ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Atlanta 2019 An in-depth review of the key issues facing Atlanta’s economy featuring the exclusive insights of prominent industry leaders
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
2 | Invest: Miami 2017 | ECONOMY
Contents: 41 Construction:
5 Economy: 6 Economy in numbers
8 Southern powerhouse: Atlanta is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, fueled by robust job growth and a booming information technology industry 9 Interview: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Mayor, City of Atlanta
11 Interview: Hala Moddelmog, President & CEO, Metro Atlanta Chamber
12 Interview: Jimmy Etheredge, Senior Managing Director - US Southeast, Accenture
14 Roundtable: Legal Services
contribute to its status as a global powerhouse
20 Interview: Doug Hooker, Executive Director, Atlanta Regional Commission
24 Market voices: Mayors’ Corner
25 Real Estate:
26 P ush and pull: Increased demand made for a cooler Atlanta real estate market in 2018, but there are still hot investments if you know where to look
27 Interview: Robert Loudermilk, Jr., President & CEO, The Loudermilk Companies
29 Market voices: Commercial
Theodore Blum, Managing Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
30 Interview: Kris Miller, President, Ackerman & Co.
Mark Wasserman, Managing Partner, Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP
Audra Dial, Atlanta Office Managing Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend
31 Interview: Tim Perry, Chief Investment Officer, North American Properties
33 Market voices: Residential
34 Interview: Mark Spain, CEO, Mark Spain Real Estate
Rick Deane, Partner-in-Charge Atlanta, Jones Day
16 Viewpoint: Eloisa Klementich, CEO, Invest Atlanta
19 Regional strength: The Atlanta metropolitan area is made up of 10 diverse counties, all of which
35 Viewpoint: Costa Alexiou, CEO, DRAPAC Capital Partners
37 Interview: Bonneau Ansley, CEO, Ansley Atlanta Real Estate
42 C rane city: Atlanta’s construction companies saw revenues rise in 2018, thanks to skyrocketing demand bolstered by continued population growth 43 Interview: Chris Bontrager, Business Unit Leader, DPR Construction - Atlanta 44 Interview: Nancy Juneau, CEO, Juneau Construction 47 Interview: Steven DeFrancis, CEO, Cortland Partners 49 Interview: Will Cutler, Georgia Division President, PulteGroup 51 Cost of doing business: With tariff wars heating up and labor shortages continuing, construction costs are rising steadily across the Metro Atlanta area 52 Interview: Keith Johnson, Regional President, Brasfield & Gorrie
53 Aviation & Logistics:
54 Aviation & Logistics in numbers
55 E conomic engine: HartsfieldJackson is the jewel in Atlanta’s economic crown, connecting Georgia to the world and supporting local business
56 Interview: Alex Marren, Senior Vice President & President, ABM Aviation
58 Interview: Karl Von Hagel, Airport Manager, Cobb County Airport
61 Logistics: From its roots as a railroad junction, Atlanta has grown into one of the nation’s most vital logistics hubs
62 I nterview: Kevin Heath, Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, GeorgiaPacific
64 Interview: Elliott Page, Airport Director, Air Service Development, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
65 Aerotropolis:
66 V ision and hope: Aerotropolis leaders are leveraging the region’s powerhouse airport to stimulate growth around Atlanta’s main economic driver www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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Contents: 110 Interview: Jenna Kelly, President & CEO, Atlanta Division, SunTrust Bank 111 Interview: Randy Koporc, Regional President & CEO, Fifth Third Bank GA 113 Market voices: Tax Reform 114 Interview: Ed Heys, Atlanta Managing Partner, Deloitte 116 Market voices: Fintech 117 Interview: Eddie Meyers, Georgia Regional President, PNC
119 Gwinnett County:
67 Interview: Shannon James, President & CEO, Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance
68 Interview: Cinda Herndon-King, Director, Atlanta CareerRise, and Rob LeBeau, Director, WorkSource Atlanta Regional
70 Interview: Gerald McDowell, Executive Director, Aerotropolis CIDs
75 City spotlight: The Aerotropolis vision hinges on the support and collaboration of the many dynamic cities within its bounds
94 I nterview: Jeffrey Parker, CEO & General Manager, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
97 I nterview: Sam Bond, Southeast General Manager, Lyft
99 Parks and power: Atlanta is a trailblazer when it comes to powering its massive infrastructure network, committed to collaboration and sustainability
81 Connected community: Clayton County is home to the world’s busiest airport, but it is also home to a diverse population, growing industries and committed leadership 82 I nterview: Jeff Turner, Chairman BOC, Clayton County
87 I nterview: Joy Day, Mayor, City of Jonesboro
90 I nterview: Bobby Cartwright, Mayor, City of Lovejoy
91 Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities:
92 Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities in numbers
2 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | CONTENTS
120 V ibrantly connected: With the state’s fastest-growing population, an award-winning school system and unparalleled diversity, Gwinnett is making waves
121 Interview: Nick Masino, Chief Economic Development Officer, Partnership Gwinnett; Senior Vice President, Gwinnett Chamber
124 Interview: Daniel Kaufman, President & CEO, Gwinnett County Chamber
126 I nterview: Glenn Stephens, Commissioner, Gwinnet County
130 Market voices: Mayors’ Corner
133 Healthcare:
134 Picture of health: Metro Atlanta continues to be a global healthcare leader, pioneering in areas like health IT, innovation and cuttingedge research
135 I nterview: Dr. Jonathan Lewin, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Emory Healthcare
137 I nterview: Dr. Jim Sams, CEO, Privia Medical Group - Georgia
106 Banking & Finance in numbers
139 Market voices: Specialty Care
108 Financial powerhouse: Anchored by large institutions and bolstered by a growing fintech industry, Atlanta’s financial sector is a major player on the global scence
140 I nterview: Jeff Fusile, CEO, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia
109 I nterview: Chad Gregory, Region Bank President, South Metro Atlanta/West Georgia, Wells Fargo
144 Learning mecca: Atlanta offers a diverse array of educational opportunities, all geared toward
79 Clayton County:
93 Modern mobility: Notorious for its traffic and transit challenges, Atlanta is looking to creative, modern solutions to streamline its connectivity
100 Interview: Kevin Greiner, President & CEO, Gas South
101 I nterview: Bryan Batson, President, Atlanta Gas Light
105 Banking & Finance:
143 Education:
Atlanta 2019 providing the future workforce with the skills needed to succeed
159 I nterview: Michael Thurmond, CEO, DeKalb County
145 I nterview: David Thomas, President, Morehouse College
165 V iewpoint: Patti Garrett, Mayor, City of Decatur
146 I nterview: Lawrence Schall, President, Oglethorpe University
167 I nterview: Ray Gilley, President, Decide DeKalb
152 Roundtable: Business Schools
168 Market voices: Mayors’ Corner
Maryam Alvai, Dean, Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Erika James, Dean, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School
171
Tourism, Arts, Culture & Film:
Richard Phillips, Dean, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
155 I nterview: Bryan Ginn, Chief Campus Officer, Georgia Campus, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
157 DeKalb County:
158 The place to be: DeKalb County is a thriving community offering excellent schools, abundant outdoor activities, arts and culture and a quality way of life
172 Gold standard: Atlanta’s tourism industry continues to break records, with droves of visitors flocking to the area to experience the city’s diverse offerings and attractions
173 I nterview: William Pate, President & CEO, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
175 I nterview: Doug Shipman, President & CEO, The Woodruff Arts Center
177 Market voices: Hospitality
182 Market voices: Culture Corner
183 I nterview: Ryan Millsap, Chairman & CEO, Blackhall Studios
185 Sports:
186 On the world stage: As Atlanta gears up to host Super Bowl LIII in 2019, the city shows its commitment to sports and their enormous economic impact on the region
187 I nterview: Rich McKay, President & CEO, Atlanta Falcons
ISBN 978-0-9988966-1-8 President: Abby Melone Chief Financial Officer: Albert E. Lindenberg Managing Editor: Jaime Muehl Project Coordinator: Yulia Yurevich-Paranchuk Contributing Writers: Valerie Silva Alessandra Bosco Sean O’Toole Interns: James Woo Meagan Harmon Focus: Atlanta is published once a year by Capital Analytics Associates, LLC. For all editorial and advertising questions, please e-mail: contact@capitalaa.com To order a copy of Focus Atlanta 2019, please e-mail: contact@capitalaa.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, without the express written consent of the publisher, Capital Analytics Associates, LLC. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book, the authors and publisher accept no responsibility for any errors it may contain, or for any loss, financial or otherwise, sustained by any person using this publication. Capital Analytics Associates, LLC accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts and/or photographs, and assumes no liability for products and services advertised herein. Capital Analytics Associates, LLC reserves the right to edit, rewrite, or refuse material.
189 V iewpoint: Dr. Scott Boden, Director, The Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center
Photo Credits: Contents: Pg. 1 – High Museum of Art Pg. 2 – City of Peachtree Corners
Aviation & Logistics:
Banking & Finance:
Pg. 143, small – DPR Construction
Pg. 55 – ABM Aviation
Pg. 105, small – Cardlytics
Pg. 144 – PCOM
Pg. 58 – Fulton County Airport
DeKalb County:
Pg. 3 – City of Norcross
Pg. 63 – Georgia-Pacific Aerotropolis: Pg. 65, 66, 71 – Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities: Pg. 91 large, 96 – Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Pg. 91 small – Lyft Pg. 93 – CW Matthews/ Midtown Alliance Pg. 99 – Choate Construction
Pg. 108 – PNC Gwinnett County: Pg. 119, 129 – City of Norcross Pg. 120, 123 – City of Peachtree Corners Healthcare: Pg. 133, large – DPR Construction Pg. 133, small – Piedmont Hospital Pg. 134 – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) Pg. 142 – Shepherd Center Education: Pg. 143, large, 150: Oglethorpe University/Jeff Roffman
Economy: Pg. 16 – Sarah Dorio, sarahdorio.com Pg. 19 – Tucker/Northlake Pg. 23 – City of Alpharetta Real Estate: Pg. 25 large, 32 – DRAPAC Capital Partners Pg. 26 – Tucker/Northlake Pg. 36 – Brand Properties Construction: Pg. 41 small, 42 – Choate Construction
Pg. 103 – City of Peachtree Corners
Pg. 157, small, 158, 162: City of Decatur Pg. 167 – Oglethorpe University Tourism, Arts, Culture & Film: Pg. 171, large – High Museum of Art Pg. 171 small – Clayton State University Pg. 179 – Atlanta Ballet/Kim Kenney Pg. 184 – Omni Hotel Sports: Pg. 185 – Georgia Swarm
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Economy: Atlanta is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. and is ranked one of the nation’s fastestgrowing metro areas, thanks to steady job growth and a thriving tech scene. While national and global challenges like rising interest rates and tariff wars are on the minds of local business leaders, overall Atlanta is experiencing robust activity across all sectors of the economy as it moves into 2019.
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Economy in Numbers: 8.3
Metro Atlanta employment change by sector, October 2018 (year-on-year percent change): 9
3.6
3.8
1.8
0.7
2.2
3
2.3
3.2
6
-2.7 Government
Other services
Leisure & hospitality
Education & health services
Professional & business services
-0.6 Financial activities
-1.6 Information
Trade, transport & utilities
Manufacturing
Construction
-3
Total non-farm
0
Source: U .S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Metro Atlanta employment by sector, October 2018:
22,771 Government
7,500
5,886
Construction
Other services
8,616 Financial activities
27,910 16,360 Leisure & hospitality
Trade, transport & utilities
150,753 TOTAL
2,776 Information
21,352
28,100
Professional & business services
Manufacturing
24,018 Education & health services 6 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | ECONOMY
METRO ATLANTA POPULATION
PERCENT CHANGE
5,795,723 2018
5,884,736
MEDIAN ANNUAL INCOME
$63,986 1.5%
2017
2017
$53,843 2016
Source: U.S. Census Bureau/DataUSA
FOREIGN BORN PERSONS
14.1%
PERSONS IN POVERTY
PERSONS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE (UNDER 65)
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE OR HIGHER (AGE 25+)
12.0%
18.4%
88.6%
Source: Censusreporter.com
Top 10 employers in Metro Atlanta, ranked by # of employees (2017): Company name
Full-time Atlanta employees
Primary facility type
Delt Airlines
31,529
Corporate HQ (FORTUNE #68)
Emory University
25,555
Educational Institution/Healthcare
The Home Depot
25,000
Corporate HQ (FORTUNE #28)
WellStar Health System Inc.
20,000
Corporate HQ/Healthcare
AT&T Inc.
17,000
Division HQ/Regional HQ
UPS
16,231
Corporate HQ (FORTUNE #48)
Northside Hospital
14,577
Healthcare
Piedmont Healthcare
12,906
Corporate HQ/Healthcare
Marriott International
12,000
Hotel
Publix Supermarkets
9,755
DIvision HQ
Source: Metro Atlanta Chamber
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Southern powerhouse: Atlanta is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, fueled by robust job growth and a booming information technology industry Expectations for Atlanta were modest when it was founded in 1837 as the end, or terminus, of a new line of the Western & Atlantic Railroad connecting to what is today Chattanooga. Chief engineer Stephen Long wrote, “The Terminus will be a good location for one tavern, a blacksmith shop, a grocery store, and nothing else.” Long declined to invest in property in Terminus (later named Marthasville and finally Atlanta). More than 170 years later, that looks like a glaringly poor business decision. Today, Atlanta is one of the 10 largest urban centers and the fastest-growing metro area in the United States. Lay of the land The Atlanta metropolitan area is located in the state of Georgia in the southeastern U.S., situated between the low foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the north and the Piedmont to the south. Kennesaw Mountain is the highest point in the region, and this elevated landmass — along with others in the area — played a significant strategic role during the Civil War. Georgia has more counties than any other state in the U.S. other than Texas, and it has the smallest
8 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | ECONOMY
average county size in the country. While this allows for more localization of government, it also means a decentralized collection of governments and increased potential for conflict between jurisdictions, each with its own agenda. At the time of the 2000 U.S. Census, fewer than one in 10 residents in the Metro Atlanta region lived within the City of Atlanta limits. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority — or MARTA, as it is better known — was the area’s first significant governmental agency, designed to oversee the public transportation system. Plagued from the onset by issues of class and race, along with perceptions of inner-city crime and poor schools, MARTA was banned by Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett voters from expanding into their counties during the 1970s. This caused permanent effects on land development in the region and also increased dependency on automobiles. Despite this history of division, the City of Atlanta’s new mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, calls Atlanta inclusive and in her 2018 State of the City address outlined her vision for “One Atlanta.” Mayor Bottoms is focused on addressing the issue of affordable ( )
ECONOMY INTERVIEW
City reboot How Atlanta’s new mayor is tackling important issues like affordable housing and income inequality in a fresh way, hoping to improve quality of life for everyone
Keisha Lance Bottoms Mayor – City of Atlanta
How is your office attacking the issue of affordable housing? We recently named the city’s first-ever chief housing officer, Terri Lee, whose singular focus is developing a citywide affordability strategy, including coordinating policy initiatives with our agencies and partners and helping us reach our $1 billion affordable housing investment goal. We also brought together our planning department, the head of the Atlanta Housing Authority, the head of Invest Atlanta and the head of the BeltLine, and what we learned is that a conversation with those leaders around the table had never happened in our city. I think this really speaks to how much work needs to be done. It doesn’t mean that we aren’t being thoughtful in that space or that we haven’t been working on initiatives, but it does suggest that we haven’t always all been growing in the same direction if we’re not even sitting around the table to talk about it. That’s the first step: aligning internally and with our closest stakeholders. If we do that, it’s going to be so much easier for us to align with our external stakeholders, who are also very interested in addressing this issue in Atlanta. How do we close the gap on issues like economic mobility and income inequality? It begins with the conversations we’re having around equity, which is why we created the One Atlanta Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. During the course of the campaign, we saw so many issues plaguing our communities, but there has not been a formalized and operational way for us to address many of these issues. Now we have an entire department whose focus each and every day is addressing issues like economic mobility in our communities.
We all recognize the linchpin to this is education. We need to be a solid partner with our public schools and make sure that every single child in this city has access to a quality education. Also important are our relationships with our corporate partners. Atlanta Committee for Progress is doing some great work to bolster our vocational training and vocational tracks in our schools. A great example of this kind of collaboration is the newly established Center for Workforce Innovation, which will welcome its inaugural class in the fall of 2019. The City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Committee for Progress and local corporate partners have joined Atlanta Technical College to provide students with workforce readiness training and direct access to well-paying jobs. By creating a pathway to opportunity, we can close the income gap and equip our residents for success.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Joseph Chancey Managing Partner – Drew Eckl Farnham, LLP
With Atlanta resuming its place as a leading business center in the country and getting back to a place where it’s thriving, we are seeing an increased demand in all the traditional areas where we provide legal services in terms of risk management. We are also seeing and reacting to some of the new and evolving risk areas. For example, we have a group in the firm that is focused on cyber liability and data security issues. We are experiencing both as a business that has medical and financial data of our own, but we’re also seeing demand from our clients, who need guidance on this cutting-edge issue.
( ) housing, improving education, providing job training and placement to all citizens, improving transportation and ensuring the safety and welfare of all of Atlanta’s communities. Peachy economy Atlanta is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country, so it’s no surprise that Forbes ranked the metro area number nine on its 2017 list of Best Places for Business and Careers. With a hospitality industry that welcomed more than 52 million visitors in 2017 and as home to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta certainly packs a powerful economic punch.
10 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | ECONOMY
The state of Georgia saw 2 percent employment growth in 2017 (as compared to the 1.1 percent national average), and two-thirds of that growth was in the Metro Atlanta region, which added 55,600 more jobs last year than in 2016. At the time of print, the area’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, down from 4.2 percent in November 2017 and 5 percent in January 2017. Metro Atlanta ended 2017 with 2.79 million jobs. Hiring was strong in both higher-paying corporate jobs and lower-wage leisure and hospitality positions. Moderately compensated health sector jobs also saw some growth. According to the U.S. Labor Department, manufacturing was the only sector to lose jobs. The only thing missing from this success story is wage growth, which has been sluggish in the Atlanta
TRANSPORTATION OVERVIEW
area in recent years. However, the hope is that December 2017’s federal tax reform — and the state tax reform that quickly followed — will inject fuel into this area as well. Global landscape While Atlanta is experiencing steady activity in most business sectors, rising interest rates and global tariffs could have an impact on continued economic growth in the region. Many local leaders are keeping a close eye on both of these trends. In 2018, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times, with a fourth hike expected before year’s end and three more penciled in for 2019. The idea behind these rate increases is to keep inflation in check and the economy from overheating. However, even with the successive hikes, interest rates remain at historical lows, and so far they have not seemed to constrain investment activity in Metro Atlanta. Tariffs, on the other hand, could prove to be a much bigger challenge. Since taking office, President Trump has imposed a number of tariffs on imported goods ranging from solar panels and washing machines to steel and aluminum. In the process, he has upset important U.S. trading partners like the European Union, Canada and Mexico, not to mention India and China. All of these countries have retaliated with their own sets of tariffs on American goods. While the blow these trade policies have had on such industries as automobile and machine parts manufacturing has been more obvious, the transportation and logistics sector in Atlanta, which depends heavily on international trade, is particularly vulnerable to global trade disruptions. Many workers in the Metro Atlanta area, particularly in Fulton County, owe their livelihoods to the activity at Georgia’s ports. Perhaps the hardest part for many local business owners is the uncertainty over how long the tariffs will stay in place, how they might change in the future and whether new tariffs will be levied. Foreign investment In fiscal year 2018, the state of Georgia saw $1.9 billion invested in 89 foreign-owned projects. 20 percent of these projects were located in the Metro Atlanta area, and close to half of new jobs and capital investment came from return companies, or those that already had a presence in the state. Europe remained the top investor in Georgia — led by the U.K., France and Germany — accounting for more than 50 percent of the individual foreign-direct investment (FDI) projects and 56 percent of ( )
Hala Moddelmog President & CEO Metro Atlanta Chamber
What were some of your favorite wins for Atlanta in 2018? We were thrilled when Starbucks decided to put a large office here. The company is bringing 500 new jobs, and Atlanta is going to be its east coast satellite office. Starbucks will be investing $16 million in its office building. Pandora didn’t get as much attention in the press, but it is bringing 250 jobs here, and we’re excited to have a brand that is business to business (B2B). Both of these companies are moving into Fulton County. Inspire Brands, parent company to Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, recently bought a new $32 million headquarters building in Sandy Springs and will be creating 1,100 jobs. ThyssenKrupp is also making Atlanta its U.S. headquarters with a $200 million investment in three facilities at the Battery, including its corporate offices, an innovation center and an amazing 420-foot-tall glass elevator building overlooking the city. Facebook came with 100 jobs and $715 million invested in a new data center. 2018 was a big year for relocations, and we want to continue that momentum. What are some trends companies are following to cement their footprint in Atlanta? Atlanta has always been known as a transportation and logistics hub, so it’s no surprise to see companies building their innovation centers here. MercedesBenz chose Atlanta for its Innovation Lab, one of only three in the world. Georgia-Pacific is finishing up a project called Point A, which is an innovation center working on supply chain automation. Atlanta is quickly becoming a supply chain city — a concept that I love. Accenture is finishing up a 30,000-square-foot innovation center above its Tech Square office, which further strengthens an already bustling innovation district anchored by Georgia Tech. On a separate note, we have noticed several companies using WeWork to design, build and manage their new offices. WeWork takes care of everything.
