• security firms: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board, City of Jacksonville City Council
• site work contractors: City of Palm Coast, City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• audio and lighting rental companies: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board
• awning and shade installers: City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• beverage distributors: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board
• boat repair and maintenance shops: City of Jacksonville City Council
• caterers: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board
• coffee and lunch operators: Baptist Health
• commercial general contractors: City of Palm Coast
• concrete and masonry contractors: City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• dock builders: City of Jacksonville City Council
• drywall and insulation crews: City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• event staffing agencies: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board
• food distributors: City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• fuel distributors: City of Jacksonville City Council
• marine construction contractors: City of Jacksonville City Council
• mechanical and HVAC contractors: City of Palm Coast
• medical gas installers: City of Palm Coast
• medical waste haulers: Baptist Health
• mobile food vendors: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board
• outdoor furniture suppliers: City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• outdoor lighting installers: City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• painters: City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• parking and traffic consultants: Baptist Health
• patio and hardscape contractors: City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission
• property management companies: City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• residential general contractors: City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown
• restaurant operators: City of Jacksonville City Council
• sign makers: City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board

Northeast Florida's seven counties recorded 809 new business filings the week of July 23 to 29, down 48 from the week before.

Almost all of the drop came from companies set up to hold or manage things rather than to serve a customer. Property holding and asset protection filings fell to 88 from 115. Administrative and support services fell to 55 from 76. Real estate fell to 35 from 53. Company management fell to 5 from 13.

Businesses that open a door and take money went the other way. Hospitality and tourism rose to 70 from 52, a gain of 34.6%. Retail rose to 65 from 49, up 32.7%. Construction and trades rose to 72 from 66. Health care rose to 46 from 41. So the week was slower on paper entities and busier on real operators.

Duval carried the decline on its own. It recorded 504 filings, down 54 from 558. Five of the region's seven counties actually grew. St. Johns reached 113, Clay 80, Flagler 65, Putnam 17, and Baker 8. Nassau was the exception, falling to 22 from 39.

Two towns stood out. Orange Park recorded 38 filings, up 12 from 26, and moved to 3rd among the region's cities. Jacksonville Beach recorded 22, up 5 from 17. The words showing up most in this week's new names were plain trade words: cleaning appeared 18 times, care 13, nails 9, and painting 8. Doing business as filings rose to 145 from 122.

A steady slowdown over the past 13 weeks.

The bold line is the 13-week average. Read it for the longer trend. The thin line is each week's count, which swings week to week.

• 2025-26
• 2024-25
• 2023-24
• 2022-23
• 2021-22

New business formation usually runs highest around Mar and is quietest around Nov, holding near 4,000 a month across the years.

Each line is one year, ending at the current month on the right, so you can read the past year left to right. New Year's Day is left out because the state office is closed, so almost no businesses register that day.

Hospitality & Tourism grew the most this week, 18 more (up 34.6%). Property Holding & Asset Protection dropped the most, 27 fewer (down 23.5%). 4 other sectors shown here also grew.

Duval led the region this week with 504 new filings. 5 of the other 6 counties shown here were also up from the week before.

• St. Augustine's planning and zoning board approved application PZB2026-0042 covering 82, 84 and 86 Washington Street at its June 2, 2026 meeting, and the record is carried in the board's packet for July 7, 2026. Paul and Rebecca Morris were granted a use by exception for a theater, a commercial entertainment facility and a special event venue, a use by exception to sell alcoholic beverages, and off site parking in a private lot. The board cut required off street parking from 17 spaces to 6 plus one accessible space, and reduced the front yard setback to zero to match the building already on the site. The approval limits outdoor acoustic music to 10 pm and allows a food truck during operating hours.

  An approved venue with a liquor use and a food truck allowance becomes a standing customer for the people who staff, feed and service events, which fits hospitality and tourism filings rising to 70.

  Who this helps

  • event staffing agencies
  • caterers
  • mobile food vendors
  • audio and lighting rental companies
  • beverage distributors
  • commercial cleaners
  • security firms
  • sign makers

  City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board, 2026-07-07

• Palm Coast's community development department brought the city council a resolution to approve a purchase and sale contract with Sanders Trust LLC for 8.5 acres of city land in the State Road 100 Corridor Community Redevelopment Area, at a negotiated price of $1.7 million. The buyer's proposal is a $31 million ClearSky Health inpatient rehabilitation hospital with 36 beds and more than 100 jobs.

  A $31 million hospital on 8.5 acres with more than 100 jobs is the largest single piece of work in the region's smaller counties right now, and Flagler filings rose to 65.

  Who this helps

  • commercial general contractors
  • site work contractors
  • mechanical and HVAC contractors
  • electricians
  • medical gas installers
  • medical equipment suppliers
  • commercial cleaners
  • medical staffing agencies
  • landscapers

  City of Palm Coast, 2026-07-20

• Jacksonville's city council agenda for May 26, 2026 carried a sovereignty submerged lands lease with Elements Development of Jacksonville, LLC to build and run a 125 slip commercial marina docking facility. One slip is set aside for water taxi use, and the plan includes a kayak launch. The marina is tied to an upland commercial mixed use development. The lease runs to 12/17/34 and covers a 452,243 sq ft revenue generating lease area, with an initial annual lease fee of $62,665.68.

