CAPE CORAL, Fla. - More than 9,000 jobs have been created in Cape Coral in the last three years, just on Pine Island Road!

The empty space on Pine Island Road is being filled faster each month, but the new retail buildings and office stores are giving a big boost to the entire economy of Southwest Florida.

You may see Pine Island Road as the home of hundreds of new stores and strip malls. But Cape Coral economic officials see the heavily traveled highway as much more.

“The businesses turn into cash cows, if you will” said one Cape Coral economic official.

Just how much cash? Starting with office space...for a 10,000 square foot building, more than a million dollars is created just from the building being constructed.

And more than 4-Million dollars is generated from that small office building each year after it opens.

As for jobs... Cape Coral economic officials say almost 3,000 office jobs were created in the last three years.

But office space is only the beginning. When it comes to retail space, Southwest Florida sees more than 2.6 Million dollars for every 10-thousand square feet of space. And nearly 2-Million dollars for every year that store is open.