Citrix Expanding in Fort Lauderdale

One of South Florida’s darling companies, Citrix, is expanding, and will do so right here in Fort Lauderdale. The South Florida Business Journal reports the following:

Citrix Systems has selected its Fort Lauderdale headquarters for a 200-job expansion and $7.5 million in capital investments, choosing it over the West Coast and Asia.

The company (NASDAQ: CTXS) received Broward County approval in January for its share of a $1.85 million job creation incentive package that also includes city and state funds. Citirix would get $450,000 upfront and the rest through 2017 after creating the jobs with average salaries of $84,678. It must also maintain its current Broward workforce of more than 1,500.

The company can also use a Quick Response Training grant from Workforce Florida to partially fund its staff training.

“Continuing to build our team in Fort Lauderdale as Citrix grows is a reflection of our commitment to the community where the company was founded,” statedGuy Desautels, Citrix VP of facilities and real estate, and a Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance board member. “We are proud to bring new jobs to Fort Lauderdale and be a large part of South Florida’s Tech Gateway industry cluster. We appreciate the combined efforts of our partners at the state of Florida, Broward County, city of Fort Lauderdale, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and Enterprise Florida.”

Citrix has 8,800 employees worldwide. It is well known for its GoToMeeting platform.

The Business Journal previously wrote about how its innovative products for the health care sector are helping the company win new business.

“Some of the most successful companies in the world call Florida home and Citrix is very high on that list,” said Florida Secretary of Commerce Gray Swoope, president and CEO of Enterprise Florida, in a news release. “Citrix was founded in Florida, and they continue to expand here, thanks to our pro-business climate, strong workforce, expansive infrastructure and unbeatable quality of life.”

More jobs are flowing to, or being created in South Florida. Combining job growth with a recovering real estate market can only signal a strong sustainable recovery for the South Florida economy.