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34 expanding the base's mission and staffing levels. Base activity therefore shifted from an economic headwind in 2016 into an economic tailwind in 2017. More specifically, the US Army located its new Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Benning. The US Army also located its Security Force Assistance headquarters at Fort Benning. The US Army also announced that Fort Benning would receive the Military Advisor Training Academy, which will train soldiers and officers for the Security Force Assistance mission. The recent omnibus bill raises defense spending well above the caps sit in the Budget Control Act. In 2019, ICE announced plans to build a new training complex at Fort Benning. The immediate prospects for Fort Benning therefore are good and no cuts are on the horizon. Columbus derives much larger than average shares of economic activity from two private-sector industries: financial activities and (2) leisure and hospitality. Loan growth, financial deregulation, and recent tax reforms favor top-line growth for firms that provide financial activities, but due to greater efficiency, the number of jobs may not increase very much. The area's hospitality industry will continue to recover in 2021, but from a very depressed level. Full recovery for hospitality may take several years. The prospects are better for leisure travel than for business travel, however. It will help that the list of local attractions is long and very compelling. It includes the Chattahoochee RiverWalk, the Coca Cola Science Center, the Columbus Museum, the National Civil War Naval Museum, the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center, RiverCenter, Whitewater Express, the Springer Opera House, and Uptown Columbus. The fundamental drivers of business travel are mixed: the substitution of virtual meetings will discourage travel while revenue growth and higher profits will encourage travel. At the time of this writing, no major economic development projects had been announced in 2020. Nonetheless, in 2019, there were several noteworthy economic development project announcements. Daechang Seat Company announced a 100 job manufacturing facility in Phenix City, Alabama. In early 2020, Califormulations – a food and beverage company – will open a new facility in the Muscogee Technology Park in Midland creating about 30 jobs. Mercer University announced plans to expand its two-year campus in Columbus to a 4-year campus. The outlook for healthcare is good, but weak population trends limits the potential for growth. Nonetheless, the John B. Amos Cancer Center' expansion and renovation will help to ensure that cancer patients spend their health care dollars in Columbus. In addition, the VA will begin construction of an outpatient clinic in 2019 with an estimated completion date of 2021. The new VA outpatient clinic also will help to ensure that veterans obtain more of their health care in Columbus. Columbus State University is a pillar of the local economy and has been a reliable source of economic growth. The economic impact of Columbus State University on the Columbus MSA increased from 2,871 jobs in the 2014 fiscal year to 3,056 jobs in the 2018 fiscal year. The 6.4 percent gain over five years provides a solid foundation for the area's economic growth. In 2021, CSU will continue to grow as will its economic impact. Although the housing bust that accompanied the Great Recession was less severe in Columbus than for the state as a whole, it lasted much longer. In Columbus, single-family homebuilding remained in recession through 2016. Due job growth, a modest upturn in single-family homebuilding in Columbus began in 2017. The homebuilding industry will see modest gains in 2021. The shift of homebuilding from a significant economic headwind into a slight tailwind is a positive, notable development. Regional economic growth is difficult to sustain without the participation of the housing industry. As of the second quarter of 2020, single-family home prices in the Columbus MSA finally re-attained their pre-Great Recession peak. It is very encouraging that the Columbus MSA's housing prices were 6.3 percent higher in the second quarter of quarter of 2020 than in the second quarter of 2019. In 2021, new home construction activity will increase slightly. The improving housing situation reflects low mortgage rates and continuing recovery from the COVID-19 recession. Gainesville Gainesville's economic performance in the past decade was outstanding, but the area did not dodge the COVID-19 recession. From peak-to-trough the Gainesville MSA lost 9.4 percent of its jobs. The nation and the state's job markets took harder hits than Gainesville, however. In the initial three month rebound, the Gainesville MSA recovered 53 percent of its job losses, which was roughly on par with the rebound posted by the state as a whole.

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