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ECONOMY INTERVIEW
Innovation hub How Accenture is expanding its footprint in Atlanta’s innovative Tech Square to capitalize on local talent and the evolving, collaborative consulting space
Jimmy Etheredge Senior Managing Director - US Southeast – Accenture
Why is it important for Accenture to maintain a presence in Atlanta? We’re a global firm, and our focus in terms of clients is what we call the “Global 2000” or the “G 2000.” Atlanta is a very important market because of that. We have a lot of important clients or prospective clients who are headquartered here. Another reason Atlanta is important for us as a global organization is that it’s an important source of technology talent. Georgia Tech is a worldrenowned research institution, so we like to hire its graduates, but we also like to work with Georgia Tech on research. We also do a lot of hiring here through the AUCC and Georgia State. A little-known fact is that there are more minority technology degrees conferred here in Atlanta than in any other place in the U.S. That’s important from a talent perspective. We announced a year and a half ago that Accenture would open 10 innovation hubs across the U.S., and Atlanta was at the top of that list.
How is Accenture expanding its footprint in Atlanta? We have been working hard to drive our innovation agenda. Shortly we will be opening our 30,000-square-foot innovation hub at the top of Tech Square, which is not only the largest in Atlanta but also the largest in the Southeast. We’re also tripling our office space on the floors under the lab. We’re so proud to have our name on the building and to maintain our presence at Tech Square, which is an epicenter of business in Atlanta, making it an epicenter of business for the Southeast. We’re also developing our relationships with organizations like the ATDC, GTRI and Engage Ventures, enabling us to be even more tightly connected with the thriving startup community here.
12 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | ECONOMY
How has the consulting space evolved in recent years? In the client service model that I grew up with, consultants went to the client site and worked at the client site. More and more of the companies we’ve acquired have a different client service model. They do most of their work in their offices. They go periodically to meet with the client, but the client more frequently comes to their offices, and we’re designing our innovation hub with that in mind. The space in the innovation hub is geared more toward creativity and collaboration. Most clients have never seen a space like this, and soon the prerequisite will be that if there’s going to be an innovation partnership, we will not only need to bring good ideas and talent to the table but also have a space where co-creation is possible. Our new innovation hub is that space, perfect for sparking ideas and collaborative innovation.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
( ) jobs created by foreign companies (3,800). Asia was the number two source region, which is unsurprising considering Georgia’s rapid growth in the automotive sector. Led by Korea and Japan, Asian companies invested in 24 projects that generated 1,822 jobs and $489 million in FDI. Atlanta’s commercial real estate vertical is also seeing a boost from foreign capital. According to Atlanta-based Iron Tree Capital, which siphons money from Middle Eastern investors into local real estate, its clients are showing increased interest in the metro and surrounding areas, particularly in the multifamily and industrial classes. Canada, Germany and China are also increasing their investment dollars in the city. Some reasons for this rising interest include weaker investment yields overseas and the value Atlanta offers compared to other, more expensive gateway markets like New York and Washington, D.C. Neighborhoods like Midtown are reaping the benefits of this increased interest from both foreign and domestic investors. “Our job is to help create the most exceptional urban district in the Southeast, and we believe that Midtown is one place in this region where this vision is achievable,” Kevin Green, president and CEO of the Midtown Alliance, told Focus:. “We are on the ground every day working work as partners, implementers, facilitators and advocates. Our role ranges from working with investors and design teams on new development, to implementing significant transportation and ( )
Midtown and other neighborhoods are experiencing development booms thanks to increased interest from investors.
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®
oundtable: Legal Services
According to a newly released report by CBRE, Atlanta has seen double-digit growth for legal professionals since 2015 and had 16.3 percent more lawyers in 2017 than two years earlier. With its skilled labor pool, comparatively low operational costs and diverse business climate, Atlanta is an ideal hub for legal services.
Rick Deane
Partner-in-Charge Atlanta Jones Day
Our calling card is our international breadth. We have 43 offices and more than 2,500 lawyers around the world. This makes it easy for our clients to engage us on a local level yet have that international scope and reach. We are a fully integrated partnership, which in the legal world is getting to be something of an oddity. Because we have operations around the world, our clients are dealing with someone they know personally and often have dealt with for a long time. They don’t have to engage new lawyers just because they have business operations in another part of the world. The driver for us is our transactional practice, which is in high demand here in Atlanta. A big reason for this is the depth of experience that we offer. We have senior transactional lawyers with stellar credentials, and that, coupled with the scope of our firm, makes us a very attractive option for big business. What makes our office unique is the fact that we are a full-service practice. We are not specifically focused like some of our other offices. It is hard to think of a real impediment to the business growth and legal climate here in Atlanta because Atlanta and the State of Georgia are so pro-growth. For the last five years in a row we have been designated as the number one place for business, and you can look around and see that. Our clients are very active, and their business operations are growing. Look at the tech incubation that is taking place at Georgia Tech and the tremendous startups coming through that process. All of these things are attractive propositions for businesses looking to locate here or those already are here; they have a wealth of talented students coming into the marketplace to draw upon.
14 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | ECONOMY
Theodore Blum
Managing Shareholder Greenberg Traurig
Atlanta is a dynamic city that is constantly evolving. When I came here in 1992, it was a city full of promise on the verge of bursting into the future. At that time, Atlanta was a regional hub, and the businesses driving the growth of the city were built on long-standing local relationships and connections going back decades and more. Banking, real estate, law firm, corporate boards, philanthropic and civic partnerships were segments of the local economy that always worked well together, and they thrived on the strength of deep-rooted, hometown relationships. Simply put, Atlanta was a city that got things done. Then the Olympics came, and the growth of the city really took off. The local relationships that historically drove so much of the city’s commerce expanded to welcome new people with fresh ideas from all over the world, bringing new priorities and often different ways of getting things done. It was becoming an international city on the move. Now we are entering a new chapter in the life of the city. We are experiencing innovative growth in so many directions — from technology and innovation to healthcare and biomedical; from media, entertainment and the arts to fintech; from trade and logistics to transportation; from tourism and hospitality to sports and retail; from banking and financial services to real estate and construction; from manufacturing to professional services. And these are just a few of the sectors of our city’s economy undergoing transformative growth. Throughout all these chapters in the city’s growth over the last 26 years, we have experienced our share of recessions, challenges and demands. But through these challenges, Atlanta has only become stronger and more diverse.
ECONOMY ROUNDTABLE
Mark Wasserman
Managing Partner Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP
Developing female talent is a huge issue in the profession generally. Most of us have starting classes that are 50 percent men and 50 percent women, and most law schools are graduating pretty equal classes. However, in terms of retaining equal talent and moving women into partnership, most firms have not done all that well. Our numbers are in line with industry averages, so we’re average — which is not what we aspire to be in anything. There’s a ton of research showing that when providing services to clients, having a more diverse workforce translates to better service across the board. You are offering different viewpoints, and clients are demanding that today. As a business matter, it’s imperative for us to be able to serve our clients correctly. As a firm, we’ve signed on to something called the Mansfield Rule. In essence, this means that the pool of people we look at for any large positions — whether for our executive committee or for practice group leaders — needs to be at least 30 percent diverse. We not only adopted that 30 percent target but also adopted a new women’s initiative overall. It is part internal training and mentorship, involving more business development and other sorts of classes. It also involves clients because we want to make sure our clients are tied into helping mentor our younger female lawyers, to help keep them on board throughout the process. It’s a fairly wholistic path, and I think Atlanta is a great city for that. No city is perfect, and no organization is perfect, but I think Atlanta has always strived to make sure that diversity is key across the board. We’ve done well on that front.
Audra Dial
Atlanta Office Managing Partner Kilpatrick Townsend
We are the oldest law firm in Atlanta and have had a chance to grow up with many Atlanta giants. I would say we also have the strongest intellectual property (IP) practice in the city and arguably in the Southeast. Our firm is very proud of the legacy of pro bono work we have built. We represented the King family for years and are currently working on several unique asylum cases. The firm was founded on the philosophy of giving back to the community and really focusing on being a citizen lawyer. Thomas Jefferson talked about this concept: if you’re a lawyer, you have a duty to the community to do more than practice law. You owe it to the community to give back in the form of civic involvement. That’s what our firm’s values are all about and have been since the beginning. It’s nice to see that legacy continue today. Intellectual property is extremely significant for us. For most companies, their most important assets are in their intellectual property — whether it’s a patent right, a trademark or trade secret — and we counsel our clients on how to best protect their assets and how to monetize them. Licensing agreements and transactions that relate to the use of intellectual property are some of the most significant work happening today. Intellectual property is the future of the American economy. I think that Atlanta’s economy is a subset of what’s happening in the American economy on a larger scale. Today, so much more of our value as an economy is based on intellectual property. There’s a lot of innovation happening in Atlanta. There is so much creativity and cutting-edge thinking here. Most of our big companies in Atlanta are really driving that innovation.
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Eloisa Klementich CEO Invest Atlanta
As the City of Atlanta’s economic development authority, Invest Atlanta focuses on growing Atlanta’s economy in a way that is beneficial to everyone. Investments we’re making today are supporting an equitable and inclusive future for our city by facilitating new jobs, affordable housing, transit-oriented development, small business activity and other economic benefits. Our strategies are sensitive to the needs of the market and the community. In 2010, Atlanta reported the loss of several thousand jobs. Because of our focus and the economy, today we are adding thousands of jobs and have seen positive year-overyear job gains since 2013; in fact, last year Atlanta had the fifth highest year-over-year job growth among U.S. metro areas. Atlanta is also becoming known around the world as a tech town on par with other startup hubs like San Francisco and New York. In fact, according to one small business research firm, we ranked third as a startup city — ahead of Seattle, Austin and Boston. The tremendous talent we have coming out of our colleges and universities, as well as the strong business climate within our city, region and state, has helped Atlanta add the most businesses to the Inc. 5000 since 2012. While we expect this momentum to continue, it’s critical to ensure that the benefits of this job growth are shared. Helping businesses, no matter what size, and all our residents, regardless of where they fall on the income scale, is at the core of Invest Atlanta’s economic development strategy. We recognize the need to look at growth through a lens of inclusivity. Hence, Invest Atlanta is widening its scope to ensure everyone is participating in this extraordinary period of economic growth. Our goal is to see all Atlantans thriving along with our economy. And by opening access to new job opportunities and affordable living options to our residents, the City of Atlanta can rise as one.
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( ) streetscape improvements – all in partnership with the City of Atlanta.” Business of attraction According to a July 2018 survey by GeekWire.com, Atlanta ranked number two in the country, behind Raleigh, North Carolina, as the most desirable place for tech industry workers to live. Perhaps for this reason, Atlanta was also one of the favorites to land Amazon’s HQ2 and the 50,000 jobs that will come with it. While Atlanta ultimately lost out to northern Virginia and New York City for the coveted second headquarters, the bid sparked some much-need improvements city-wide. Amazon identified some specific needs for its HQ2 site, and two of the most important were education and transit. In response, many candidate
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Linked directly to the Atlanta BeltLine and situated across from Historic Fourth Ward Park, Ponce City Market is a shining example of the area’s trend toward adaptive reuse.
cities moved forward on projects in those areas in hopes of attracting the e-commerce giant. In May 2018, Atlanta consolidated its public transit under the regional Transit Link Authority, and earlier in the year the State of Georgia announced that it would spend $100 million to build a bus rapidtransit corridor on Georgia 400 north of Interstate 285. Atlanta included both of these projects in its Amazon pitch. The potential of landing Amazon triggered other development plans, as well. One that has been receiving a lot of attention is the Gulch project, in which Los Angeles-based CIM Group proposed about 10 million square feet of mixed-use development — to include office, retail, housing (including a percentage of affordable housing) and hotel rooms in a number of high-rises — on the notoriously
unsightly mass of parking spaces Downtown near Philips Arena. Mayor Bottoms is pushing to “Greenlight the Gulch,” but critics are concerned about the impact the development could have on the surrounding community. The Aerotropolis is another venture with plans to attract new business to the region, specifically in the airport area with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at the heart. By bringing in more business to the underdeveloped southside, the hope is to create more jobs for residents and turn the Aerotropolis into a thriving global business district. Upward trajectory There are more than 602,000 businesses in the state of Georgia, and 510,000 of them are located in Metro Atlanta. “I think the key to success as a business
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Darrell (Corky) Dawes CEO – Peachtree Planning
Atlanta is such a diverse market fundamentally. The thing about Atlanta that is really unique is we have all these different people — the baby boomers, the traditionalists, the millennials, the Gen-Xers — and we work with a group to help us learn how to better communicate with all of them because they all communicate differently. The message can be the same, but it’s like speaking different languages. Atlanta gives us the opportunity to continue to always get better at communication. The sample demographics in any area of the city are unbelievable. That’s the beauty of Atlanta.
is making sure that you’re constantly redefining yourself instead of limiting yourself or calling yourself a niche market,” Zeron Turlington, CEO of Full Circle Group, told Focus:. “You have to continue to figure out what the customer needs.” Atlanta also boasts the majority of the state’s 280,000 tech jobs and is one of the fastest-growing tech markets in the country. The region ranks number three nationally in STEM job growth employment and number 27 in total STEM jobs. These economic drivers are a strong indication that Atlanta’s growth will continue. According to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the number of jobs in the city is expected to reach 3.3 million by
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2020 and 3.5 million by 2025. These jobs will lead to population growth estimated to reach 6.5 million in 2020 and 6.9 million by 2025. Metro Atlanta’s recent and projected job growth — bolstered by the booming information technology sector, which contributed almost a full percentage point to total GDP growth in 2017, along with hot industries like insurance, finance and real estate — outpaces the nation as a whole. As long as the region continues to prioritize challenges like transportation, infrastructure, affordable housing, inclusion and economic mobility, among others, the area’s economic boom is poised to continue its upward trajectory in 2019 and beyond.
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Regional strength: The Atlanta metropolitan area is made up of 10 diverse counties, all of which contribute to its status as a global powerhouse According to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), Metro Atlanta is a dynamic 10-county region comprising Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, along with the City of Atlanta. Not only is it the economic capital of the Southeast, but it is also a major player on the global stage. Known for its southern hospitality, diverse population, pleasant climate and abundant tree canopy, the Atlanta area is so much more than just the powerhouse city that gives it its name. The 10-county Atlanta region added 75,800 new residents year-over-year from April 2017 to April 2018, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), with a population increase of 1.7 percent in that same time period, primarily fueled by job growth. Fulton County experienced the largest population growth, welcoming 17,570 new residents, while Cherokee and Henry counties had the fastest uptick in residents relatively speaking, spiking by 7,100 and 5,800 residents respectively. Many counties are providing enticing incentives to attract both businesses and residents to their communities. “We’ve developed some new economic incentive tools for Cobb County that reflect the diverse
business needs of the community,” Michael Hughes, economic development division manager at the Cobb County Community Development Agency, told Focus:. “We’ve shifted from a one-size-fits-all approach; now we’ve got the capacity to provide incentives for entrepreneurs, innovators and small businesses.” Demographic shifts Atlanta’s non-white population has doubled in the past 45 years, and in just one decade (from 2000 to 2010) the city’s Latino population more than doubled. According to data from Woods & Poole Economics, at the end of 2017 only one county in the Metro Atlanta area (Cobb) still had a majority-white population, and that is predicted to change in the next few years. By 2021, it’s expected that whites will account for 49.6 percent of Cobb County’s population. Atlanta has always been a diverse area, but even within that diversity the tides are shifting. In Gwinnett County in 2017, four in 10 residents were white (down from nearly nine out of 10 in 1990), and two in 10 were Hispanic. In Fulton County, it is expected that Asians/Pacific Islanders will slightly outnumber African-Americans by 2050. DeKalb County became ( )
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ECONOMY INTERVIEW
Collaborative muscle How the Atlanta Regional Commission is helping bring together regional groups in the spirit of community and collaboration, making Metro Atlanta stronger
Doug Hooker Executive Director – Atlanta Regional Commission
work on together was K-12 education. From that effort we helped create Learn4Life, a regional educational collaborative involving eight school districts and over 610,000 students. It is off to an encouraging start. Coming out of the recession, the community as a whole has given a more thoughtful, collaborative, concerted approach to trying to diversify our economy, to lift up the things that we are strong in and make us stronger in new sectors of the economy. I think our growing muscle and communities in fintech, cybersecurity and health IT are examples of that. We don’t have the connective and autonomous vehicle activity that a lot of other places in the country have, but instead of trying to be copycats, we’re trying to advance application of smart mobility technologies in a more thoughtful and broader fashion. As a region, we’ve been doing some things that are on the cutting edge that we didn’t even realize were cutting edge.
What are some strategies for maintaining an economically competitive market? Our region is awakening to the power of our collaborative muscle. First is the fact that there are few community issues we can address without extensive collaboration, but second is our willingness now to collaborate. We (ARC) are being called upon more and more to be a convener with groups that either have not convened regularly or have never convened before, to help them think about the way forward on different kinds of issues. Four years ago, four regional institutions that are now nicknamed “the Big Four” came together to identify where we had overlap in our regional portfolios and to determine how to integrate our strategies and work together on them. The first effort we decided to
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How did the bid for Amazon HQ2 impact the region? The chase for Amazon HQ2 sharpened our collective economic development muscle. We now have a Regional Marketing Alliance, which was huge in working with the state on sharpening our pitch to HQ2. While we didn’t win the bid, the important thing about having gone through the process is there is now a much clearer focus in our relationships between the various economic development agencies and in our relationships with site selection and tax consultants. As a result, the better coordinated efforts between our State and regional economic development agencies have several other major prospects in play. We’re going to be a stronger player nationally and internationally for economic development expansion and relocation well into the future because of that.
ECONOMY ANALYSIS
( ) majority black in 1996, but by 2030 both the black and white populations are expected to decline. In a region that has long struggled with issues of race and class, these demographic shifts have sparked a controversial cityhood movement in which predominantly white and wealthy areas in suburban Atlanta are becoming their own municipalities. In 2005, Sandy Springs broke off into its own city, and since that time, about 10 other large cities have formed in Fulton County. When South Fulton formed in 2017, it ate up most of the county’s remaining unincorporated land. DeKalb County is headed in a similar direction, with many of its newest cities emerging from heavily white and higher-income communities. This trend is leaving hundreds of thousands of nonwhite, lower-income residents in unincorporated DeKalb, where they are left footing the bill for county services. Proponents of the cityhood movement argue that it is primarily economically driven, creating better opportunities to address some of the area’s biggest challenges, while detractors claim it is a form of re-segregation based on both race and class with enormous economic and social fallout.
Facelifts Despite this trend toward new cities, existing Atlanta-area suburbs are working to reinvent their identities around denser, urban, mixed-use development. Recent examples of this include Avalon in Alpharetta, Halcyon in Forsyth County, Pinewood Forrest in Fayette and city-backed town centers such as City Springs in Sandy Springs. In 2017, Halpern Enterprises opened the Shops at Belmont, which has helped to bring hundreds of residences, new restaurants and merchants to Smyrna. Smyrna is also benefiting from its proximity to the Battery. “Having the Braves and the Battery located just outside our city limits established a major destination center which also has a positive effect on Smyrna,” Ken Suddreth, director of community development for the City of Smyrna, told Focus:. “New studies have been performed and older ones updated. Spring Road has become a place that draws interest from all kinds of people and industries and is ready for redevelopment. We think we do compete with the rest of the hotbeds around Atlanta now.”
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ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Other cities, such as Duluth and Sugar Hill, are also pushing for denser development in their downtowns. Challenges One of the things that makes the Atlanta area so attractive is its high quality of life, and maintaining that standard of living is critical to the area’s future. In order to become a leader in the global economy, Metro Atlanta has to overcome a number of challenges. Transportation remains at the forefront of regional leaders’ minds, and it is imperative that the region works together to implement the newly formed ATL to expand and better coordinate transit options across municipality lines. Along with this comes a need to prepare for new innovations in transit technology, like autonomous vehicles and smart signals. Traffic challenges aren’t limited to commuter jams, either. Metro Atlanta’s total freight volume is projected to grow 76 percent by 2040, which means the current logistics infrastructure will be strained if investments aren’t made to improve efficiency. Fortunately the Georgia Ports Authority is currently
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spearheading efforts to improve rail links and create inland ports, and GDOT is planning a number of truck-only highway lanes. Workforce development and bridging the skills gap is another area the metro area is focusing on. More than half of the advertised jobs in Metro Atlanta require at least a bachelor’s degree, but only 35 percent of residents over age 25 meet that requirement. The ARC’s WorkSource Atlanta Regional provides a variety of services to ensure that businesses can recruit and maintain a skilled workforce. Learn4Life, another initiative supported by the ARC, is working to reverse longer-term skills shortages by addressing educational challenges in local communities. With increasing automation of the workforce, education and skills training are even more critical for workers trying to land jobs. “Along with economic development comes the need for talent development,” Kali Kirkham Boatright, president and CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, told Focus:. “This is what we’ve been focusing on as part of our new strategic plan, which we started implementing in early 2017. That continual focus on talent development as part of the larger picture is going to be more and more important.”
