Digital Domain, the company responsible for much of the CG effects and 3D work in Tron: Legacy, X-Men First Class, Transformers, and many more blockbuster films had started building up a branch in Florida just a couple years ago. They have other divisions in California and Vancouver, but this was a pretty big deal for people in Florida. Ever since Disney up and left Florida back when Disney finished the last of their original animated classics, that pretty much left California to be the only major hub for work opportunities in the 3D art/animation industry. Florida's been struggling to become one of the major hubs again ever since.
Digital Domain started hiring people for their Florida branch around the same time I graduated, about a year ago. They sent out a lot of recruiters to a lot of local schools, and were promising to give jobs to about 200+ 3D artists, even specifically looking for recent graduates. And they did hire a lot of people. A number of people I knew from school got hired there. It was fantastic to have a big-name effects company here to revive the 3D industry and give people more job options, rather than being forced to move across the country.
But in the end, it hasn't worked out. The branch in Florida is shutting down... over 200 3D artists will now be out of a job, some of them my friends. It's a really tough blow to the industry here on the east coast. It's hard enough to get into the industry as it is, and it's difficult to not feel like things are only getting worse...