The Naranja Lakes CRA is Miami-Dade County’s southern gateway to Homestead and the Florida Keys. The CRA is historically the commercial center of the County’s extremely important agricultural industry. Since 2000 the southern communities along the US-1 corridor have undergone significant change, emerging as major residential communities, with development and population growth accelerating since 2010.

The CRA Market Area is home to a wide range of economic, infrastructure, educational, cultural, and tourism assets. The major assets within an 8-mile radius of the Center of the CRA include:

• Five Miami-Dade County Targeted Urban areas, all along US-1. Three are partly or completely
  within the CRA;
• Six of the County’s 67 Federal Opportunity Zones. The Census Tract 110.05 Opportunity Zone is
  almost completely within the CRA Boundaries.
• Multiple University and College Campuses, including the Miami-Dade College Southern Campus,
  Barry University South Campus, the University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center,
  and the proposed 48-Acre Larkin Community Hospital Health Science Campus.
• The Homestead Air Reserve Base, which is capable of landing most commercial and passenger
  airline jets, the Homestead General Aviation Center – a small business airport, and five private
  airstrips and landing fields for small plane traffic.
• Multiple major County parks, Lakes, and nature areas.
• Multiple themed tourist attractions, including Zoo Miami, Monkey Jungle, the Coral Castle Museum,
  the Everglades Alligator Farm, the Redland Ranch, Phil’s Berry Farm, the Redland Market Village,
  and Knaus Berry Farm.
• Within 8 Miles of the everglades, and 6.5 miles from Biscayne National Park, the Nation’s only
  underwater National Park.
• 4.24 Miles to the Homestead International Speedway, a fully NASCAR Sanctioned race facility.
• The CRA borders on the southern portion of the Florida Turnpike and includes three Florida
  Turnpike Exits
• The CRA is only 36 Miles to Key Largo and the northern entrance to the Florida Keys.

The Naranja Lakes CRA is one of the fastest-growing areas of the County. Total CRA population growth, at over 16 percent has been more than two-and-one-half times the total population growth of the County. At its current rate of growth, the 42,000 people who live in the CRA will grow to over 52,000 by 2025.

Over 399,000 people live within 10 miles of the CRA, equal to 15 percent of the County’s population, or the third largest City in Florida — larger than Tampa, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale.

The CRA is also younger than the rest of the County, with a median age well below 39 years old.

The CRA is also a community of families—79 percent of all households in the CRA.

The CRA has 626 Business establishments employing 3,539 workers. Within a 10-mile radius, 6,354 business establishments employ 70,346 workers.
Employment growth in the CRA has been explosive. The number of jobs within the CRA more than doubled since 2010 compared to 20 percent for Miami-Dade County, ranking the CRA as one of the fastest-growing employment areas in South Florida.

A Community of Small Business

The CRA is a community of small business—Businesses less than 20 employees represent 96 percent of all business establishments in the CRA, and account for 60 percent of total employment in the CRA, and 86 percent of total sales.

Business Productivity

The CRA’s private employers generated over $483M in total sales in 2018, while the Market Area accounts for over $18.9 B in annual sales, or 7 percent of total sales in the County.

Diverse Industry Structure

The CRA’s leading traded industry sectors are:

• Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services;
• Educational Services;
• Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation;
• Truck Transportation;
• Telecommunications;
• Credit Intermediation and Related Activities; and
• Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

Additional significant local employers in the CRA include:

• Administrative and Support Services;
• Hospitals; and
• Specialty Trade Contractors

Advanced Industry Employment

5 percent of employment in the CRA market area is in Advanced Industries—businesses with high productivity, R&D spending, innovation, and pay—compared to 3 percent for Florida and 8 percent for the US. The CRA Market Area is home to 300 establishments within the Advanced Industries Sector, employing 3,259 workers and $1.96B in sales. Leading Advanced Industry employment Market Area include:

• Management Consulting
• Architecture & Engineering
• R&D Services
• Computer Systems Design
• Telecommunications

Explosive Housing Market Growth

Housing supply has grown in the CRA by 7 percent over the last 5 years, compared to 2 percent for the rest of the County.

Naranja Lakes and the Importance of Agriculture

Agricultural employment in the Naranja Lakes Market Area represents 81 percent of all agricultural employment in Miami-Dade County, and Market Area total agricultural sales, at over $1 Billion, is 20 percent of total private business sales in the entire Market Area. While the rest of the County’s Agriculture sectors have receded, Greenhouse and Nursery production employment and sales grew over
32 percent.
The addition of the Atlantic Sapphire indoor salmon farm represents the latest phase of growth and
extension of the area’s trend to specialized and indoor growing. The new business also represents the
future of farming, producing organically-certified award-winning fish completely indoors.

There are 696 acres of undeveloped land zoned or approved for residential, commercial, or industrial use within the CRA. That translates to over 30 Million square feet of new development.