ECONOMY ANALYSIS
Housing affordability is perhaps the most pressing issue in the region, as the majority of neighborhoods in Metro Atlanta are not affordable for families earning less than $50,000 a year. Another challenge is that most of the region’s residents don’t live close to where they work. This translates to a large chunk of money spent on commuting costs every month. In fact, many Atlanta residents spend 63 percent of their pay on housing and transportation costs combined. Regional leaders are starting to take note. Sandy Springs leaders, for example, are encouraging developers to build more affordable housing near offices and MARTA stations. In addition, there are several efforts underway that deal with housing affordability either directly or as part of other initiatives, including the Transformation Alliance, the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum, the Atlanta Regional Housing Collaborative and the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing. Looking ahead While Atlanta has a long history of decentralized government and the accompanying challenges of getting things done across jurisdictional lines, the sentiment moving into 2019 is one of collaboration and commitment to setting aside differences in order to work together toward a common goal. Though the region faces many challenges, its leaders are tackling issues like transportation, affordable housing and workforce development head-on. While 2019 won’t bring immediate solutions, with regional initiatives like the ATL and the Aerotropolis in the works, Metro Atlanta is taking steps in the right direction to improve quality of life for all of its residents and solidify its place as a global leader.
Suburban Atlanta cities are redeveloping their downtowns to promote the live, work, play lifestyle.
Chris Clark President & CEO – Georgia Chamber of Commerce
We spend a lot of time talking about transit and transportation in Georgia, so we have some specific recommendations there. We’re asking our leaders to bolster economic mobility with diverse and thriving communities in order to maintain Georgia as a welcoming place to live, work and play. We want to be a talent epicenter and to attract talent from all over the world. We want to make sure we keep our international standing for global commerce and agriculture.
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Market voices: Mayors’ Corner
Rusty Paul
Mayor City of Sandy Spring
The Central Perimeter Market is probably the second most important — and some would argue the most important — business area in the state. The State of Georgia’s economic engine starts in Midtown and runs north to the Central Perimeter area. Sandy Springs sits in the center of that. We have more Fortune 500 companies per capita in Sandy Springs than any other city in the country. Even the parent company for the New York Stock Exchange is based in Sandy Springs. We are the second-largest city in Metro Atlanta and the sixth-largest city in the state, with Atlanta’s northern border at our southern border. In a lot of ways, we have a good symbiotic relationship with the City of Atlanta.
Our main highlight has to be the redevelopment of downtown. Previous mayors and city councils have been working for decades to figure out how to revitalize downtown, and last year it finally blossomed. We have a lot of restaurants and housing developments open around downtown; the private sector has really spurred growth. Alpharetta has been a city on the move for the last two decades because the fundamentals are here. The real estate market is strong, and we have good transportation, great schools, a high quality of life and a fantastic business environment. That has created a strong basis for growth.
Lori Henry
Mayor City of Roswell
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Jim Gilvin
Mayor City of Alpharetta
We’ve been somewhat insular in the past and not focused on attracting businesses, but I think that shift is happening now. It isn’t just one single development for Roswell; the whole city is open for business. We have not been communicating well outside of our city walls. Our focus right now is looking at what types of businesses we want to attract and how we are going to strategize that. One of the first baby steps is to redevelop our website with an economic development focus on it. Roswell will be much more attractive to the business and development community.
Real Estate: Atlanta’s real estate market is generally more affordable than other gateway cities like New York and San Francisco, making it an attractive proposition to investors. While supply is tight moving into 2019 and new construction is slowing down, the city continues to attract young professionals in droves thanks to its top-notch universities, booming job market and innovative tech scene, keeping the rental market profitable. Developers are turning to adaptive reuse, walkability and intown development to keep buyers coming to the table in 2019.
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Push and pull: Increased demand made for a cooler Atlanta real estate market in 2018, but there are still hot investments if you know where to look Housing prices have been on the rise in Atlanta every year since 2012, and that trend continued in 2017 and early 2018. In fact, according to the Case-Shiller index, property in Atlanta has appreciated by 69 percent since 2012, with an increase of 5.2 percent in 2017 alone. In late 2018 and 2019, experts predict that homes will not appreciate as much as they did in 2017, with an anticipated appreciation rate of about 3.7 percent. However, this slight decline in price increase will likely be offset by the fact that the supply of available homes will remain scarce while demand is expected to increase, as well as the fact that mortgage rates are likely to increase. The inventory of houses remains tight in Atlanta because the cost of new construction continues to increase, meaning that the rate of new development is failing to keep pace with the city’s swelling population. Many of the new residents inundating Atlanta’s real estate market are millennials attracted by the area’s unprecedented job growth in the lucrative tech sector, and they are increasingly choosing to buy rather than rent as rental rates continue to skyrocket. These factors have combined to result in a 2018 median listing price of $355,450 but a median sales price of $231,500.
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Intown investment Because decreasing appreciation, a scarce supply of homes, increased demand and rising mortgage rates have created a fairly neutral real estate market in 2018, investors need to be somewhat more selective when searching for opportunities in Atlanta. In general, experts seem to agree that investments in the Atlanta metro area are wiser than purchasing property in the suburbs. The city maintains its international pull, attracting businesses and workers from Georgia, across the U.S. and abroad for permanent opportunities and conferences. Many new residents are millennials drawn to Atlanta’s growing tech sector. In light of this, the hottest markets in Atlanta are likely to be intown neighborhoods with the kinds of hip identities and close-knit communities that appeal to millennials, including Reynoldstown, Grant Park, Hanover West and East Atlanta. Communities of this character that are adjacent to the BeltLine will be an even safer bet, as connectivity and ease of transportation continue to be important factors for homebuyers. “The intown market has completely recovered since the crash,” Bill Murray, president of the Atlanta ( )
REAL ESTATE INTERVIEW
Boutique Buckhead How the Loudermilk Companies is rising to the challenge of transforming old buildings into new development in the tight, defined and restricted Buckhead Village
Robert Loudermilk, Jr. President & CEO – The Loudermilk Companies
What are the unique challenges and opportunities of developing in the Buckhead Village area? For starters, Buckhead is a very defined area. It’s not expanding. It’s not like — and I don’t mean this in a negative way — Alpharetta or other areas where you can go and take the next plot of land, the next pasture. There is a limited amount of developable land because Buckhead is surrounded by neighborhoods, and you cannot encroach on the neighborhoods. There are certain zoning restrictions — height, density, parking, etc. — that the neighborhoods put on you in the village. That’s the challenge: developing in a very tight, defined, restricted area. There are good and bad aspects to that. This isn’t Midtown, and it’s not Downtown. This is a village. It’s limiting in that you can’t build 300 or 400 feet high; we’re restricted to 225 or 150 feet. That determines land prices, which are reflective of the density you can get on the properties. But the acreage is very expensive — $10 million per acre. The densities are restricted, but the rents are climbing. Our office, for example, would be the first building in the city where all rents are over $40 a foot. So that tells you about the value of real estate in this little submarket of Atlanta. Buckhead Village is growing and rents are growing, which allows you to build nice buildings. It’s a boutique market. What market trends are you seeing going forward? What we’re doing a lot here is shared parking. For example, we have the medical office building at 371 E. Paces Ferry Road. We’re looking at doing a hotel next door. And with the hotel, we won’t build any parking because we have a parking deck next door that the hotel can use at night, when the medical building isn’t in use. So you share the parking deck. That’s something we’re starting to do here in the village.
What is your outlook for the village and the city? We’ll see a continuing trend of folks moving into the city, to Buckhead, Midtown and Downtown. I think we’ll see a lot more housing coming to Downtown. Maybe some of these parking decks will be converted into multifamily housing. I think we’ll see more being built here in the village, even though some people say it’s built out. In my opinion, there’s still room for more housing and affordable housing. I think we’ll see a big push for affordable housing in these areas because it certainly isn’t affordable now. That said, it’s still affordable compared to other large cities — the Chicagos, the New Yorks, the Miamis. And you won’t see our company on the outskirts, in the suburbs. We’re here. We’re taking properties that have outlived their useful lives and transforming them into something that’s new, exciting and useful.
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REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
( ) Realtors Association, told Focus:. “For first-time homebuyers and millennials, work-play communities with walkability are important. The next area of growth will be around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is a part of the northwest side of the BeltLine that has not been developed yet. The area around Quarry Park will be a great space to develop. We’ve seen many developments like Avalon that are playing into the walkability trend of the housing market because now it’s empty nesters, first-home buyers and millennials who are looking for that lifestyle. Approximately 10 percent of undeveloped lots in the country are in Metro Atlanta.” As for the commercial and industrial markets, extremely positive growth trends in 2017 are poised to continue in the new year.
direct vacancy increased slightly, this is expected to be temporary, as 2 million square feet of deliveries completed in 2017 should start to fill with tenants. “Right now it’s tough to find product to buy,” John Davidson, Southeast regional president for Parmenter Realty Partners, told Focus:. “A lot of buildings are stabilized, and better buildings are modernized. There is not a lot of distress in the office market right now, which is generally where we find opportunity. To find opportunities we have to look at markets that are going to experience rental rate growth and anticipate that growth ahead of the market.” One of the biggest commercial real estate deals of the quarter was Northside Hospital’s 180,000-square-foot agreement at 1001 Perimeter Summit, which brought 400 jobs to Central Perimeter. Another major deal was Insight Global’s agreement to anchor Twelve24, a 16-story, 205,000-office building at the Dunwoody MARTA station. Buckhead had a strong investment sales performance, with Three Alliance closing at a record-breaking $534 per square foot. Creative office space also shows promise, with JPMorgan and Third & Urban’s Armour Yards project selling in Q1 and setting the pace for similar sales. “There is a large portion of creative office space being developed that brings a sense of authenticity,” Mike Sivewright, market director at Jones Lang LaSalle, told Focus:. “We have seen office occupiers show considerable interest in this office segment.”
Atlanta experienced positive net commercial property absorption of 357,357 square feet in Q1 2018.
Commercial boom The latest data on Atlanta’s commercial market is full of exciting news, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Q1 Office Insight Report. Atlanta experienced positive net commercial property absorption of 357,357 square feet during the first quarter of 2018 alone. A substantial contributor to this figure was the delivery of NCR’s Phase I, 485,000-square-foot development in Midtown. Overall commercial asking rents also continued to climb by more than 8 percent over the course of the past year, settling at a historic $26.28 per square foot by the end of the first quarter, while Urban Class A rates increased by 10.7 percent and finished the quarter at $32.00 per square foot. Although
Monetha Cobb Managing Director – Franklin Street Atlanta, like many other markets, is experiencing changes in the retail landscape, thus impacting how real estate development is executed. Today, retailers collect more data than ever before and are learning how to apply it to achieve greater sales. Atlanta is seeing more activity in all asset classes. There is mixed-use being transformed into suburban city centers, redevelopment of downtown Alpharetta, additional new residential and mixed-use projects in middle markets and the west side is securing interest from retailers and local communities. Atlanta is poised for significant continued growth.
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REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
Market voices: Commerical
Alex Chambers
Regional Vice President KDC Real Estate Development and Investments
We are lucky to have a disciplined market that has created a buffer should another recession approach. It has been not only capital driven but also developer driven, which has caused two things: 1) very little spec development and 2) a lot more build-to-suit development. When people look at moving large offices, if they want to control their own schedule and cannot afford to wait on other tenants filling up a proposed speculative building, they must go build-to-suit. We have been the beneficiary of that.
I think 2018 has been a good year of net positive absorption. The jobs are still coming, and as long as we still have significant creation of office absorbing jobs, we should continue to have net positive absorption because there’s not much new construction coming online. The amount of space that’s being absorbed will exceed the new product that’s coming to market. It’s good to have some new product coming because we all want ample space to bring in new employers and allow companies to grow. I think it has been a healthy, balanced year for rent growth, absorption and occupancy.
John O’Neill
Managing Principal Cushman & Wakefield
Jim Bacchetta
Vice President, Atlanta Division Head Highwoods Properties
We have colleagues who specialize in the tech sector, focusing on specific verticals like fintech. In this business it’s tempting to try to be everything to everybody, but the teams have stayed laser focused and enjoyed considerable year-over-year growth given their expertise. Capital markets has also been extremely active. Industrial and multifamily have been white hot, and office, land and retail have also remained strong. On the leasing side, industrial came roaring out of the gates in this bull run with record absorption, development and rental rate appreciation.
We are extremely fortunate here at CBRE to provide just about everything possible in terms of services in the real estate sphere, and I cannot think of a line that we offer that Atlanta is not providing in one of its submarkets. Our brokerage business is incredibly busy, and our investment sales, in terms of this office, are the largest for CBRE in the country for 2017. Multifamily and industrial have seen tremendous activity. In terms of development opportunity, Buckhead and Midtown are still full of opportunity, and we are bullish on the suburban markets around Atlanta. They are alive and well.
David Lanier
Senior Managing Director CBRE - Atlanta
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REAL ESTATE INTERVIEW
Old is new How Ackerman & Co. is taking note of the adaptive reuse trend, which turns old warehouses into creative new spaces, to capitalize on a tight real estate market
Kris Miller President – Ackerman & Co.
example of how the metro area is evolving and how a building that was once considered a plain, suburban warehouse 20 or 30 years ago is now a prime location, especially given its high visibility and street frontage.
How has the trend of repurposing industrial space for nontraditional uses affected the Atlanta market? Broadly speaking, there are many examples of how industrial space is being repurposed in our city. There’s a substantial amount of old warehouses being converted into creative office space in West Midtown. Stockyards, for example, is an adaptive-reuse of historic buildings redeveloped into 140,000-plus square feet of creative office and retail space. Users who are attracted to these building types are typically looking for a particular style or retro cool feel rather than just a typical office space, large or small. In other areas of town, investors are also redeveloping what were once traditional industrial warehouses. At our Stone Mountain Industrial Park, we recently sold a 105,000-square-foot warehouse facility that the owner is redeveloping into a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled, self-storage facility. This is a great
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Where is the Atlanta market in the real estate cycle? You can look at where we are in the cycle a couple of different ways. We might be in the ninth year of a very slow expansion that started in 2010, or we might be in the 18th month of what we might call a reset. It’s possible that between these two expansionary cycles there wasn’t necessarily a recession but rather a shift in dynamics. What’s most significant about this cycle are the current supply and demand fundamentals. The exceptional demand for product — and lack of overbuilding — has positioned Atlanta as a leading market for investors. I don’t remember a time in my 32-year career when the Atlanta market has been tighter. While we’ve been experiencing slow but steady growth for a long time, that growth has sped up in the last 18 months. Supply and demand has never been in better balance, and with users still aggressively seeking more space, we believe we are not as close to the end of the cycle as others have predicted. What about Atlanta attracts interests from investors? What’s bringing money to Atlanta is a balance of yield and stability. As a result, we’ve seen a number of highnet-worth European buyers investing with us and other commercial real estate firms in the metro area. While foreign capital and the most conservative capital have placed their money in perceived safe cities like New York, the diminishing yield in those markets has made investors feel inadequately compensated for their risk. Atlanta, on the other hand, with its ability to draw premier corporate headquarters and its growing economy, is perceived as a stable and increasingly global market.
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
“Connectivity is almost becoming a food group,” Kurt Hartman, managing director of Hines Southeast, told Focus:. “It’s a very dynamic environment, and connectivity is a centerpiece of it. It changes the way people work, and we’re trying to accommodate it. There’s a big convergence of residential, hospitality and office. Office buildings are embracing the offerings of modern-day apartments and hotels. They’re like resorts in most cases. They have social gathering areas. They are almost all co-working environments. It’s about the ability to connect anywhere, at anytime.” It is likely that the positive trends appearing in the first quarter of 2018 will continue. There are several tenants in the market for new space in Atlanta, which bodes well for the city’s commercial real estate market over the next few months. Two large developments, 4004 Perimeter Summit and 725 Ponce, are ready to accommodate these prospective tenants, with the former already delivered in the first quarter and the latter slated to be delivered in the fourth. “The Perimeter market is the largest commercial office market in the southeastern United States,” Ann Hanlon, executive director of the Perimeter CIDs, told Focus:. “It is a market that is still affordable in terms of housing and commercial space, and it offers fantastic geographic proximity. It’s a popular market now, and I think it will continue to be a popular market. Our job is to improve the built environment to make it a better place for everyone.” Another sign that commercial real estate will continue to boom in Atlanta for the remainder of 2018 is the fact that the city’s retail vacancy still stands at 8.5 percent, the lowest figure in 10 years, despite fears that retail real estate is an anachronism in the modern world of Amazon and other e-commerce giants. “E-commerce has made all of retail better,” Ray Uttenhove, executive vice president and market leader at SRS Real Estate Partners, told Focus:. “Retail has always been a sector that is always changing, and we have watched companies refuse to change and evolve with the market. They all end up dying slow deaths. Whether they are our clients or not, what we are seeing is a healthy, natural evolution.” Although several national retail chains have closed distribution centers and warehouses in the Atlanta area, retail space appears to be holding strong. “Ground-up development in Atlanta is hard because of land pricing and availability, zoning and permitting, so it’s a very tight market for someone looking for new space,” Scott Tiernan, senior vice president and market leader at SRS Real Estate Partners, told Focus:.
Tim Perry Chief Investment Officer North American Properties
What are some of the primary considerations for developers in Atlanta right now? Atlanta has been considered by some historically to be such a boom-bust real estate market that the most important factor was timing. However, in the past 10 years, Atlanta has really grown into its own, alongside all of the macrosocial and economic shifts in products, services and the personalization of our society. While there are still the cyclical questions of “What inning are we in?” I think the primary consideration is how to differentiate development/redevelopment and provide the sensory interaction that our guests demand, all the while facing rising construction costs and an income growth rate that is unable to keep pace. How is technology changing the industry? We see the use of technology everywhere around us, but the real estate industry can often be slow to integrate and respond. While historically technology has been seen as driving up costs, this is now an essential part of the IoT, which guests expect. This is also true on the construction side, where we have to find more efficient and costeffective ways to deliver the property. To address this, North American Properties is exploring everything from modular to panelized construction alternatives. What is your overall outlook for real estate development and investment in Atlanta? Atlanta is the capital of the South. Pick an industry — any industry — and you will find growth in Atlanta. All create jobs, which shows not only stability via diversity but also where growth is sustainable. There is no doubt that the world has changed in the past 10 years, as it did 10 years before that — and Atlanta is a contributor as much as a beneficiary of this. Our city’s greatest accomplishment might actually be that despite its being known as the poster child for sprawl and traffic, it is also now known for its high quality of life.
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Experts seem to agree that investments in the intown Atlanta neighborhoods are wiser than in the suburbs.
“While it seems like a lot of retailers are going out of business, the reality is this frees up opportunity for redevelopment and space for good, healthy, strong retailers that are trying to expand.” Bullish predictions Although the e-commerce boom has led many to become concerned about the future of retail space in Atlanta, the industrial real estate market has been booming right alongside e-commerce. In fact, 2017 saw the best finish for the industrial real estate sector in over a decade, leading experts to express optimism for 2018. “E-commerce is helping industrial a lot,” Gene Rice, founder and partner of Vantage Realty Partners, told Focus:. “Multifamily used to be the darling of the market, but it seems to be industrial now. Still, I don’t think retail is dead. I think boring retail is dead.” Vacancy of industrial real estate plummeted to 7.4 percent by the end of 2017, while at the same time net
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absorption skyrocketed to 18.7 million square feet. As vacancy decreases, industrial rents are increasing. The average asking rent is $4.83 per square foot in a triple net lease — a 15-year peak. “In Atlanta, industrial development and absorption are as high as they’ve ever been,” Chris Brown, senior vice president for the Southeast region at Duke Realty, told Focus:. “We are participating in that boom with a recently completed spec building and three buildings that will finish construction in the next couple of months. This roughly equates to 1.5 million square feet and $75 to $90 million in investment in Atlanta on top of our 12-million-square-foot portfolio.” In the specific category of warehouse properties, the outlook is similarly positive. Annual net absorption in the warehouse market continued its more than 10-million-square-foot trend in 2017 with a demand of 11.7 million square feet. The warehouse vacancy rate is also down to 7.6 percent from its historic height of 16.1 percent, despite the massive influx of over 46 million square feet of warehouse space since 2010. Finally, the average asking rate of warehouse space came in at $4.18 per square foot in 2017, an increase of 8.6 percent from 2016. “Cool millennial flex spaces are being created from the old warehouses in the Chattahoochee Industrial District which is becoming known as West Midtown,” Rick Spiller, partner at Wilson, Hull & Neal Real Estate, LLC, told Focus:. “There have been conversions happening over the last few years, and this trend will continue into the future. Developers are recognizing that people don’t necessarily want to go Downtown to the glass structures, where they have to deal with congestion and huge parking garages. Most conversions allow for free surface parking and outdoor amenities, which makes it easier to attract employees.” It isn’t just the warehouse market that is delivering a massive quantity of new space; new development of 43 general industrial and warehouse/distribution properties added 16.4 million square feet to Atlanta’s industrial real estate supply in 2017. 41.2 percent of these properties were pre-leased upon delivery. This impressive development showed no signs of stopping in 2018. Nearly 19 million square feet of additional industrial property are under development, and the market’s desire for new space is expected to continue, resulting in much of this real estate being snapped up quickly. Investment in Atlanta’s industrial real estate sector was also strong in 2017, with investments in the warehouse market coming in at nearly $1.5 billion. ( )
Market voices: Residential
Kevin Palmer
CEO PalmerHouse Properties
For Atlanta, the biggest challenge is inventory. The inventory levels in many price points are the lowest we have seen in many years. Homes in the price range of $500,000 or below are experiencing multiple offers. Sellers don’t want to sell because there’s nowhere for them to go yet. Inventory has been the biggest issue since the market recovered from the 2008-2012 crash. In April 2017, we were down about 24 or 25 percent in inventory for detached, single-family homes. For attached condos and townhomes, we were 11 or 12 percent below inventory available. Buyers are anxious to get a home, but there’s not the inventory there. The starter home has become so difficult to find, especially in town.