  3 opportunities in this update

  • Building 125 slips is marine work first: pilings, docks, gangways, and the electric and water service that runs out to each slip. That is a specialist trade with a short list of local firms, and the lease area runs to 452,243 sq ft, so the job is large enough to carry subcontractors.
  • A marina that size needs running once it opens. Boat maintenance, fuel handling, cleaning, security, and dock management all become steady contracts rather than one time jobs, and the lease term runs to 12/17/34.
  • The upland commercial mixed use development attached to it is the part that draws retail and food tenants. A water taxi slip and a kayak launch bring foot traffic, which is what a restaurant or shop operator looks at before signing a lease.

  Marine builders get the construction, and the businesses that serve boaters and visitors get the years after it opens.

  Who this helps

  • marine construction contractors
  • dock builders
  • electricians
  • plumbers
  • boat repair and maintenance shops
  • fuel distributors
  • commercial cleaners
  • security firms
  • restaurant operators

  City of Jacksonville City Council, 2026-05-26

• Baptist Health opened Baptist HealthPlace at Seven Pines on Stillwood Pines Boulevard near Butler Boulevard and I-295 in southeast Jacksonville, just east of St. Johns Town Center. It offers primary care, cardiology, orthopedics, rehabilitative and lab services, along with a wellness center. Baptist Health says 1.25 million people live within 30 minutes of the site, and that the area is projected to see a 10% population increase by 2030.

  A new neighborhood clinic pulls daily traffic to one corner, and the businesses that serve a busy medical building and its patients are the ones that gain from it.

  Who this helps

  • commercial cleaners
  • medical equipment suppliers
  • medical waste haulers
  • landscapers
  • parking and traffic consultants
  • coffee and lunch operators
  • medical staffing agencies

  Baptist Health, 2026-06-02

• At the June 23, 2026 meeting of Jacksonville's special committee on the future of downtown, Colin Tarbert of the Downtown Investment Authority walked through Artea on Broadcast Place, an affordable housing project on the Southbank. He described proposed up front recaptured enhanced value grant funding of $6.3 million, with contributions coming from the Southbank community redevelopment area and the General Fund.

  A $6.3 million grant paid up front rather than at completion moves a Southbank housing project toward its build phase sooner, which pulls the trade work forward, and construction and trades filings rose to 72.

  Who this helps

  • residential general contractors
  • site work contractors
  • concrete and masonry contractors
  • electricians
  • plumbers
  • drywall and insulation crews
  • painters
  • property management companies

  City of Jacksonville Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, 2026-06-23

• Jacksonville Beach's planning commission carried conditional use application PC# 04-26 on its May 26, 2026 agenda, covering 2405 3rd Street South in the Commercial Limited C-1 district. Southern Grounds Coffee Jax Beach, LLC is the applicant and Costa Verde Shops, LLC owns the property. The request is for additional outdoor seating.

  More outdoor seats means more covers per day, and Jacksonville Beach added 5 filings to reach 22 this week.

  Who this helps

  • outdoor furniture suppliers
  • awning and shade installers
  • patio and hardscape contractors
  • outdoor lighting installers
  • food distributors
  • commercial cleaners

  City of Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission, 2026-05-26

This was a slower week for paperwork and a steadier one for real businesses. The filings that disappeared were mostly holding and management entities, and those owners rarely buy much beyond a registered agent. The filings that grew were construction and trades at 72, hospitality and tourism at 70, retail at 65, and health care at 46, and every one of those needs a location, gear, staff, and somebody to handle the books. The public record backs that up: a new Baptist Health clinic open in southeast Jacksonville, a hospital deal in Palm Coast, an approved event venue in St. Augustine, a 125 slip marina downtown, and housing moving ahead on the Southbank. If you sell to new operators, this week's list is shorter than last week's and worth more per name.

We count new business filings recorded with the State of Florida for the seven counties in Northeast Florida: Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns. We wait about two weeks after a week ends for the state to finish recording all of its filings, so these counts are complete and accurate. Industry groups come from each filing's own classification, and county and city figures reflect the address on the filing. The local projects below come from government records and company announcements, and each one links to the public document it came from.

Frequently asked questions

Is business formation in Northeast Florida falling?

Yes, for now. This was the second week in a row that the count fell, and 809 is below the 911.8 average of the last 13 weeks. It is also 13.2% below the same week last year, when 932 were recorded.

If the total is down, why do you say real businesses are up?

The groups that fell are mostly companies formed to hold property or manage other companies. Property holding and asset protection dropped to 88 from 115. The groups that rose are ones that serve customers: construction and trades at 72, hospitality and tourism at 70, retail at 65, and health care at 46.

Which parts of the region are growing?

Five of the seven counties added filings. St. Johns reached 113, Clay 80, Flagler 65, Putnam 17, and Baker 8. Orange Park was the strongest city, at 38 filings, up 12 from 26. Duval fell to 504 and Nassau fell to 22.

What kinds of new businesses are being started here?

Mostly small hands on service businesses. Cleaning appeared in 18 of the new names this week, care in 13, nails in 9, and painting in 8. Doing business as registrations rose to 145 from 122, which is the filing a sole operator uses to trade under a name.

How current are these numbers?

We wait about two weeks after a week closes for the state to finish recording every filing, then we report it. That means the week you are reading is complete rather than an early estimate.