Atlanta does not have many accessible neighborhoods that have live-work-play walkability. As a city, we need to work on offering those amenities. We are seeing many of our properties close to suburban communities, ones that had been neglected for decades, receiving new attention. People may not want to spend the money to be in town, but they want to be close enough to town to take advantage of the amenities and have the suburban feel. We must make our neighborhoods accessible to walking and mass transit.
Dan Forsman
President & CEO Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties
Norman Radow
CEO The RADCO Companies
Barring some dramatic, unforeseen economic event, basic supply and demand is going to give us limited supply and more demand because so many people are moving here. It’s simple economics. The South is a great place to be, and in the South, Atlanta is the diamond. You can talk about any comparable cities around the South, but the reality of it is it doesn’t get any better than Atlanta with the movie industry, a diversified economy, change of climate, a pro-business environment, good hospitals and great schools. In my opinion, we are going to see steady demand. Can we build enough to keep up with it? Probably not, so prices are going to appreciate here faster than in other places, creating a tight market.
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Mark Spain CEO Mark Spain Real Estate
What makes the Atlanta real estate market so attractive to companies moving here? Atlanta has a diverse economy. We have the busiest airport in the world, and they’re continuing to improve it. Atlanta has live-work-play centers all over the metro area, and it is a community- and neighborhoodbased city, so companies aren’t necessarily looking at proximity to Downtown Atlanta anymore. Compared to cities like New York or Chicago, we have easy regulations and few barriers to growth. On top of that, unemployment is low, and we have an educated, diverse workforce. Companies can find workers for the warehouse, C-suite and everything in between. Everybody can enjoy a great life here. How are rising interest rates affecting your strategy going forward? If you look at sales across the country, they have started to slow down in certain markets. That hasn’t been the case in Atlanta yet. Rising interest rates have probably had some effect, but we can’t really see the data yet. Sales did slow a bit from August 2017 to 2018, but the real problem is that inventory continues to shrink. If rates rise above 6 or 7 percent, it’s going to have an impact, but right now borrowing is still so cheap and rents are so high that buying is the better option in Atlanta. What is your outlook for Atlanta real estate in 2019? I think 2019 will be a similar repeat of 2018, barring any kind of economy-changing event. If anything like that does happen, however, it affects us all. The only thing that would hinder growth and has been hindering it for years is the lack of affordable housing. The market has gotten hot, and now the problem is first-time homebuyers and median-income people can’t afford homes anymore. This is not healthy, but I’m hearing a lot of builders talking about retooling and coming back into this market with optionized housing.
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( ) Although this falls slightly short of the $2.2 billion investment peak in 2015, it was still the third-highest figure since the Great Recession — a clear sign of promise. In addition, Invest Atlanta is considering $23.67 million in bonds for two industrial projects near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Finally, more than 20 leases were signed in 2017 for industrial spaces of more than 200,000; in fact, three of these leases were for space larger than 1 million square feet. The vast majority of these deals — over 70 percent — were for property located near the airport and south Atlanta. The most exciting aspect of these leases is the fact that half of them were signed by tenants who are brand new to the market, indicating that Atlanta’s industrial sector remains strong and attractive to new tenants. The upshot of all this is that Atlanta’s industrial real estate market is likely to perform impressively in 2019. Nearly 20 million square feet of space is in development in 2018, and tenants continue to be attracted to the city and its booming tech sector. However, traditional industries are contributing to the market, as well. Settling down As mentioned earlier, Atlanta’s residential housing market is following a mostly neutral, but still affordable, trend. Housing prices in the Greater Atlanta area are expected to appreciate again in 2018, but at the modestly reduced rate of 3 to 5 percent. However, prices in Atlanta’s residential housing market are still increasing faster than the national average. Rents have been getting more expensive, too. A key factor contributing to this trend is Atlanta’s scarce inventory of residential real estate. The Great Recession of 2008 led to the nearly complete halt of new home development. Even today, developers have not returned to their pre-recession pace. On top of this, Atlanta’s population has swelled by more than 10 percent since 2010, due in part to a thriving tech sector bolstered by the presence of institutions like Emory University and Georgia Tech. As millennials flock to Atlanta to attend school and accept postgraduate jobs in the city, they increase the competition for the city’s residential property. This creates an environment of low supply and soaring demand. “As it relates to millennials and sale versus rental, my belief is that the market is moving in the for-sale product direction,” Rod Mullice, managing partner at Air Realty LLC, told Focus:. “The market is ready for millennials to start becoming buyers; there’s a ceiling on how much they’re willing to pay in rent.”
REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
Mortgage rates remained stable throughout 2017 at around 4 percent, but real estate industry data provider CoreLogic surveyed mortgage rate predictions and concluded that a 30-year fixed mortgage will have an average interest rate of 4.7 percent by December 2018. That amounts to a monthly payment increase of $41 for every $100,000 borrowed. However, it is simultaneously becoming a bit easier to qualify for a mortgage. Rates are definitely going up, and banks recognize that this will lead to a loss of mortgage and refinancing business. Banks are compensating for this by relaxing credit requirements and increasing their inventory of jumbo and low down payment loans. This increased ease of acquiring a mortgage will go a long way toward offsetting the increased rates. All of this means that Atlanta’s market hovers in the middle of being a buyer’s or seller’s market but remains remarkably affordable compared to similar cities around the country. For example, an annual income of only $43,000 per year enables one to purchase the average home in Atlanta, according to an HSH.com study that took into account average home price, anticipated mortgage rates and a down payment of 20 percent. Indeed, Atlanta was ranked as the 17th best city in which to buy rather than rent in a recent study by SmartAsset, thanks to average mortgage payments well below average rents. Certain neighborhoods in particular remain hot for investors, individual homebuyers and renters alike, thanks to factors like the character of the neighborhood and its proximity to Atlanta’s growing job centers. One such neighborhood is Grant Park, a residential area named after the city’s oldest park. Grant Park features both Victorian mansions and newer, more modest homes. The neighborhood enjoys both proximity to Downtown and its many amenities and tranquility. It is fairly costly to be a renter in the area, with a median rent of $1,300 per month, so more people opt to buy. Thanks to a median property value of $270,000, 55 percent of Grant Park residents are homeowners. 2018 is shaping up to be another great year to buy in Grant Park — whether as a primary residence or as a rental property investment. Another noteworthy neighborhood is Hanover West. With its enviable location along Peachtree Creek, its small population of only 3,000 people and its access to extensive entertainment and amenities, it’s easy to see why Hanover West was voted the best place to buy a house in the Atlanta area. However, in contrast to Grant Park, roughly three-quarters of Hanover West residents rent. A big reason for this is
Costa Alexiou CEO DRAPAC Capital Partners
We have quietly been buying future development sites in Downtown Atlanta since 2015, and our “back story” is especially unique. Our core business revolves around value investing, and so for many years we were acquiring distressed suburban land deals with our original HQ located in California. Because we invested heavily in the Southeast, we consolidated our operations to Atlanta and quickly identified an undervalued urban core with a lot of upside. Over the last 12 months specifically, we made a strategic decision to aggressively build our supply pipeline and now control close to seven acres in Atlanta, most recently buying 129 North Avenue and 50 Ivan Allen Boulevard, which are whole city blocks. When we first arrived in the U.S. in 2012, Atlanta had been hit hard and was really under the radar for international investors. It wasn’t until we were on the ground looking at investment opportunities that we got a sense of the historic strength of the city and the fact that the real estate crash only stunted its urbanization story. We are heavily data driven, with economic fundamentals and drivers positioning the city as an economic powerhouse, with more to come. These fundamentals, coupled with the soul and the character of Atlanta, have played a key role in the psychological shift in terms of attitude towards the city, both nationally and internationally. Our investments in Atlanta have not been made because of what the city may be today but because of what it will become. Naturally, our evolution and growth as a business coincides with the city’s growth over the past five years. We think Atlanta is going through a once-in-a-lifetime transition with the revitalization of the urban core, and the city is hungry for it. These events don’t happen quickly; they take time. Once it happens, though, they move with rapid pace. Because the foundations have been laid and the momentum is fierce, we believe that in the medium-term, Atlanta will no longer be considered a secondary market and will break away from other similar cities that will ultimately find it very difficult to compete. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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The hottest markets in Atlanta right now are those that appeal to millennials, most of whom are looking for a convenient live, work, play lifestyle and developments with attractive amenities.
that most of the people living in the neighborhood are millennial college graduates who can afford Atlanta’s lofty median rent and are not yet ready to settle down. With a median home value of only $220,000, a median rent of $1,100 per month and a metro area population that is expected to continue swelling with young professionals, Hanover West promises to be a great area to invest in rental property. Big returns The cost of rent in the city is rising three times faster than the overall national median, with Atlanta’s median rent now coming in at a dizzying $1,491. This might seem like bleak news if you’re a renter in Atlanta; after all, it certainly appears to be a much better time to buy than it is to rent. However, the influx of young professionals holding some of the many high-paying jobs available in the city means there is still a solid group of Atlanta residents willing to shell out the money to rent in one of the area’s premier neighborhoods. Therefore, there are still a lot of great investments to be made in rental properties in neighborhoods like Midtown, Buckhead, Sandy
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Springs, Clayton, West End and others that are in proximity to the sort of amenities renters demand. This goes for the less conventional subletting market, too. Atlanta ranks third on Rented.com’s 2017 list of the top Airbnb cash cows thanks to the wealth of affordable and desirable properties in the city, like the famous Treehouse, as well as the fact that the city is one of the country’s most visited each year. The commercial rental market is similarly high performance, with rental rates increasing, vacancy rates remaining low and new space continuing to hit the market in record amounts. As mentioned previously, over 19 million square feet of office space is set to be delivered in 2018, and several high-profile tenants are already being courted to fill these spaces. The strength of Atlanta’s commercial rental market is fueled by the steady influx of corporate tenants — including State Farm, Cox Communications and NCR, all of which moved in recently — attracted by Atlanta’s bullish economy and job market. And with Amazon nearly choosing Atlanta as the home of its HQ2, this is a great time, indeed, to invest in commercial real estate in the city.
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Bonneau Ansley CEO Ansley Atlanta Real Estate
Core investment Investment in Atlanta real estate remains a smart option, and not just because purchase prices are low and rents are high. Atlanta’s general economy continues to boom, with the nation’s eighth-largest GDP and one of the country’s biggest rosters of Fortune 500 headquarters, including Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A, Coca-Cola and Delta. The continued migration of these huge brands to Atlanta means there is an ever-increasing demand for commercial and residential space for the employees they hire. Atlanta also has the country’s busiest airport and a robust highway and rail infrastructure that makes it a major distribution center. In addition to the positive economic factors raising demand, Atlanta’s real estate supply is also low. Because this trend is expected to continue, Atlanta will remain a good place to sell real estate, notwithstanding the gradual tapering off of appreciation. “Even though Atlanta has been around for a long time, it is a fairly new city,” Kerry Armstrong, managing director/ development partner at Pope & Land, told Focus:. “As the city grows, it becomes more sophisticated in
What distinguishes your firm from others in Atlanta? I’m a real believer that you have to get uncomfortable to get anywhere in life. Ansley Atlanta went directly into a 6,000-square-foot space with four agents, and we were uncomfortable for a while until we were busting at the seams. After two and a half years, we moved into a 10,000-square-foot space in the heart of Buckhead with 120 agents. Now that we are close to capacity, we have just opened an Ansley North office to serve North Atlanta and are getting ready to open our third office in Midtown. We continue to attract top talent because we do things a little differently. For example, we have a chief people officer and chief motivation officer to make sure our agents are as happy and productive as possible. Also, to be good community partners, we give a percentage of every sale to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. We continue to set new records month after month in terms of what we sell. We want to attract and cultivate a diverse, highly successful, sophisticated team. How do you see Atlanta’s real estate market changing in the next few years? What’s great about Atlanta is there is a place for everybody. It is an unbelievable place for growth and innovation; that’s why you see so many companies moving their headquarters here. As far as talent and recruitment, there is a tremendous number of young people moving here just out of college, which is great for the huge number of apartments coming online and the soon-to-be-built more affordable condos. We are hoping to see more “For Sale” properties emerge as the “For Lease” properties fill up. Atlanta also has a tremendous number of baby boomers looking to downsize while young families want to move up, and those millennials and Generation Zs are ready to buy. There is a great flip coming.
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Sharon Henry President – Empire Board of Realtists With redevelopment around the Georgia Dome and inside I-285, we have to be careful not to price people out of the market. Gentrification is not necessarily bad, as long as money is recirculated back into the community. The problem is that many people are not covered and protected, like senior citizens who cannot afford the hike in taxes. Redevelopment is great, as long as it is done in a responsible manner. Affordability is a buzzword that gets thrown around, but it does not have true meaning as of now. Unfortunately not enough industry professionals and community leaders have reached out to us to talk about affordable housing, and these conversations need to take place with people connected closely with the community.
terms of infrastructure. We are given an opportunity to re-create Atlanta and enhance its value for potential investors. Atlanta is an amazing city.” After years of outward expansion, Atlanta’s city core is now taking center stage for urban commercial and residential development. According to market research conducted by JLL, in the past decade almost $4 billion in completed real estate investment has been made in Downtown Atlanta, and an additional $4 billion worth of development is either in the planning stages or under construction. Direct vacancy rates for Class A buildings in the area have fallen more than 2 percentage points in the last three years, to 18 percent, and lease rates have risen by $10 per square foot in that same period. In addition, since 2010 Downtown’s residential population has grown about 1.95 percent per year, reaching almost 60,000 residents in 2018. “The case for Downtown is very compelling,” David Marvin, founder and president of Legacy Ventures, told Focus:. “Why it isn’t fully realized yet has a lot to do with the herd mentality within the real estate and investor universe. There were pioneering developers of high-rise condos in Midtown and Buckhead whose success validated the high-rise, multifamily market in those areas and spurred a lot of additional
development. Downtown didn’t participate in that surge of development because investors view it to be fundamentally different from Midtown. In fact, Downtown is ripe to be picked because there are people who find Midtown too crowded or too expensive.”
Direct vacancy rates for Class A buildings in Downtown Atlanta have fallen more than 2 percentage points in the last three years.
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Emerging hotspots According to real estate site HotPads, the hottest neighborhood in Atlanta for real estate investment in 2018 is the upscale Peachtree Heights West. This prediction was made after looking for neighborhoods with “quickly rising rents and home values, few price cuts, and neighborhoods where there are an increasing number of rental page views” on HotPads. Peachtree Heights West topped these metrics, with 12 percent fewer price cuts on listed properties this year compared to 2017 — an indication of growing demand. Monthly rent in the neighborhood also averages $225 per month higher than in Atlanta overall, and home values should increase by at least 2 percent in the area by the end of 2018. The other top neighborhoods on HotPads’ list are Grove Park, Ormewood Park, Southwest, Old Fourth Ward, Venetian Hills, Greenbriar, Adair Park, Polar Rock and Midtown. “I chaired the Midtown Alliance and am in awe of what Midtown has become,” Daniel Dupree, CEO of Preferred Apartment Communities,
REAL ESTATE OVERVIEW
told Focus:. “It is the definition of live, work, play, and the park is an amazing asset.” Six of these neighborhoods have lower median rents than the overall city’s sky-high median, adding to their appeal. Four of them are also adjacent to the BeltLine, making them highly connected and accessible to the many commercial properties where residents want to work and shop. “Fulton County is my favorite,” Victor Bomi, CEO of ATLCO Real Estate Advisory & Investments, told Focus:. “If you look anywhere along the BeltLine, the real estate opportunity is there. Honestly, just about anywhere inside the 285 perimeter is still very hot, so it’s tough to miss in Atlanta at this point in the cycle. If you are talking about where the growth will continue, the opportunity is South Atlanta.” If you’re looking to live in Atlanta rather than invest, some affordable and well-equipped neighborhoods to choose from include Grant Park and Hanover West, as highlighted earlier, as well as walkable, communityminded neighborhoods like Westview, Scottdale, Riverside and Lake Claire that have similar amenities and attract similar residents.
Attainable housing Atlanta’s low-income housing market faces a somewhat uncertain future in the wake of the enactment of December 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This legislation reduced corporate taxes from 35 percent to 21 percent, which could have a substantial impact on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) — a vital means of providing affordable housing. Invest Atlanta’s COO, Dawn Luke, stated that the reduction to the corporate tax credit has caused LIHTC prices to fall by up to 16 percent in the near-term pipeline. This could result in low-income housing projects winding up on ice as developers search for funding. The result could be as many as 20,000 fewer affordable housing units becoming available per year. On the other hand, a positive point in affordable housing is the Westside Future Fund (WFF), which aims to develop a mixed-income community on Atlanta’s historic Westside. The area has long suffered from poverty and depopulation, but the proximity of Westside neighborhoods to the exploding job centers in Midtown and Downtown make them ripe for investment in the wake of unprecedented population growth. The WFF’s development efforts are fueled by a mix of public
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and philanthropic funds, with the goal of infusing the Westside with new residents without displacing current residents through spikes in real property taxes or rental rates. This project could have a substantial effect on the face of the Westside, and Atlanta as a whole, by maintaining affordable housing while simultaneously revitalizing the Westside. Invest Atlanta’s BeltLine Affordable Housing Trust Fund (BAHTF) is another source of funding for affordable housing projects, providing grants to nonprofit and for-profit developers offering affordable workforce housing rentals along the city’s BeltLine. In July 2018, Woda Cooper Companies and Parallel Housing broke ground on a $15 million, 91-unit project, dubbed Adair Court, with 85 percent (77 units) of its housing dedicated as affordable to lower-income Atlantans. The project was partially funded by a $500,000 loan from the BAHTF. In 2015 Atlanta started seeing its first micro-unit apartment complexes popping up across the city, offering sub-700 square feet of living space, some even as small as 300 square feet. These micro apartments keep costs down for developers as they can build more units and offer lower rents accessible to more people, allowing them to hit revenue-per-square-foot targets. These smaller, more affordable living spaces have been particularly popular among millennials. In September 2018, Pollack Shores Real Estate group announced plans to build 319 Class A apartments, including micro rentals of about 500 square feet, along the BeltLine’s future Southside Trail. The project is expected to deliver in the fall of 2019. “Affordable housing that meets the needs of people living inside the perimeter is probably the largest real estate challenge in Atlanta,” Shirley Gary, president and CEO of Engel & Völkers Buckhead Atlanta and Atlanta North Fulton, told Focus:. “Some of the ways we’re overcoming that is by creating smaller living spaces. It’s about compromise — deciding to live in a studio in a condo tower versus in a big single-family home. And tiny houses are being introduced. We’re about to have the first project here at E&V. Atlanta is ahead of the curve with the tiny house trend.” Tiny homes, ranging in size from 180 square feet to about 800 square feet, are gaining traction in intown
Atlanta neighborhoods like Inman Park and Old Fourth Ward, among others. In April 2018, the Atlanta Micro Home Tour highlighted eight unique small homes and accessory dwelling units in these areas, showcasing these creative and more affordable living solutions. Bright future Among the challenges facing Atlanta’s real estate market is the potential threat to low-income housing posed by 2017’s federal tax reform. This new legislation is already having an impact on the LIHTC and is forcing affordable housing developers to be creative when trying to fill the funding gap on projects. This could result in considerably fewer units becoming available in 2018 and in years to come. The continued shortage of available homes is another hurdle. Although houses are generally more affordable in Atlanta than elsewhere in the country, the scant supply might mean that it will take far longer to actually close sales. Because new construction continues to lag while population booms, this issue doesn’t show signs of subsiding anytime soon. Despite these challenges, overall the current trends point toward a positive outlook for the Atlanta real estate market in 2019 and beyond. “Atlanta is a very interesting city. We are a dynamic city with offerings in every sector, which makes it a great city to live in as well as to do business,” Tina McCall, CEO of CREW Atlanta, told Focus:. “We have such amazing talent coming out of our colleges and universities, and in order to retain that talent, we need to keep drawing in fantastic organizations.” The city continues to attract young professionals in droves thanks to its premier institutions of higher education, exploding job market and ever-growing list of Fortune 500 headquarters, and these residents can be relied on as a steady source of renters and homebuyers. This high demand is met with a low supply and rising mortgage rates, which somewhat offsets the gradual tapering off of appreciation that results from an overall neutral market. Homes are affordable to buy but somewhat expensive to rent. As for the commercial and industrial markets, both are expected to remain strong as a growing number of commercial tenants flock to Atlanta.
Tiny homes, ranging in size from 180 square feet to about 800 square feet, are gaining traction in intown Atlanta neighborhoods.
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Construction: Construction is booming in Atlanta, primarily due to the region’s population growth and new companies moving to the area to capitalize on its skilled workforce and low cost of operations. While retail construction is expected to slow in 2019, residential should remain strong thanks to a steady stream of millennials making the move from renting downtown to becoming first-time homebuyers. While rising costs remain a challenge, most in the industry are optimistic moving into the new year.
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Crane city: Atlanta’s construction companies saw revenues rise in 2018, thanks to skyrocketing demand bolstered by continued population growth By the end of 2017 and into early 2018, more than three-quarters of Atlanta’s construction companies saw revenues rise while more than half saw increased profits. The construction industry is strong, mainly because of skyrocketing demand that has overcome both the residential and commercial submarkets. Investment in Atlanta construction has reached an all-time high in the last five years, totaling $1.3 trillion in spending. Accelerated construction development in Metro Atlanta is being driven mainly by population growth and new companies moving into the area. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Metro Atlanta construction sector gained 11,400 jobs between April 2017 and August 2018, for a total of 1,324,000. The local 5.8 percent rate of job growth in the industry superseded the national rate of 3.8 percent, which signals accelerated development in the area. Building connectivity Infrastructure projects continue to play a critical role in Atlanta’s construction economy. In 2017, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
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oversaw a 532-contract construction portfolio valued at $4.8 billion, which included major interchange reconstructions in Atlanta. The agency also finalized preparations to launch an $11 billion congestion-relief program, called the Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP), along key freight and passenger corridors. Once complete, the projects are expected to lead to a 5 percent reduction in delay and travel time savings by the year 2030. Additionally, last year GDOT’s newly created public-private partnership division oversaw more than 70 design-build and design-build-finance projects, valued at more than $13 billion. With a current average of four bids per project, GDOT has been able to keep construction costs in check. Both the number of projects and the increase in jobs indicate a strong market, and it’s likely that the volume of projects in the state will only continue to increase. Contractors might also see GDOT apply early completion incentives on a case-by-case basis moving forward. In the zone In December 2017, the Midtown Alliance and the City of Atlanta Office of Zoning and Development passed ( )
CONSTRUCTION INTERVIEW
Diversification How DPR Construction is focusing on developing workforce talent through community parternships and diversifying its portfolio to stay busy in uncertain times
Chris Bontrager Business Unit Leader – DPR Construction - Atlanta How does DPR insert itself into the local community? We choose to focus mostly on youth, be it the Boys and Girls Club, CURE (childhood cancer) or the Cobb Center for Young Adults. We specifically focus on educating youth within disadvantaged communities about future careers in construction. DPR’s Build Up internship is a program that engages high school students in our office and on project sites, giving them a chance to really learn about our company and the industry. It’s a powerful tool that we hope will help with social mobility in our markets. The ability to skip traditional college and have a high-paying job in construction is easily attainable, and if someone wants to work with their hands, this is the best possible opportunity. What are the main challenges facing the construction industry in Atlanta? There is a distinct shortage of skilled labor, particularly in the mechanical, electrical and plumbing fields. During the recent recession, we lost a large amount of talent to retirement or to people moving to places like Texas that were less affected by the downturn. There was also the problem of kids choosing not to pursue a career in construction or real estate during the downturn, so there is an eight- to 10-year gap of college graduates coming into the business we are trying to fill. As a result, recent grads are being asked to do things earlier in their careers, putting pressure on the individuals and the business. Strategically, DPR is a self-performing general contractor, which allows us to provide more predictable outcomes for quality, adherence to schedule and budgets because we employ and develop our own workforce talent. What is Atlanta’s current position in the economic cycle? The factor affecting real estate the most is uncertainty. I don’t think anyone you speak with is going to say they
know for sure what is going to happen over the next year as we face tariffs and trade wars. Atlanta is well positioned in the national marketplace. Our relatively low cost of real estate and cost of living is attractive to employees and employers. We have many young professionals and talent coming into the local industry from our universities and easy access to do business with Hartsfield-Jackson. We are seeing the multifamily projects slow, but office is strong, as are healthcare, data centers and distribution centers. We’ve made a concerted effort to diversify our portfolio, so we are extremely busy, but it is becoming more difficult to project further out than it has been the past few years. Capitalism will take its course, projects will slow down, construction costs will lower and we will be ready should an economic slowdown occur. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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Nancy Juneau CEO Juneau Construction
What are your thoughts on the rapid growth of multifamily developments around Atlanta? It has been really surprising to us that it’s gone on for so long. If you think about it from an economic perspective, we’re in the longest recovery period and still haven’t hit a downturn. We think 2019 is going to be strong, and then after that it’s more uncertain. Our clients still have funding available and what they believe are good, strong partners to make projects work. We are seeing development push out to the periphery, which we love. Those are areas that need options for rentals, and they haven’t had new product in years. We don’t see that slowing down on the multifamily side. Higher ed has also always been a huge market for us over the years, and that includes oncampus housing and dorms, both new and renovations. What kind of impact does being female-owned have on the company and the industry in Atlanta? When my husband and I started this company, the advice we received from everybody was: You should think about being female owned as it’s so different than your competitors. So we went out and chased all kinds of deals using our newfound status and won zero of them. We instead used strong relationships that we had both formed with previous firms and used those to win projects. That got our momentum going, but our growth was organic. We built this company based on our performance on projects, hiring the best employees and the strength of our referrals and reputation, not on the fact that a woman is the majority owner. How are you addressing the labor challenges? Technical colleges are leading the charge on the skilled labor side of things by removing negative connotations and designing specific programs to get young people excited about this industry. Not everyone needs a fouryear degree to make great money and have a successful career in construction.
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( ) a number of new zoning policies designed to promote walkability in Midtown. These include a reduction in parking ratios; floor area ratio (FAR) incentives available with the addition of more affordable housing, public art and public park space; and new street designations dictating permitted active use. Though these changes are likely to increase rental rates as construction costs rise to capitalize on available FAR incentives, they will no doubt also increase Midtown’s desirability for tenants. In January 2018, Atlanta became the first city in Georgia to adopt inclusionary zoning ordinances. Essentially, these ordinances mandate the development of workforce housing, meaning developers must dedicate a certain portion of units to Atlantans who make between 60 and 80 percent of the region’s median income. This is part of a larger effort to enhance the quality of life for all Atlanta residents by bringing together people of diverse ages, incomes and races on a daily basis. The new zoning ordinances apply to the BeltLine and Westside Overlay Districts, as well as to any new rental multifamily development of 10 or more residential units in one location. The city offers developers and builders a variety of incentives to choose from in order to help offset the future reduction of net operating incomes. In May 2018, the Atlanta City Council approved an amendment to the city’s zoning laws allowing “accessory dwellings units.” The amendment affects R-5 (two-family residential) zoning and includes areas in Grant Park, Old Fourth Ward, Edgewood, Candler Park and Inman Park. This opens the door to the tiny house trend in Atlanta, as these dwellings count as accessory units as long as they remain under 750 feet and include their own kitchens. While these new zoning laws allow for tiny houses as satellites to main residences, they do not allow for standalone tiny houses on their own lots. Lending landscape In the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank’s 2018 Construction and Real Estate Survey, the majority of builders reported that the amount of credit available for construction and development was not sufficient to meet demand. The difficulty in obtaining bank loans — a traditional source of funding for small developers — has made it challenging for developers to convert raw land into buildable lots. However, for many Georgia banks, construction lending remains the highest growth portfolio in 2018. According to the Atlanta Fed’s data, construction lending is indeed growing, but at a controlled rate and starting from a relatively low level following the 2005 banking
CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
Midtown is seeing a large increase in the number of apartment and condo towers.
downturn. Most of this growth is fueled by commercial real estate projects and vertical residential construction — or the actual building of homes. Atlanta has seen a number of large construction loans in 2018. In January, Portman Holdings secured $150 million in financing for the 21-story, 352,000-squarefoot Anthem Technology Center in Atlanta’s Tech Square. PCCP contributed equity financing while SunTrust acted as the lead lender. In March, Dezhu US, an Atlanta-based subsidiary of a prominent Chinese developer, landed a $6 million loan from BridgeInvest,
a private real estate lender, to finance construction on Juniper and 5th, a five-story, 150-condominium development on 1.8 acres in Midtown. Dezhu plans to debut the project by the end of 2019. That same month, Arriba Capital provided a $40.7 million construction loan for a 194-room, dual-branded Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites and Towneplace Suites in Midtown, while Atlanta developer Songy Highroads LLC and Hyatt Hotels Corp closed on a a $32.9 million construction loan for Hyatt Place Centennial Park, an 11-story, 175room hotel in Downtown.
G. Niles Bolton Chairman & CEO – Niles Bolton Associates
It was 42 years ago that I moved my office to Buckhead. I have moved two blocks in all that time. I’ve been here so long that my views are changing just because our trees are getting taller. Of course, there has been a lot of development, too. The overall building trend is to the high-rise. Citywide, because we aren’t limited by bodies of water, we’re able to grow in all directions. Development is coming to every area of the city that’s centrally located. We’ve been much slower to get into the redevelopment of the Westside and the Southside and some of the industrial areas. But we’re seeing a lot of exciting neighborhoods that people can get into where housing is still affordable. .
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CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
High demand According to Forbes, the Metro Atlanta area is among the 20 best housing markets for investment in 2018. Construction demand has steadily increased due to a 5 percent, three-year population growth and 5 percent, two-year job growth in the area. Forbes forecasts a three-year price growth of 24 percent for Atlantaarea homes and identified a 7 percent undervaluation of residential properties compared to the historic ratio of price to local income. According to a MetroStudy report, in Q1 2018 the Atlanta housing market showed that Atlanta’s quarterly construction starts numbered 5,575 metrowide — an increase of only .4 percent from Q1 2017. Quarterly new home closings ending in Q1 2018 totaled 5,240, increasing by 11 percent from Q1 2017. Annual new home starts are up 10 percent year-over-year to 24,251, while annual closings are up 9 percent to 22,727. While population increases continue to drive up demand, residential inventory has hit record lows in the Metro Atlanta area. In March 2018, singlefamily home resale inventory dropped by 25 percent year-over-year and remains extremely low, at only 2.2 months’ supply. A few factors can explain this dwindling supply. According to MetroStudy, only 97,700 single-family permits have been pulled and
even fewer actual construction starts (95,500) have occured in the past five years. During this same time period, Atlanta’s population grew by more than 450,000 new residents, and the job market created and filled nearly 400,000 new positions. It is no wonder demand is going up. General residential inventory in Metro Atlanta was at 1.8 months’ supply in April 2018, whereas six or seven months’ supply is viewed as a balanced market. This combination of low supply and high demand has pushed prices to an alltime high. Both new and resale prices have been on the rise in the Atlanta region, increasing on average by about 5 percent per year for the past five years. From 2017 to 2018 alone, average sales prices have increased by 8 percent compared to the national average of 4.9 percent. There has also been an increasing gap in price between new homes and resale homes, which addresses the need to focus on more affordable housing options for Atlanta residents. Rents are rising as well, at a pace three times faster than the national median. The difference between single-family and multifamily residential construction, however, is that the multifamily sector currently faces a slightly oversaturated supply of
In Q1 2018 the Atlanta housing market showed that Atlanta’s quarterly construction starts numbered 5,575 metrowide.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
inventory. Vacancies increased by approximately 10 basis points in Q4 2017 simply because supply outpaced demand. New multifamily construction totaled 43,769 units in the quarter, raising the year-end total to 213,802 units. The average asking rent grew 0.4 percent that quarter, and effective rents (which net out landlord concessions) grew 0.3 percent. Atlanta currently ranks number seven among the top markets for most planned multifamily units, with 8,691. The city ranks fifth for number of units under construction, with 24,276. The good news is that even if supply continues to increase, the metro area’s steady job growth should maintain equally steady demand for new apartments in 2018 and beyond. Trendy homes With millennials fast becoming the largest homebuying population in the country, sustainability and technology have been key factors in the development of new residential properties. Specifically, green housing and “smart homes” are growing trends. By incorporating energy-efficient innovations and smart technology into homes, builders are lowering heating and cooling bills for buyers, as well as allowing them to remotely turn off lights and adjust thermostats via smartphone apps. Atlanta is currently poised to see its first “Smart Neighborhood” on the Upper Westside. When complete, Altus at the Quarter — a partnership between Georgia Power and PulteGroup — will be a large development flaunting the latest in energy technologies. Construction is underway on the first phase of the project, featuring 46 smart townhomes, but at the time of print a completion date had not yet been announced. Another demographic that is driving demand for new construction is the 55-and-up age group. These active older residents are willing to sacrifice square footage for maintenance-free living, including sleek, modern finishes and living space concentrated on the main floor. Commercial and industrial Atlanta’s industrial construction sector had an impressive 2017. The city delivered its largest amount of commercial construction on record, with 17.6 million completed square feet. A large volume of new inventory continues to be added in 2018. The first quarter alone broke records with the delivery of 7.1
Steven DeFrancis CEO Cortland Partners
What are the benefits of being headquartered in Atlanta as a multinational company? The reasons it makes sense to be headquartered here as a business are some of the same reasons people choose to live in Atlanta. The business climate is incredible, and there are great sources of human capital in the city. As a multinational company, the airport has a huge impact on us as well. All the design work for CASK Industries, our manufacturer and wholesale supplier subsidiary, happens here in Atlanta. But the manufacturing is done in Asia, so to be able to fly to our offices in Shanghai or London — or anywhere else in the world, for that matter — is hugely valuable. Not only do we have easy access to the rest of the world, but the rest of the world has easy access to us. That accessibility, combined with the human capital and cost of living, makes Atlanta the perfect city for us. How does affordable housing fit in with your business plan? This business started in the affordable housing space. Our only focus for the first nine years or so was to develop ground-up, programmatically affordable housing. While that’s no longer our focus, I’m proud of the apartment communities we developed in our early days. In Atlanta, people think we have an affordable housing problem, but what we really have is a zoning problem. If every piece of real estate in Metro Atlanta was zoned for twice the square footage that it is today, we would solve the affordable housing problem overnight. We just can’t get the density we need anywhere but in Midtown, and that is not conducive to creating the kind of new development we need to alleviate affordability pressures in Atlanta. The Atlanta market continues to grow. We have a lot of new product coming into the city, and there are still a lot of new people moving here. We want to continue to contribute to the growth of Atlanta.
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CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
Keith Hurand Division President – Century Communities
With the expected continued population growth, we look closely at infrastructure, as well as where roads, public utilities and schools are located. Drive times to employment centers, retail centers and services are also important. With rising interest rates, construction costs and land prices, we will focus even more on providing homes that people can still afford in the areas they want to live. We have to become more efficient and more innovative while providing an unparalleled customer experience that will result in another differentiator.
million square feet of new industrial construction, which equals almost 50 percent of new construction for the entire year in 2017. “Development on the Westside is much more sophisticated now than it was 20 years ago,” Arnie Silverman, president of Silverman Construction Program Management, told Focus:. “It used to be a bunch of old warehouses. I happen to like my real estate development in existing buildings, like old factories. I think it’s great space. The renovation and the creativity required is more sophisticated.” Metro Atlanta’s office market also ended 2017 with a healthy outlook for 2018. Deliveries surpassed 2 million square feet — the highest number since 2002 — by the end of the year with the completion of anticipated office projects such as Comcast’s new primary technology hub, Stockyards and One Ballpark Center. Demand continues to increase as more large companies move to Atlanta to capitalize on its growth as a businesses and technology hub. The retail sector ended 2017 with 1.27 million completed square feet of deliveries and 850,000 under construction. Despite concerns over a retail downturn, not everybody is convinced that traditional malls are dead. “Experiential retail” is the buzz phrase driving renewed enthusiasm for brick-and-mortar stores, and it is certainly fueling the increased development of retail locations in Atlanta.
Some current major commercial projects include the Pullman Yard redevelopment, a $125 million mixeduse project that was approved for nearly $6 million in tax breaks in February 2018. An Invest Atlanta analysis estimated that the development project will create about 260 jobs — including construction jobs — with an average wage of about $65,000. In March 2018, plans were unveiled for a new MatLife mixed-use building in West Peachtree, with more than 500,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail.
The retail sector ended 2017 with 1.27 million completed square feet of deliveries and 850,000 under construction.
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Megaprojects Midtown development has surged and made headlines in terms of major ongoing construction projects in the Atlanta area during 2018. The list of projects in the 1.2-square-mile Midtown Improvement District is vast and includes both major commercial and residential developments. One of these developments is Ascent Midtown by Greystar, the largest new construction development in the area in 17 years. This two-tower construction of 300 apartments and nearly 180 hotel rooms has provided many opportunities, both for investment and employment. Atlanta’s tallest residential structure is also set to begin construction in Midtown in 2018. The 688-foothigh, 53-story No.2 Opus Place by developer Olympia Heights Management is scheduled to finish( )
CONSTRUCTION INTERVIEW
Responsible homes How PulteGroup is making affordability a priority with the Centex brand and pursuing sustainable building practices through a partnership with Georgia Power
Will Cutler Georgia Division President – PulteGroup
How is PulteGroup helping to address the lack of affordable housing in the region? We’re really excited to reintroduce the Centex brand in Metro Atlanta. It has not been a part of this market for about six years or so. Our newest community in south Fulton County, Princeton Village, is opening up as we speak. Centex is focused on the first-time buyer who is very conscious about price point. Many first-time buyers walk through the front door and truly don’t understand what it means to be able to buy a house. Can they afford it? That’s where the strength of the Centex brand comes into play. A lot of teachers and police officers have a hard time finding affordable homes in the Atlanta market right now, so we think it’s important to make sure that we focus on delivering a quality home that is consumer inspired to that buyer. We’re excited to bring that into this market again. Can you tell us about your partnership with Georgia Power? We have a long history of focusing on sustainability and determining how we can bring to market the latest technology and most current consumerinspired designs. Our partnership with Georgia Power to develop Atlanta’s first Smart Neighborhood reflects both companies’ strong interest to figure out how to provide more sustainability and energy efficiency within the communities we serve. The development, Altus at the Quarter, will allow us to provide rooftop solar installations and in-home battery energy storage in the event that power goes out, as well as the latest energy efficient technologies related to insulation, heating and cooling systems and LED lighting. The feedback and response from the local population has been outstanding.
How has the skilled labor shortage affected PulteGroup? Skilled labor is important to our industry. We all understand that there are limitations on trade capacity right now, so we need to be mindful of that. Atlanta is a wonderful place to be, which also means that there is heavy competition to find skilled labor. Our size and presence helps us in that regard because most will want to work with us. But we need to continue to make sure that we remain competitive and that our workers feel good about partnering with us. There is no question that the local homebuilding industry recognizes the need to find better ways to inform college and high school-age kids that there are options such as vocational school and that the homebuilding industry offers a great possibility for a career in the building trades. You can earn an excellent living in the trade and construction industry. We just have to figure out how to make sure that the younger generation understands that.
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CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
( ) construction in 2020 and will cost a whopping $12 million — raising the bar for Atlanta real estate. With prices in Midtown soaring due to the recent development boom, many investors are looking southward towards Downtown. As of March 2018, approximately 12 projects were currently under construction, with 30 other projects proposed. These projects have the capacity to transform the city’s urban core. One of the largest projects is The Stitch, a billion-dollar Downtown development that would include an impressive skyline of new high-rises surrounding a three-acre park. The overall vision for the project is to “stitch” together the Downtown area with a total of 14 acres of urban greenspace in order to improve walkability and overall quality of life for residents and commuters alike.
Outlook Survey reported that 87 percent of companies surveyed said that recruiting and training qualified individuals was their biggest business challenge. The good news is that the number of companies reporting a labor shortage seems to be decreasing. The recently published 2018 Georgia Construction Outlook Survey reported that only 55 percent of respondents reported labor shortages as their top concern, compared to the 87 percent reported the year prior. Nevertheless, the new year shows no signs of construction slowing down. According to ConstructConnect’s construction starts forecast, 2018 expects a 4.8 percent increase to $773.1 billion. Specifically, commercial construction is expected to have a 12.4 percent increase in starts next year with conservative growth through 2021. A projected slowdown is expected in retail construction, simply due to the overwhelming popularity of online shopping versus brick-and-mortar stores. Residential construction, especially singlefamily construction, should remain strong in 2018 due to the influx of millennials making the move from living in downtown metropolitan areas to becoming first-time homeowners.
Commercial construction is expected to have a 12.4 percent increase in starts next year with conservative growth through 2021.
Looking ahead While demand is strong, the one obstacle that Atlanta construction firms appear to face the most is a labor shortage. While demand for real estate in Atlanta is increasing due to the influx of young entrepreneurs, the labor pool for construction companies is continuously shrinking. In fact, a 2017 Georgia Construction
Bill Bland Senior Vice President – Choate Construction
Choate has been on the forefront of the virtual design and construction (VDC) movement, long before it was in vogue. Our director of virtual construction leads these efforts. Today, we’re way beyond simple models and clash detection; VDC is a multifaceted process that combines digital layouts with 4D scheduling, 3D laser scanning and a host of other applications. From the start of a project, we are able to reduce uncertainty, proactively plan for constructability, streamline communication and maximize coordination. We can preemptively model a project from site to structure, as well as assess conditions in an existing structure down to the 1/100th of an inch. This allows us to develop a virtual model of the space to better design and construct to actual circumstances. Our team of FAAlicensed drone pilots also gathers real-time data, providing a safe way to inspect even the most precarious spots in a building.
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CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
Cost of doing business: With tariff wars heating up and labor shortages continuing, construction costs are rising steadily across the Metro Atlanta area In April 2018, the costs of goods used in construction rose at the fastest year-over-year rate since 2011, shooting up 1 percent in that month alone and 6.4 percent over 12 months. Meanwhile, the producer price index for nonresidential construction — or what a contractor would charge to build a mix of nonresidential buildings such as schools, office buildings or hospitals — increased 1.1 percent in April and 4.2 percent year-over-year. With construction costs rising 6.4 percent and contractor prices rising 4.2 percent over the same time period, there’s a clear and ominous gap between what builders are paying and what they’re being paid. In May, prices accelerated yet again, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. This included sharp increases for a wide variety of road and building materials, with many of them subject to tariffs that are driving prices even higher. Following the Trump administration’s June 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs on U.S. allies, materials prices continue to rise and the gap continues to widen. To combat this imbalance, contractors will be forced to charge more, which could potentially discourage
or delay new infrastructure and development projects nationwide. There’s also concern that rising construction costs could undermine the benefits of December’s tax reform. Rather than investing tax savings into new employees and equipment, many construction firms are being forced to use them to cover the increasing costs of materials. Even before the tariffs, Atlanta construction firms were struggling to find skilled labor, often paying more to get the help they needed. As a result, the cost of building was already on the rise — nearly 3 to 4 percent every year. “The upward pressure on construction costs is affecting all of my markets,” Mark Yacovetta, director of Asset Management at Accesso Partners, told Focus:. “Right now I don’t see anything that is going to make that change in the near future. We do tenant improvement buildouts and use the same laborers on multifamily and retail developments. It’s all part of the same labor pool. Tenants do not like to put their own money into the build-out of the space, so we have had to get more creative with our plans for labor and preparing the space.”
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CONSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
Keith Johnson Regional President Brasfield & Gorrie
How well does the local workforce meet Brasfield & Gorrie’s needs? One strength of Atlanta’s construction market is the quality of subcontractors here. When you have a recession, there’s a dispersion of people who move out of the construction industry. Then you hit the upswing and you suddenly need those people again. Everybody has been feeling that need, particularly when Mercedes-Benz Stadium and SunTrust Park were under construction at the same time. That was a tough labor market, and everybody wondered what would happen when those projects ended. The workforce was somewhat rebuilt, and then we all worried things would slow down, but it never stopped. Workers have remained busy, and the labor pool is scarce. It’s really hard to find talent for skilled and non-skilled labor, and subsequently wages continue to increase. It used to be that if Atlanta was super busy, you could hire folks from the two- or three-hour radius around Atlanta to fill those gaps. Now all those cities are busy, too, so it’s increasingly difficult to pull from those areas as well. There’s a real constriction of availability. What has been the impact of the tariffs on the local construction industry? When the tariffs were first announced, the sub market reacted swiftly and started waving the flag that prices were going up. That didn’t really stick because 30 days later, nobody knew what the tariff was or who it was going to affect. Things settled down for maybe the next 60 days or so. Recently, now that the tariffs have become more definitive, we’re starting to understand how they’re going to affect the products coming into the construction industry but don’t quite have a good handle on the actual effect on the percentage of increase on the materials. I can say that I’ve never seen this many large prospective projects out there at one time. Every developer in town has something going on that’s significant.
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With tariffs on many construction materials, costs are on the rise in Metro Atlanta and across the country.
With this increased need for skilled workers, the State of Georgia has allocated funds to make sure that everyone who wants to learn a trade has the means to do it. In January 2018, a state initiative went into effect ensuring that students who opt for highdemand careers will earn a decent living without the burden of student loans or other educational debt. The Hope Career Grant offers full tuition at state technical colleges for students preparing for certain targeted occupations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most construction jobs in Georgia pay between $30,000 and $75,000 annually, and the state’s construction industry needs about 15,000 new workers every year — about half of them in Metro Atlanta. Despite the many challenges pushing construction costs higher, major projects in Atlanta — like the NCR headquarters and the Northside Medical Office tower — are proof that the metro area’s construction industry continues to boom.
Aviation & Logistics: While passenger traffic experienced a miniscule drop in 2017, Hartsfield-Jackson remained the busiest airport in the world by a margin of millions. Atlanta’s aviation industry continues to be a huge economic driver for the region, supporting thousands of jobs, generating enormous revenue and providing unparalleled connectivity to the world. From its roots as a railroad terminus, Atlanta is also swiftly evolving into a premier supply chain city, supporting a thriving logistics industry.
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Aviation & Logistics in numbers: ATL passengers by carrier (September 2018):
6,226,296
893,038
Delta
Other
8,378,835 TOTAL
772,370 Southwest
189,809 Spirit
95,275 Express Jet
202,047 American Source: ATL
Top 10 exports from Georgia (2017): Commodity
Total value
% of total Georgia exports
Aircraft including engines, parts
$5.8 billion
15.7 %
Gas turbine parts
$1.3 billion
3.6 %
Mid-sized automobiles (piston engine)
$1.2 billion
3.2 %
Chemical woodpulp (coniferous)
$1.1 billion
2.9 %
Frozen poultry (cuts, offal)
$825 million
2.2 %
Uncoated Kraft paper, paperboard
$764 million
2.1 %
Large aircraft
$583 million
1.6 %
Modems, similar reception/transmission devices
$520 million
1.4 %
Natural gas (liquid)
$519 million
1.4 %
Kaolin, kaolinic clays
$479 million
1.3 %
Source: World’s Top Exports
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Economic engine: Hartsfield-Jackson is the jewel in Atlanta’s economic crown, connecting Georgia to the world and supporting local business Atlanta’s aviation industry is a massive contributor to the state and local economy and supports the growth of numerous related sectors. The shining jewel in Georgia’s economic crown is the bustling Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which is recognized as the busiest and most efficient airport in the world. ATL is also the largest single employer in all of Georgia. In addition to its direct economic and employment impacts, ATL helps to make Georgia a destination for millions of individuals and thousands of businesses. The airport is the primary hub of Delta Airlines and offers nonstop service to approximately 150 domestic and 70 international destinations. ATL’s world-class shopping and dining options serve to accommodate the needs of the more than 100 million passengers who pass through it each year. The airport even features regularly updated art exhibits and musical performances to enhance the terminal’s aesthetic appeal. From the cargo perspective, ATL accommodates a total of 200 domestic and international freight-forwarders and moves more than 1,800 metric tons of cargo every day. The commercial importance of the airport only promises to increase upon the launch of the Aerotropolis
Atlanta development plan. Aerotropolis Atlanta is a comprehensive vision to reshape Atlanta’s Southside by attracting investment to the area around ATL through strategic long-term development. The plan is expected to attract countless businesses to Metro Atlanta and was part of the city’s bid for Amazon’s coveted HQ2. Of course, ATL isn’t Georgia’s only airport. The metro area is also home to such prominent terminals as Fulton County Airport, Cobb County Airport, DeKalbPeachtree Airport and Atlanta Regional Airport. Together, these airports make the Atlanta region a dominant force in aviation. Economic engine Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is the busiest and most efficient airport in the world, according to the Airports Council International and the Air Transport Research Society, respectively. 103.9 million passengers traveled through the busy terminal in 2017, and ATL is still the only airport on earth to serve 100 million passengers in a single year. One of the major contributors to ATL’s success is the fact that 80 percent of the U.S. population is located within a two-hour flight of
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Alex Marren Senior Vice President & President ABM Aviation
What is your experience as a woman working in traditionally male operational roles? I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with many great leaders over the years, and to be a successful leader in any business, gender really doesn’t — and shouldn’t — matter. It’s about building relationships, taking risks and sometimes putting yourself out there on the line and learning from the experience. At ABM we look at continuing to drive diversity and inclusion in our company. We should never walk past an opportunity to encourage all leaders, but women leaders especially should be encouraged to feel comfortable in taking the next step in their careers. I’m also very proud to be a sponsor of AWESOME: Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply chain Operations Management and Education. This is a group of about 1,000 mid-level managers and above in the space of supply chain operations, management and education. It’s a terrific network. What role does technology play in your operations? Technology plays a very exciting role. We are launching internal initiatives enterprise-wide in terms of upgrading our financial systems, our HR systems and our payroll systems to make the administrative process easier and more efficient on the back end and better, ultimately, for our front-line employees and managers. We also are evolving our technology for our clients such as introducing the next generation of Auto Dispatch, which we use in our wheelchair line of service. As you know, airline schedules are very dynamic, and we try to make sure we have our people ready and waiting to take care of customers as soon as the aircraft lands. Auto Dispatch helps with that. We also partner with Hartsfield-Jackson on projects like Smart Clean and Smart Equipment. If you ever have an opportunity to go by the restrooms near Concourse B23, you will see technology in action. These kinds of things enable Hartsfield-Jackson to be rated one of the top airports in the world.
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Atlanta, making it an excellent hub. It is also the home of the massive Delta Airlines, which is a substantial driver of air traffic to ATL. In addition to its 150 domestic destinations, ATL also offers nonstop flights to 70 international hubs in more than 50 countries. The four busiest international routes out of Atlanta are Cancún, Mexico; Paris, France; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Mexico City, Mexico. ATL also handles a massive quantity of cargo. The airport is currently home to three air cargo complexes (north, midfield and south), a perishables complex and a USDA-propagated plant inspection station. This amounts to 1.3 million square feet of warehouse space on airport property, and there are 28 parking places reserved for cargo aircraft. These extensive facilities allowed ATL to conduct $47.1 billion in total trade during 2017. This tremendous volume of passenger and cargo air traffic is a boon to Metro Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia. The economic impact of ATL on Metro Atlanta alone is valued at $34.8 billion, and the economic impact on the state is roughly double that, at $70.9 billion. ATL also employs more than 63,000 people onsite, making it Georgia’s largest employer. “Hartsfield-Jackson is the economic driver for this area,” Cookie Smoak, president of the ATL Airport District, told Focus:. “We work closely together. Anything affecting the airport affects us. Any of the new enhancements made to the airport area makes this a better sell for us. It’s convenience and ease, and I don’t care where you travel: this is the best airport in the world.” Abundant growth Passenger flights Given that ATL has been the world’s busiest airport for years, it comes as no surprise that some of the biggest airlines vie for gates in its terminal. As of 2018, the domestic passenger airlines servicing ATL are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Boutique Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines. Delta has long been a major player and driver of growth for ATL, offering its first routes out of the airport in 1930. JetBlue is the newest arrival, offering routes to Boston since March 2017 and routes to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and New York since March 2018. As for international flights, the airlines offering routes through ATL include Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Lufthansa German Airlines, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Qatar Airways
AVIATION OVERVIEW
and Turkish Airlines are the relative newcomers, both beginning to fly in and out of ATL in 2016. There has been speculation in 2018 that discount Icelandic airline Wow Air will come to ATL and begin offering connecting flights to 20 desirable destinations, including Barcelona, Dublin, Stockholm and Tel Aviv. Air cargo In addition to steady growth in the number of passenger flights offered at ATL, air cargo also continues to expand. In the first six months of 2018, ATL’s global cargo trade increased by 31.5 percent, from $21.56 billion to $28.36 billion, compared to its performance during the same period in 2017. As of June 2018, ATL ranked 22nd out of the United States’ 450 airports, seaports and other border crossings. This is up from the airport’s 2017 year-end ranking of 26th. This growth in cargo shipping through ATL is based on a variety of factors. One of the major drivers is investment by Atlantabased logistics giant UPS. Back in November 2016, UPS announced plans to invest more than $400 million in the construction of a packagesorting hub on Atlanta’s Westside. The hub is projected to be operational by the end of 2018 and will create 1,250 new jobs. This will further build on Atlanta’s already massive logistics and shipping infrastructure and make ATL an even more attractive cargo destination. In addition, the company ordered 14 new Boeing 7478 cargo jets and four new Boeing 767s to augment its 2016 order of 14 Boeing 747-8 freighters. The total of 32 cargo jets are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2022 and will add 9 million pounds of cargo capacity
to UPS’s air fleet — a clear indication that UPS will be shipping more freight by air in the near future and will likely send a good deal of it through its hometown hub. Investment There has also been considerable direct investment in ATL itself. ATL is currently in the midst of an ambitious 20-year plan, known as ATLNext, that is focused on maintaining its dominant position as the world’s busiest airport. The plan consists of a combined $6 billion in various construction and renovation projects, $200 million worth of which are already well underway according to the latest estimates. In sum, ATLNext consists of fully renovating and updating the aesthetic appeal and technological capacity of the Central Passenger Terminal Complex, replacing the existing north and south parking decks and constructing a new west parking deck, building a four-star hotel and travel plaza with mixed-use office space adjacent to the airport, expanding cargo and support facilities and increasing airside capabilities to accommodate air traffic and ground operations. Previous plans to also add another concourse, Concourse G, might not come to fruition due to the project being more expensive than anticipated, but plans to add more gates to existing concourses are advancing as planned. ATLNext is an extremely ambitious undertaking and will no doubt boost the appeal and performance of the airport when it is complete. The project comes at an excellent time, as even the busiest and most efficient airport in the world could use a few improvements. For example, an 11-hour power
In the first six months of 2018, ATL’s global cargo trade increased by 31.5 percent, from $21.56 billion to $28.36 billion.
Carmenlita Scott President & CEO – ATL Airport Chamber
The chamber partners are the primary stakeholders of the airport community, and one component of our partnership is to post information sessions, which provide an avenue for the airport community to hear firsthand updates on expansion projects. We have an event every September called How to Do Business with the Airport where we explain everything you need to do business in the airport, — the insurance, the certifications — and how to get it.
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Karl Von Hagel Airport Manager Cobb County Airport
What is the expected impact for the improvement projects at Cobb County Airport? Everything we do is in the best interest of the airport’s safety and efficiency capabilities. Our added approach lights increase the safety to our customers and our visitors into the airport by giving the aircraft a better view of the runway when they’re arriving in the dark or under poor weather conditions. The recently completed apron was expanded to accommodate the larger aircraft that travel in and out on a regular basis. The expansion gives us a larger area to park the aircrafts and alleviates the congestion. The expansion also provides additional safety zones for trafficking aircrafts. We strive to be more attractive to business and corporate operators and provide the right resources and services. What new projects are on the horizon for Cobb County Airport? We have partnered with the Town Center Community Improvement District, which has funded our new project of the Aviation Park. This project is a community outreach to Cobb County. We provided the property and the location for construction, which allows us to further our relationship with the community. This park will be a place where families can have the opportunity to engross themselves in aviation knowledge. They will be allowed to watch airplanes take off, and there will be other family-friendly activities available. What challenges are affecting the airport today? The biggest challenge we have is having enough land availability at our airport. At this point, we are 100 percent occupied. We can make space with what we have left, but there is not much left to operate with. Our challenge as an airport is to figure out how to find more property to add. Today, we are hoping to take advantage of possible future economic opportunities in the area.
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In addition to ATL, Atlanta is home to a number of other airports of note, including Fulton County Airport.
outage at ATL on December 17, 2017, threw an enormous wrench in the holiday travel plans of thousands of passengers and cost Delta Airlines approximately $40 million. The disruption was a salient indicator of ATL’s aging infrastructure and the need for service reliability upgrades. Although not a formal part of ATLNext, Georgia Power announced plans to speak with the airport about any upgrades that need to be made alongside other planned improvements. Even as the ATLNext project speeds ahead as planned, there could be some negative ramifications of the massive investment project. As expected by both proponents and opponents of ATLNext, the various improvements around the airport have led to increased congestion and delays inside the terminal, and this might be affecting the total number of passengers who choose to fly through ATL. Consider, for example, that ATL’s total number of passengers in 2017 was 103.9 million. Although this is still an impressive number and clinches the number one spot for ATL yet again, this figure is actually down 0.3 percent from 2016’s total. This might seem like a negligible dip, but with number two Beijing Capital International Airport’s passenger count increasing by 1.5 percent in 2017 to 95.8 million passengers, it is definitely worth keeping an eye on how things develop during 2018. Jet fuel tax cuts A boost to business at ATL can be expected in the near future thanks to an announcement by Governor Deal’s
AVIATION OVERVIEW
administration that most local taxes on jet fuel purchases will no longer be collected effective July 1, 2018. The cuts are expected to save airlines and cargo companies more than $20 million, and the General Assembly has already earmarked $29 million to compensate local governments throughout the state for their loss of jet fuel tax revenue, meaning the tax cuts shouldn’t disrupt local government operations while they save airlines millions. Other airports ATL may be the busiest airport in the world, but it is far from being the only one of note in the Atlanta region. Fulton County Airport, Cobb County Airport, Peachtree-DeKalb Airport and Atlanta Regional Airport are all important airfields operating near ATL, offering unique services and opportunities.
For example, Fulton County Airport, known as Brown Field, is on the verge of extensive growth. The Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved a $4 million expansion and renovation project for the airport on February 15, 2018. One of the major improvements will be the addition of new corporate hangars on the north side of the airport. Thanks to its location, Brown Field is also expected to benefit from an influx of cargo business from the new UPS package-sorting hub that is being constructed on Atlanta’s west side. Cobb County International Airport, also known as McCollum Field, has also been growing rapidly. For one thing, the airport has only had “International” in its name for a few short years, first beginning to offer international flights in 2015. The first international flight into McCollum Field took place on June 26, 2015 — from the Bahamas — the same day a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility opened on the premises. Since then, McCollum Field has continued to grow as an international airfield. The airport’s growing importance is reflected in the planned construction of a fire station on the premises and the establishment of a full-time airport firefighting unit. The plan was approved in late 2016. Peachtree DeKalb Airport (PDK) is the third-largest property tax payer in DeKalb County, generating $130 million in revenue for local residents and providing 7,300 jobs. As the second-busiest airport in Georgia, behind only ATL, PDK has averaged 209,000 takeoffs and landings every year for the past 30 years. The airport is classified as a general aviation reliever airport, which means it reduces congestion at ATL by providing service for smaller, non-carrier aircraft such as corporate and business jets, charters, training aircraft, helicopters and personal aircraft. Atlanta Regional Airport, known as Falcon Field, provides a unique historical service and tourist draw.
Jason Pinnix Assistant Airport Manager – Fulton County Airport
The evolution of the aviation industry at general aviation reliever airports has seen a transition to larger and larger corporate jets used by regional and international companies that provide longer stage lengths. We are able to take that traffic from Hartsfield-Jackson, as it is more focused on passenger numbers. With more and more large international companies making their way into Atlanta, we have gotten busier.
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AVIATION OVERVIEW
The main draw to Falcon Field is the active presence of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). The CAF maintains a fleet of fully operational, World War IIera fighter planes, including a P-51 Mustang, an FG-1D Corsair, an LT-6 Mosquito, a PT-26 Cornell and a rare Douglas SBD Dauntless. The CAF flies these planes in the Great Georgia Airshow at Falcon Field every year. Interested visitors can even take a ride in the historic aircraft for a modest charitable donation. Even if you can’t visit during the airshow, you can still take a ride in one of the planes or tour the CAF’s Dixie Wing Museum to check out the aircraft and other World War II artifacts. Along with ATL, these airports further bolster the Atlanta region’s dominance in aviation and continue to add to the strength of Atlanta’s — and the whole of Georgia’s — economy. Looking ahead There’s hardly a cloud in the sky over Atlanta’s aviation industry. Despite a fraction of a percent drop in passengers in 2017, likely due to inconveniences caused by ongoing construction, ATL remained the busiest airport in the world by a margin of millions of
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passengers in 2017. Considering that ATL and other regional airports continue to be serviced by a growing number of domestic and international airlines, sustained growth is expected. ATL is also forging ahead with its 20-year plan for expansion and renovation and has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on bringing the passenger terminal into the future, both aesthetically and technologically. A hotel, travel plaza, office space and improved cargo and airside infrastructure are all on the way. Hopefully, ATL will take advantage of its improvement plans to get out in front of the changing retail landscape and offer more dining and entertainment services, since these remain profitable for airports in the face of the e-commerce boom. Air cargo is also expected to grow as ATL and Brown Field expand and as UPS builds a new package-sorting hub in Atlanta and adds to its fleet. The growth of e-commerce and the consequent construction of more logistics facilities in the area signal the continued growth of cargo traffic in the future. Whether you’re talking about passenger or cargo aviation, Atlanta’s industry continues to soar.
AVIATION & LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
Logistics: From its roots as a railroad junction, Atlanta has grown into one of the nation’s most vital logistics hubs Logistics is in Atlanta’s bones. The city was founded as a railroad junction in 1837 due to its strategic location and immediately exploded into one of the nation’s most vital transportation hubs. Since then, Atlanta has evolved with the times to remain at the forefront of trade and logistics. For example, not long after mankind first took to the skies, Atlanta took a dominant position in aviation. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) conducted $47.07 billion in global trade in 2017 and experienced a 31.51 percent increase in cargo shipping during the first six months of 2018 over the same period in 2017. The airport isn’t Atlanta’s only advantage, though. Atlanta has emerged as a leader in technology, thanks to research institutions like Georgia Tech and Emory, and was therefore poised to capitalize on the burgeoning e-commerce sector. Another major advantage is the fact that top supply chain software company Manhattan Associates has its headquarters in Atlanta, alongside locations of the world’s top five logistics software providers. Atlanta is also home to the headquarters of corporate juggernauts
like UPS, Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Delta Air Lines, all of which manage massive, nationwide logistics networks. To support the overwhelming demand for logistics services from these and other companies, Atlanta houses 12,300 different logistics providers that collectively employ more than 150,000 people. These providers are able to facilitate shipping to key locations all over the country thanks to Atlanta’s continued value as a railroad hub and its access to four major highways. This transportation infrastructure also connects Atlanta to the Port of Savannah, which is the country’s fastest-growing port and second-busiest container exporter. The Port of Savannah conducted $90.75 billion in trade in 2017, and its performance in the first six months of 2018 shows an increase of 14.43 percent over the same period last year. Atlanta’s formidable logistics infrastructure, robust railroad and highway network and proximity to the Port of Savannah put it in an excellent position to benefit from the port’s extraordinarily voluminous shipping business.
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LOGISTICS INTERVIEW
Setting the bar How Georgia-Pacific is promoting collaboration and innovation at its new Point A resource center to help Atlanta emerge as the premier “Supply Chain City”
Kevin Heath Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer – Georgia-Pacific tions as it is by the global brands based in the city that also want to refine and solve complexities. Atlanta is a place where these companies can come together to collaborate.
What about Atlanta – and Georgia – makes it the right place for supply chain innovation? In many ways, supply chain and logistics are fueling the local economy. Three of Gartner’s top 25 global supply chains operate out of Atlanta, and 17 of the 26 Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the city manage or support their own broad-reaching chains. Atlanta and the state of Georgia have the infrastructure to not only sustain but also substantially grow the supply chain economy. Atlanta is home to the world’s busiest airport, and the coastal seaports increase the region’s desirability. Additionally, the metro area boasts some outstanding collegiate programs to train and empower the next generation of supply chain leaders. Interestingly, Atlanta’s emergence as “Supply Chain City” is fueled just as much by the startups and emerging tech companies seeking to build or further their opera62 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | AVIATION & LOGISTICS
How will Point A contribute to Atlanta’s supply chain prominence? We opened Point A as a solution center where large companies, startups and academic institutions can bring their supply chain problems and, through collaboration, come up with more optimal solutions than they could alone. We carefully select members who complement one another and remain committed to Point A’s overall mission. We’re building Point A as a resource center that provides everything our members need to bring their supply chain solutions to life. Our facilities will include lab space for conceptual design and experimentation, warehouse space for larger-scale testing and an auditorium and training rooms for demos and presentations. We are creating an environment where members can move from idea generation to commercialization — something we don’t believe exists anywhere else. Most importantly, our facilities will be scalable to accommodate emerging technologies and changing business needs. Currently, Point A members can explore use cases for a variety of Industry 4.0 innovations, ranging from robotics, AI and blockchain to machine learning and autonomous vehicles, among others. These are technologies that businesses may not be able to pursue in their own facilities but which can make a huge difference in furthering new and impactful supply chain solutions. Ultimately, we hope the collaboration and idea-generation that emerges from Point A will set the bar for the supply chain industry and allow local businesses of all sizes to pursue innovation that better serves their customers’ needs. We want the rest of the world to see what’s happening in Atlanta and feel inspired to get involved.
LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
By all indications, Atlanta is going to continue to be a logistics mecca for the foreseeable future, and industry leaders are taking notice. For example, MODEX was held in Atlanta from April 9-12, 2018. The massive manufacturing and supply chain expo — the largest in North and South America each year — featured 850 exhibits and more than 100 educational sessions meant to provide creative solutions for leaders in the manufacturing and logistics industry. Atlanta was also home to the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit, which provided an opportunity for 2,000 logistics and supply chain professionals to network and learn about the state of the industry during two days of presentations and exhibits. Despite the obvious advantages Atlanta enjoys when it comes to trade and logistics, it is nonetheless important to keep a close eye on state, national and international developments that could potentially affect the city’s trade performance. “I think states always have a role to play in keeping the channels of communication open for companies growing their international business,” Mary Waters, deputy commissioner of international trade for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, told Focus:. “While we cannot impact national policy at the state level, global engagement is certainly important to Georgia. Our focus is on listening to the needs of business exporters and operating within that federal umbrella to help companies gain access to international markets.” All eyes are on the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), which could potentially impact cargo imports and exports at ATL and the Port of Savannah. The TPP is a free trade agreement among countries bordering the Pacific Ocean,
Georgia-Pacific is helping promote Atlanta as a premier
including Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, supply chain Japan, city that fuels the local economy.
Bob Mathews President & CEO – Colliers International - Atlanta
The UPS Smart Hub, which is their second largest in the U.S., located in the Fulton Industrial submarket, demonstrates the importance of Atlanta as a transportation and distribution center. Having UPS, a global package delivery business, choose Atlanta for the major Smart Hub investment further strengthens our place in the U.S. logistics network.
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Elliott Paige Airport Director, Air Service Development Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
What is cargo’s role out of Hartsfield-Jackson? A lot of companies these days practice just-in-time systems, so we are an important component in the supply chain. We have to be efficient because all of these companies are depending on us to receive their supplies, their inputs for production, their intermediary goods and also their exports, their final products. The airport is a critical component in supporting all of these different industries. While we’re facilitating delivery of final products, like your e-commerce products, we’re also facilitating a lot of intermediary products for all of the manufacturing in this region. How is technology helping the logistics industry? Internationally, if you look at countries like Canada and cities like Amsterdam and Heathrow, their turnaround time is about 30 minutes or less on the land side. They can do this because they’re coordinated; they have an IT platform. We’re working on our own platform, the Cargo Community System, which basically links airlines to freight forwarders, ground handlers and the trucking community. This way, you can track the cargo wherever it is and know when to send a truck to pick it up, even if a flight is late. Those are some of the systems we’re working on and trying to implement in this region. What changes would have the biggest impact on your operations today? We’re working with the education departments of the city and state, as well as with the college network of Georgia, to train cargo staff. One of the main challenges we have is finding enough high-quality staff to work in cargo. It’s difficult because we’re required to have badges and a custom seal that allows you to be inside of a bonded warehouse. We’re working with various agencies and colleges now to train potential staff to drive forklifts in a better and safer way, to take better care of the equipment and to be more careful with expensive cargo.
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Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile and, formerly, the United States. Had the U.S. not withdrawn from the TPP, the deal would have accounted for nearly 40 percent of global economic output. The withdrawal comes after much public criticism from President Trump about the TPP creating an unfair balance of economic advantages among member countries. Despite losing the support of the United States, the other member countries continued negotiations and arrived at a deal called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement covering a market of more than 500 million people. Many experts believe that the U.S. withdrawal from the TPP will make it more expensive and difficult to engage in trade with the large bloc of CPTPP members, which could mean trouble for a massive cargo and logistics hub like Atlanta. However, ATL continued to grow by more than 30 percent last year despite the country’s withdrawal from the TPP. For now, China remains ATL’s number two trading partner and accounts for 15 percent of the airport’s trade, trailing Germany by only 3 percent, which seems to indicate that trade with the new CPTPP’s biggest economic power has not flagged following the U.S. withdrawal. It is important to note, however, that the CPTPP is not set to be ratified until early 2019, so its impact on Atlanta might not be apparent until after that time. Additionally, with uncertainty surrounding the future of the Trump administration’s tariffs, and the retaliatory tariffs levied by U.S. trading partners, many logistics companies are concerned about the added costs to consumers along the supply chain. With rising prices often comes reduced demand, which in turn means a slowdown in trade. With international trade accounting for thousands of Atlanta-area jobs at Hartsfield-Jackson alone, not to mention the numerous trucking, warehouses, logistics and corporate offices operating in the region, any blow to trade activity has the potential to translate to a serious economic blow to Atlanta’s supply chain industry. While not everyone will feel the effects, those that do will be hit hard. Still, barring the potential effects of the TPP withdrawal and accelerated tariff wars, all signs point to Atlanta’s performance in the trade and logistics sector in 2019 beating its remarkably strong showing in both 2017 and 2018.
Aerotropolis: Anchored by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the region’s largest job center, the Aerotropolis has been driving new economic development in the underdeveloped Southside. Leading the charge are the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance and the Aerotropolis CIDs in a truly collaborative effort that crosses many jurisdictional lines. In recognition of these efforts, the Aerotropolis area was recently honored by the Atlanta Regional Commission with a 2018 Development of Excellence Award in the category of “Great Place.�
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Vision and hope: Aerotropolis leaders are leveraging the region’s powerhouse airport to stimulate growth around Atlanta’s main economic driver Supported by investors and thought leaders from many of Metro Atlanta’s Fortune 500 companies, Aerotropolis Atlanta (AeroATL) operates with a vision to leverage Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s role as the region’s economic powerhouse, positioning it at the heart of a vibrant community. The word aerotropolis is defined as a city or urban area centered on an airport, and AeroATL intends to be just that: a worldclass metropolis created to stimulate more growth around one of Atlanta’s main economic drivers. The layout, infrastructure and economy of the Aerotropolis revolve around Hartsfield-Jackson, which serves as the commercial core of the city center. For years the bulk of attention — and economic development activity — in Metro Atlanta has been focused north of I-20 instead of south. Aerotropolis Atlanta was created with a vision to transform Atlanta’s Southside, where housing is less expensive, land is available for commercial development and traffic isn’t as bad. The Aerotropolis area takes in a sizeable portion of the City of Atlanta between Downtown, the airport and the abutting communities of East Point, College Park, Hapeville and unincorporated Fulton and Clayton counties.
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In conjunction with the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, the Aerotropolis Atlanta Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) — the public-private partnership organizations formed in 2013 that serve 15 square miles of property near the airport — play a significant role in the project’s economic stimulation by investing in public safety, infrastructure and way-finding. Made up of commercial, industrial and office property owners who volunteer to self-tax themselves an additional millage to fund projects, both the Airport West and Airport South CIDs work together to create a vibrant community by steadily raising the collective value of AeroATL. World-class vision Aerotropolis Atlanta is a world-class destination for business, connectivity and living. It was conceptualized in 2014 as the driving force behind the revitalization of the area around Hartsfield-Jackson, with a goal to strengthen the urban amenities that give the area its unique character — the most important of which is the world’s busiest airport. The Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance is a nonprofit membership organization and a coalition of leading ( )
AEROTROPOLIS INTERVIEW
Catalyst for growth How the Aerotropolis vision is revitalizing the airport region through a collaborative, cross-jurisdictional approach, injecting new life into an underdeveloped area
Shannon James President & CEO – Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance
What impact has taking a regional approach had on the individual municipalities in the Aerotropolis area? Historically, the airport-area municipalities have operated in silos. Over a short period of time, our regional public-private partnership has acted as a conduit for enhanced cross-jurisdictional communication and partnerships. These new behaviors have allowed us, as a region, to think comprehensively. We’re also creating an ecosystem that focuses on strategic planning and relationships with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). We partner with ATL as an anchor institution for the area, and our partnership is advancing at a rapid pace because they now have a neutral community partner well-positioned to help facilitate opportunities across municipal lines. We’re operating at a very high level when it comes to economic, education and workforce development projects, and we’re fortunate that our local leadership champions a shared vision that we’re stronger together than in competition amongst ourselves. This mentality will only improve our regional economic competitiveness. What impact did Porsche investing in this area have on the way your key leadership envisioned the Aerotropolis? The initial formation of AeroATL Alliance was to create vision for the area. When Porsche Cars North America landed its Experience Center in Hapeville, it not only brought vision but also hope to a region. We now have a corporate giant, an international brand that is willing to be the private voice in the community to help lift the tide. Porsche created the first in a long time vertical construction of Class A office space in this market. The Aerotropolis now boasts almost 500,000 square feet of proposed Class A office space approved or under construction and several hundred acres of mixed-use development planned. In addition to the momentum and energy, Porsche also brought more diverse income scales of local jobs. This
will ultimately lead to more opportunity for development and bringing to fruition the envisioned live-work-play ecosystem. Porsche is the driver and will forever serve as AeroATL’s catalyst. We don’t think people will realize the significance of the Experience Center until 50 years from now. We were able to land an international juggernaut to an area that hasn’t seen this type of corporate investment since Delta, which was almost 40 years ago. How critical is the success of the first major project, Airport City? Airport City will serve as the tangible game changer for the AeroATL Alliance concept. The 320 acres of mixeduse development were identified in our 2014 Blueprint of top catalytic sites. Similar to the dynamics of Porsche locating to the area, this mixed-use project as presented provides hope for an improved quality of life for local residents. Now we have more vision and opportunities with a billion-dollar mark behind it. Our hope is that the current and future economic and workforce development initiatives will directly benefit our residents.
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Cinda Herndon-King
Rob LeBeau
Director Atlanta CareerRise
Director WorkSource Atlanta Regional
What is the main focus of the Workforce Development Collective? The primary focus of the Workforce Development Collective is to implement workforce solutions that connect Aerotropolis businesses with the resources to attract and retain skilled employees, resulting in increased economic growth and prosperity in the region. In short, we are working to link local talent to local jobs — those existing now as well as those coming in the future from the work of the Aerotropolis Alliance. We aim to do that in a streamlined manner in collaboration with a number of service providers in order to maximize the resources we have, to help businesses navigate the geographically fragmented landscape of workforce resources in the area and ensure our efforts are aligned with the industries that are growing good jobs in the Aerotropolis. What are the collective’s medium-term goals? In the medium term, we want to expand our partnerships with employers in the industries targeted by the Aerotropolis Blueprint to continue to codesign training and recruitment programs to ensure they have the talent they need to grow and ensure that local residents have access to these opportunities. We are also working to deliver regionally coordinated services to both individuals and businesses so that accessing workforce resources is as easy as possible. Lastly, we are looking into the earlier stages of the talent pipeline to make sure students coming from the area’s education system are aware of and can access careers in the Aerotropolis that will provide opportunities for prosperity for themselves and their families.
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( ) business and community members governed by a 31-member board whose primary goal is to unify and improve the various jurisdictions that surround the airport. Counties involved in the initiative include Fulton, Clayton, Henry, Douglas and DeKalb, and cities include Atlanta, Hapeville, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Chattahoochee Hills, Palmetto, Union City, the City of South Fulton, Forest Park, Jonesboro, Riverdale, Morrow, Lake City and Lovejoy. The Alliance partners with the Aerotropolis CIDs, Fulton Industrial Boulevard CID and South Fulton CID in order to facilitate a comprehensive approach to planning and economic development, including public safety initiatives, improving the physical environment and strengthening quality of life. Recently, a newly formed Greater Conley CID has become active in Dekalb County and is currently in talks for future partnership with the AeroATL. “The South Fulton CID’s key project is the SR 74 interchange at I-85, which will provide airport commuters a less congested ride,” Joddie Gray, adminstrator of the South Fulton CID, told Focus:. “In addition, we are building a park and ride lot to encourage shared rides to the airport area.” The ultimate goal of the Aerotropolis partnership is to establish a national and international model for airportarea excellence. In order to carry this out efficiently, three collectives have been established to focus on organizing and aligning stakeholder interest. The first of these is the Economic Development Collective, which provides all economic development directors with a vehicle to focus on marketing the Aerotropolis brand with a unified message. The second is the Education Collective, which supports gaps in education in conjunction with organizations like Fulton Schools College and Career Academy, Step Up Atlanta and 100 Black Men of South Metro. “The focus of the Education Collective is to share and promote the educational successes of the school systems in the region, advance and support literacy efforts of the school systems in the region and demonstrably promote and support workforce development and postsecondary option efforts of the school systems in the region,” Morcease Beasley, superintendent of Clayton County Public Schools and education collective chair for the Aerotropolis Alliance, told Focus:. The third is the Workforce Development Collective, which creates bridges between businesses and the workforce by partnering with organizations such as the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia (CEFGA), WorkSource Georgia and Atlanta CareerRise to train and provide placement for residents.
AEROTROPOLIS OVERVIEW
Aerotropolis Atlanta Blueprint The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) spearheaded an effort in partnership with local governments, CIDs and the Alliance to develop the Aerotropolis Atlanta Blueprint, which was completed and adopted by the board of directors in July 2014. The blueprint serves as both a resource for policymakers and a framework for business leaders to guide the development of the area around Hartsfield-Jackson for the next few years. It provides a strategic vision to leverage the airport as a major asset to drive economic investment and job growth and improve quality of life. Underpinning the blueprint’s outline is an overall forward-driven, shared vision for the future. In order to carry out this vision, AeroATL’s marketing and branding strategies play a key role in attracting the necessary people and capital to help the area flourish. The blueprint outlines a five-year marketing strategy to reinforce the brand and stimulate investment. The plan consists of establishing a unique Aerotropolis brand, developing marketing communications and media plans and establishing a gateway strategy compatible with the airport CIDs and local branding. Historically, there has been a great deal of development north of airport; however, this plan intends to move development south. This is evident in recent successes within the Aerotropolis area, such as the 2014 vote to increase the Clayton County sales tax to extend MARTA to the county, Porsche Cars North America opening its $100 million headquarters near the airport in 2015, the BMW training center in College Park breaking ground in 2017 and becoming operational in late 2018, pending redevelopment of Fort McPherson, redevelopment of Fort Gillem and the creation of the South Fulton Parkway Alliance. The blueprint walks through various current and ongoing projects planned for AeroATL. It addresses issues such as transportation, real estate and environmental concerns. In the Aerotropolis Core, which consists of four main areas within AeroATL — Airport City, Corporate Crescent, International Gateway and Cargo City — many projects are envisioned. These include the creation of an aerospace hub for component assemblies
in the Corporate Crescent, destination outlet retail and air-dependent e-commerce centers in the International Gateway and a bio-logistics hub in Cargo City. The timeframe of the blueprint is split into two parts: an incubation period and an action plan period. The incubation period marks the first five years following completion of the visioning process for AeroATL and is made up primarily of research and development strategies to begin work on envisioned projects. The success of these projects is dependent on the organizational structure of the Aerotropolis. The top contributors to this plan are the Alliance board and staff, the ARC and the Airport Area Task Force. Land-use matters Approximately 38 percent of land within AeroATL is utilized for residential properties, 13 percent for industrial real estate and 13 percent for commercial real estate. The Aerotropolis Core consists of five areas: Airport City at College Park, Mountain View, Corporate Crescent, International Gateway and Cargo City. These core areas require the most initial focus of all the Aerotropolis region because of their direct proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson as the central business district of the metropolis. Georgia is a home-rule state, which presents a few challenges for AeroATL when it comes to land use. Under home rule, there is much localized control of the land that makes up the Aerotropolis. Thus, landuse complications arise when the various jurisdictions that make up the area have different and sometimes incompatible regulations. Nevertheless, the state’s comprehensive planning rules and the ARC, which functions as a multi-county planning and development agency, work to connect the jurisdictions together and coordinate land-use development. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) restrictions pose limitations, as well. They limit land use and restrict building heights, as well as increase the cost of building around the airport by requiring special building standards that reduce noise pollution. Despite these challenges, there are many areas of opportunity for development. The blueprint’s five-year ( )
Historically, there has been a great deal of development north of the airport; however, the Aerotropolis plan intends to move development south.
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AEROTROPOLIS INTERVIEW
Collaborative approach How CID leaders are coming together across jurisdictional lines to guide the redevelopment of the Aerotropolis area
Gerald McDowell Executive Director – Aerotropolis CIDs
How do the CIDs promote public safety and community awareness? Part of our branding effort is to address the high crime perception of the Aerotropolis area referred to as the South Metro. Through the CIDs and the Alliance, we are partnering with police departments in various counties and cities to enhance and supplement policing already taking place. Since the program began, there are certain criminal activities that are down by 40 percent. We supplement our private security patrols by hiring offduty police officers in full uniform to patrol the two CIDs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our public safety director has a monthly meeting with over 40 different private security companies and police departments within the two CIDs. The safety director has established a system with the security companies, synchronizing the patrol of each company to ensure no area is left vacant. We make sure not to duplicate our efforts but offer complete coverage throughout the Aerotropolis CIDs. How have the group efforts of the Aerotropolis Atlanta CIDs benefitted businesses in the CIDs area? Through the collaborative efforts of the Airport West and Airport South CID leaders making up the Aerotropolis CIDs, we recently completed the development of a Master Plan to guide investment of 29 different projects in the Aerotropolis CIDs area through the year 2025, including redevelopment of corridors and transit studies. The completed project will require an investment of $120 to $150 million. The main benefit of us working together is the ability to cross county and city jurisdictions. Because we are working together as the Aerotropolis CIDs, we can leverage those established relationships on either side of the county and have a hand in the high-volume projects we take on. Through this Master Plan we hope to make the Aerotropolis a destination and create an environment where people can seamlessly live, work and play.
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What were the CIDs’ main goals in 2018? Our main focus for 2018 has been to conduct studies, which began in February 2018. In the summer of 2018, we began a freight cluster study. This was in conjunction with the Atlanta Regional Commission, which awarded us a grant to look at how freight and logistics and other movements occur in the airport area and how to make sure that the appropriate infrastructures are in place to support what’s going on currently and in future growth opportunities. Our largest project that we are excited about for 2018 is the Georgia Department of Transportation transforming the Camp Creek Parkway, 285 interchange, into what’s called a diverging diamond interchange. The interchange will be a two-year build and will allow the bridge to open up in 2020, making the Aerotropolis more efficient in moving traffic.
AEROTROPOLIS OVERVIEW
The AeroATL Greenway is an ambitious land-use plan involving a multi-use network of trails and bike paths connecting the hodgepodge of cities and counties in South Metro Atlanta.
( ) plan for the most efficient use of land within AeroATL begins with the implementation of the ambitious AeroATL Greenway, a multi-use network of trails and bike paths connecting the hodgepodge of cities and counties in south Metro Atlanta. Rough estimates call for about 200 miles of paths that one day will connectto the already existing BeltLine. Once complete, this project could make the BeltLine project look relatively miniscule. In March 2018, the Alliance hosted its last community engagement meeting, and plans are starting to come together for the greenway. Other plans to improve land use include the strengthening of the historic downtown cores of several integral Aerotropolis communities like Hapeville, East Point and College Park. This revival would attract not only residents but also businesses to the surrounding areas. In an effort to address the airport’s negative impacts on the Aerotropolis environment, Hartsfield-Jackson has begun work on a sustainability initiative in order to mitigate these effects. The goals of this initiative include reducing emissions and waste, increasing green construction and noise reduction. In 2019, Hartsfield-
Jackson plans to open the first fully enclosed recycling and composting facility at an airport to help reduce costs in handling waste. Talking transit Carefully coordinated transportation planning is essential to the economic well-being of the future Aerotropolis. In June 2018, the Aerotropolis CIDs, in conjunction with public and private partners, launched a $350,000 transit feasibility study in order to identify possible transit models for AeroATL. They hosted an “Innovation Summit� in the fall of 2018 to highlight transportation technologies for transit companies from around the world and expect the full study to be completed by the end of 2018. Potential transit proposals include new SkyTraintype service to the bustling Camp Creek Parkway corridor, connections from the airport to the Porsche and Delta headquarters and a train to the new Airport City mixed-use development in College Park. VHB, the planning and engineering firm conducting the study, is also considering the option
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AEROTROPOLIS OVERVIEW
Gil Prado Executive Director – Fulton Industrial Boulevard CID
A crucial component of the Aerotropolis, the Fulton Industrial District is the largest industrial corridor in the eastern United States with over 25,000 jobs, $1.5 billion in payroll and 50 million square feet of industrial space in over 550 industrial buildings. The Boulevard CID works to maintain and protect the commercial viability of the district, which provides well-paying jobs and vital services and goods to Metro Atlanta and the State of Georgia. of personal rapid transit vehicles and electric bikes, among other innovations. The AeroATL CIDs cites two main purposes for the study: 1) to increase and enhance transit access for local residents and 2) to make the Aerotropolis more attractive to travelers, conventioneers and large corporations that might be considering relocating their headquarters there. The ultimate goal is to implement 21st-century infrastructure for the airport area to serve as a catalyst for much-needed economic revitalization and qualityof-life improvements. The Aerotropolis region includes portions of almost all of Atlanta’s critical transportation corridors and direct access to MARTA. Specifically, the multimodal network within the area includes major interstate highways, MARTA bus and rail service and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, as well as the rail network and the airport. This adds significant value to the area and has already greatly contributed to AeroATL’s future success by connecting both goods and people to major job centers like Downtown Atlanta and nearby ports like the Port of Savannah. In additional to proposals put forth by the transit study, the major AeroATL transportation projects expected to launch in the next four years are the Clayton County MARTA extension, South Fulton Parkway access management, last-mile connectivity, a Crescent trolley and general roadway improvements. The statewide Georgia Freight Plan is also of importance to the Aerotropolis over the next few years. The plan identifies a required investment of $18 to $20 billion in freight improvement projects over the next 40 years to boost the state’s economy.
While the area already houses part of Atlanta’s main transportation corridors and benefits from this transportation planning history, AeroATL, led by the Aerotropolis CIDs, is focused on creating a more balanced network across jurisdictional lines in order to ease traffic congestion and dependence on cars moving forward. Housing stock Housing plays a crucial supportive role in the AeroATL concept. In fact, residential housing makes up 38 percent of the area’s land use. The Aerotropolis region is characterized by a variety of residential populations and housing types, but singlefamily homes are dominant. The downtown areas in cities like College Park and East Point are experiencing some diversification of housing types, with multifamily infill that supports families, singles and seniors. There are various advantages of creating housing near an airport. The most obvious reason to live near an airport is access to plane travel, which is especially beneficial for those who travel a lot for work. Additionally, airports provide huge advantages to businesses in today’s fast-paced global economy. And of course, with thousands of workers associated with an airport-driven economy, there is a great opportunity to better use the existing and potential housing stock to house those working at Hartsfield-Jackson, reducing commute times and thereby minimizing congestion and air pollution. AeroATL allows for localized, convenient housing growth. It is important to note that housing surrounding an airport comes with its fair share of challenges. These include noise, health and environmental concerns.
Housing plays a crucial supportive role in the AeroATL concept.
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AEROTROPOLIS OVERVIEW
Nevertheless, the vision under AeroATL intends to mitigate these concerns with a number of joint efforts, including both safety and green infrastructure initiatives. In terms of safety, the Aerotropolis Blueprint sets out a plan to increase security patrols in the Aerotropolis area. With regard to green infrastructure, Aerotropolis is initiating its greenway concept, as well as advancing the Roosevelt Highway Plan and the airport’s Sustainable Management Plan.
contribute to livability and the creation of community hubs. Several additional historic resources within AeroATL are recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. Cultural resources include Spivey Hall and the Georgia Archives. A challenge that comes with preserving so many historic and cultural resources is the different governing rules for different locales within the Aerotropolis, which is something that is currently being addressed in the blueprint’s five-year plan.
Community and greenspace There are over 3,200 acres of parks and greenspace in the Aerotropolis area. Natural resources are spread throughout the region and include streams, parks and conservation land. These resources form an integral part of the identity of the area, and AeroATL intends to promote each of these resources to enhance the local quality of life. One of the largest developing Aerotropolis projects is the previously mentioned AeroATL Greenway, which will increase community access to the bodies of water surrounding AeroATL, as well as beautify the area and make it more environmentally friendly. The project is currently in its research and development stages with more to come. Urban agriculture also plays a role in the formation of AeroATL’s identity. Clayton County’s Mountain View area has a successfully developing hydroponics business, while the famous Atlanta State Farmers Market is housed conveniently in Forest Park. The area’s historic and cultural resources offer important contributions to local identity as well. All of the educational institutions, libraries, churches, nonprofits, town halls, MARTA stations and more
Economic clusters In order to accelerate the economic growth of the Aerotropolis region, the blueprint identifies agribusiness, logistics, aerospace, multimedia and biolife science as target industries for economic development in AeroATL. As part of the diverse economy of Atlanta, AeroATL seeks to add to rather than draw from existing economic hubs, essentially creating economic sub-regions. Some of the main development strategies include increasing the number of media companies in the Aerotropolis; building on the existing educational institutions on the south side to create an educational cluster; attracting more corporate headquarters and supporting small business growth; promoting tourism, hospitality and entertainment in walkable neighborhoods and at the area’s convention centers; and reducing worker inflow and outflow, encouraging people to live, work and play all in one place. AeroATL recognizes that sustainability and smart communities are important. It is currently working with investors and builders to encourage sustainable and tech-forward projects in the Aerotropolis region.
There are over 3,200 acres of parks and greenspace in the Aerotropolis area.
Alvin Nash CEO – Development Authority of Fulton County
Unlike other areas in the country, where airports are typically controlled by authorities, in Atlanta the airport is owned by the city. 90 percent of the airport is in Clayton County. The challenge with the Aerotropolis is bringing together the multiple jurisdictions, multiple cities and multiple counties. There are governance issues and funding issues. How to make it work is a collective issue.
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AEROTROPOLIS OVERVIEW
Real estate The real estate sector within AeroATL demonstrates promising potential for the future growth of the area. Specifically, industrial real estate is doing particularly well. The vacancy rate is at 9.4 percent — a 14-year low — and lease rates continue to steadily rise. Approximately 17 million square feet of industrial space is currently under construction in the Aerotropolis area. The retail sector is also thriving, with a 12.5 percent vacancy rate compared to the 14 percent rate it had after the 2008 recession. A majority of the retail demand is concentrated in food retail. The office sector of Aerotropolis is also growing substantially. While vacancy rates were last reported at a dull 20.85 percent, occupancy hit its highest point in the last six years, and leasing activity continues to strengthen. Significant increases in demand and limited supply have pushed prices to even higher levels. A notable major real estate development was revealed in April 2018, when the City of College Park announced a more than $500 million mixeduse development on 320 acres in AeroATL, for now dubbed “Airport City College Park.” The development is envisioned to consist of Class A office space, 10 hotels, restaurants, retail and residential space. This project has the potential to create thousands of jobs and represents a giant step forward in bringing the Aerotropolis vision to life.
In terms of education, the Education Collective is working hard to address the gaps in the Aerotropolis region. Some initiatives already in the works include a collaboration between AeroATL and Clayton State University, Clayton County School System and Fulton County School System. Partnerships have been formed with Fulton Schools College & Career Academy that will focus on preparing the future Aerotropolis workforce for the target industries in the area. Workforce development continues to be an anchor focus for AeroATL. In August 2017, the first Construction Ready Georgia training program on Atlanta’s Southside graduated its inaugural class. The month-long construction training program, created in partnership by the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia, HB Next and WorkSoure Georgia, provides trainees with the skills and certification needed to begin careers in the construction industry. As of June 2018, a total of 92 people had graduated from Aerotropolis-supported workforce programs focused on hospitality and construction, with 92 percent placement. New programs focusing on logistics and the movie/film industry sectors are currently in the works.
One of the biggest challenges AeroATL faces is its overlapping jurisdictions.
Obstacles and opportunities One of the biggest challenges AeroATL faces is its overlapping jurisdictions. There is a need for county, municipal and economic agencies to identify ways to work together to facilitate the smooth implementation of land-use, transportation, economic and development initiatives. Despite the obstacles, Aerotropolis intends to serve as a bridge builder and intermediary between these jurisdictions in order to work with all of them to unify the area. Another major challenge is managing the safety and security of AeroATL. Keeping people safe and healthy is a significant factor contributing to the future success of Aerotropolis. To address this need, the Alliance is working on a public safety task force in order to battle preconceptions of the area and mitigate any negative and/ or criminal activity outside the previously mentioned community improvement district boundaries.
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Bright future What is the future of Aerotropolis Atlanta? Moving forward, the entity strives to become the premier organization in the region as the preferred economic and community development partner for HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport. Additionally, AeroATL is positioning itself as the point-of-contact for all site selectors, state project managers and developers near the airport. Their vision is to become the epicenter for cross-jurisdictional communication and the primary resource for workforce and educational initiatives in the Aerotropolis region. Looking forward, quality of life is of utmost importance for AeroATL. As outlined in the vision and implementation of the five-year blueprint, AeroATL has numerous projects planned in conjunction with other organizations in order to enhance and improve liveability. These projects will focus on broad sectors like transportation, housing, environment and overall beautification in order to make Aerotropolis Atlanta the ideal live-work-play destination in Atlanta.
AEROTROPOLIS CITY SPOTLIGHT
City spotlight: The Aerotropolis vision hinges on the support and collaboration of the many dynamic cities within its bounds Hapeville The City of Hapeville is a founding member of AerotATL, and Mayor Alan Hallman serves on the board of directors. Located in the Corporate Crescent area of the Aerotropolis, the city serves as a direct gateway to Hartsfield-Jackson and houses both Delta Airlines’ headquarters and the Porsche Car North America headquarters. In addition, it offers direct access to major transportation spines like I-85 and I-75. Hapeville is characterized by stable neighborhoods with little vacant land, but it is experiencing tremendous infill development and redevelopment of single-family and townhouse residences. As the area grows, the City of Hapeville recognizes the need for a wide variety of housing options and is working with the ARC to evaluate current and future housing needs to support the regional workforce, encourage families to move there and allow seniors to remain in the community. Hotel developments are increasing to support the area, including the additions of the 213-room Solis hotel next to the Porsche North America Headquarters, a 112-room Holiday Inn Express along
I-75, a planned 174-room Embassy Suites off Virginia Avenue and a planned 100-room TownePlace Suites to the west. Retail and commercial developments in the city are geared to mixed use, addressing the needs of residents, local businesses and visitors. One notable project currently underway is a 22,000-square-foot commercial and retail development along Virginia Avenue designed to promote walkability. Additionally, the city is working on the $2.3 million Airport Loop Road improvement project, which includes new sidewalks, curbs and gutters, paving and pedestrian lighting; a $3 million Rail Facilities Corridor Improvement Project along North and South Central Avenues; a feasibility study for a roundabout at Virginia Avenue; and wayfinding and signage coordinated with regional signage to assist visitors in exploring the city. East Point East Point offers small-city charm with big-city amenities. It is home to the Camp Creek Marketplace, Camp Creek Business Center, South Meadow Business Park and several Fortune 500 companies. It also has its own East Point MARTA station and is highly central
Alan Hallman Mayor – City of Hapeville
The City of Hapeville has been actively engaged in several regional planning and coordination initiatives. Our staff and community have participated in developing the AeroATL Greenway Plan, which will link the communities together through a comprehensive trail plan. We have also been involved with the Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel planning efforts to further plan a multi-modal loop along the AeroLoop. We have increasingly coordinated with our neighboring municipalities and the airport for development projects that will highlight all of the assets of the region.
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AEROTROPOLIS CITY SPOTLIGHT
Deana Holiday Ingraham Mayor – City of East Point
The City of East Point believes in the initiatives being carried out by the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance and is committed to partnering with the Alliance to reach its goals. The city partners and provides support through longtime participation in the Economic Development Collective and newly created 501c(3) initiatives like the recent Community Shoe Distribution with Samaritan’s Feet & BB&T. We also serve in leadership capacities within the Education Collective, where I am heavily active as the co-chair. In addition to the previously mentioned engagement, we also financially support via Gold Level membership and serve on the board of directors.
in terms of connectivity due to its proximity to Fort McPherson and Downtown. East Point has varied housing stock, and its residential area is best characterized as a series of growth rings, with the center being downtown East Point. As the growth rings extend, the strong, gridlike residential areas with historic character begin to loosen and form a more suburban neighborhood offering larger lots and bigger homes. East Point has a lot to offer to the success of AeroATL. It is an authentic and creative place that is attractive to certain types of workers and investors. East Point’s Dick Lane Velodrome, a bicycleracing facility and one of only 22 active velodromes in the country, is a perfect example of a unique destination that draws a specialized crowd and can be utilized to promote the area. For that reason, the revitalization of the East Point Industrial District is critical to the success of its incorporation into the Aerotropolis. In particular, East Point’s Main Street has potential for attracting startup activity. Some projects underway in East Point that will impact the area around the airport include Mallalieu Pointe, a mixed-use development in the city’s downtown area; Arden’s Garden, a manufacturing, retention and expansion project of the fresh juice and smoothie company’s headquarters; and construction of a 260,000-square-foot facility for Americold Inc., a cold storage company that supports Sprouts Farmers Market.
College Park Similar to East Point, College Park has all the benefits of a large city while preserving the neighborliness of a hometown. Its proximity to Atlanta provides residents and visitors alike with easy access to colleges and universities, shopping and other places of interest. The city also boasts being home to Woodward Academy, the largest independent school in the continental U.S., as well as the Main Street Academy, a K-8 public charter school proudly serving the Tri-Cities area. College Park, like East Point, has a mix of historic homes within a grid-like historic core that transitions to more suburban-style neighborhoods. It has potential for myriad redevelopment opportunities. Originating from a land grant in 1846, College Park has the fourth-largest urban historic district in Georgia, with 867 structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This historic district, similar to those of Hapeville and East Point, has the potential to attract businesses and residents to the area. College Park’s first new mid-rise in 40 years, the Pad on Harvard, is a multi-phase $41 million transitoriented development located at the corner of Harvard and Princeton avenues, just 400 feet from the College Park MARTA station and across the street from Hotel Indigo. Another development in College Park in the Aerotropolis area is the Gateway Center, positioned adjacent to the Georgia International
College Park recently welcomed its first new mid-rise in 40 years: the Pad on Harvard.
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AEROTROPOLIS CITY SPOTLIGHT
Jack Longino Mayor – City of College Park
The City of College Park is accepting the challenge of directing future growth for our community. Enhancing the quality of life for all residents is paramount, as we are continuously researching and collaborating with Aerotropolis to ensure we are investing and developing all areas accordingly so as to offer curb appeal, accessibility, safety and beautification. Some of these projects include support and planning for the AeroATL’s greenway plan; the SkyTrain; the Gateway Center; and much of ATL located in the College Park Corporate Limits, as well as construction of the Arena@College Park Gateway Center scheduled for completion in the fall of 2019.
Convention Center, a $230 million mixed-use project including one Class A office building and two hotels, as well as the Renaissance Hotel. It is connected to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and MARTA via the ATL SkyTrain. And of course, there’s the mixed-use development Airport City College Park, which will bring thousands of jobs to the area. Fairburn The City of Fairburn is AeroATL’s newest Founders Circle Investor. Located just 15 minutes south of Hartsfield-Jackson, Fairburn is a city of historic homes, buildings and churches with a vibrant and thriving business community. Despite phenomenal growth in business, industry and residential neighborhoods in recent years, Fairburn maintains its traditional smalltown charm while offering the advantages of quick access to I-85 and Metro Atlanta. Although there are a variety of industries in Fairburn, logistics and warehousing are leading common denominators in this subregion of Metro Atlanta. In recent years, Google, Clorox Co., Smucker’s and Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) have each completed large deals within Fairburn’s hundreds of acres of industrial, manufacturing and warehouse space, which is also home to a 500-acre CSX Intermodal facility. Expanding its presence as a prime location and key distribution link for global and national distribution, Fairburn continues to support its warehouse and industrial tenants with attractive leasing incentives, fiber optic cable, efficient and green distribution options and superior access to interstate and rail transportation.
The City of Fairburn has a Park and Ride Facility on State Route 74/Senoia Road currently under design. Park and Ride facilities support transportation infrastructure as multimodal hubs that encourage the use of alternate forms of travel. The city anticipates that a Park and Ride facility at this location will contribute to fuel conservation, reduction in emissions and reduced travel miles. The first phase of the proposed Fairburn facility will allow commuters to park their vehicles and commute to work via carpool and vanpool. The second phase will extend services to MARTA and regional express buses with destinations to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The City of Fairburn’s Comprehensive Plan has as its primary goal for the city to be an economically thriving community and desired destination for residents and visitors of all ages. A named objective is to make State Route 74 mixed use with retail, compact homes and townhouses while still meeting the demand for goods and services for the traveling public. With State Route 74 being a regionally significant corridor that facilitates regional trips, a Park and Ride lot is a relevant, strategic and attainable transportation goal. Union City Union City announced in April 2018 that it was accepting qualifications to develop its proposed Town Center, with 8 million square feet of office space and thousands of residential units. The city’s Historic Green Manor Restaurant was also the winner of the Aerotropolis Alliance’s inaugural small business of the month award. “Union City is not playing it small; we’re playing it big,” Mayor Vince Williams told Focus:.
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AEROTROPOLIS CITY SPOTLIGHT
Elizabeth Hurst Mayor – City of Fairburn
The City of Fairburn is partnering with Aerotropolis Atlanta by quickly transforming into one of the fastest-growing industrial markets in the Southeast. We are optimistic as we continue to look towards 2019. Major efforts are underway to revitalize our city’s historic downtown by supporting the restaurant and retail industry and driving cultural events and activities. Being connected by rail, MARTA, Interstate 85 and other important strategic highways makes Fairburn accessible for our citizens and tourists to enjoy smooth sailing while transitioning from one business to the next.
“Rebuilding, revitalizing and rebranding Union City has been our main focus since I was elected in 2013. When we play it big, we show there’s strength in all sectors, which is beneficial for our community, region and state. Having the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance relationship with Union City provides a partner that’s monumental from a global perspective.” Palmetto In Q1 2018, the City of Palmetto welcomed the completion of the Palmetto Logistics Park, a 340acre, 4-million-square-foot master-planned logistics park geared toward the e-commerce industry with its campus-quality infrastructure, Class A design and state-of-the-art technology. “Aerotropolis continues to be a game changer for the HartsfieldJackson Airport region,” Mayor J. Clark Boddie told Focus:. “Redevelopment and new opportunities have arrived. Palmetto offers over 6 million square feet of distribution and warehouse facilities at four locations, with another 1,500 acres for hi-tech development. Our motto is: Come Grow with Us.” South Fulton In April 2018, the City of South Fulton broke ground on Graham Road Industrial, a 300,000-square-foot Class A distribution center, which has the potential to bring 300 jobs to the area. Plans are to have it ready for occupation in early 2019. “I am excited that the City of South Fulton is one of the newest members of the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance,” Mayor William “Bill” Edwards told Focus:. “We look forward to working with the Aerotropolis to advance many of the economic development initiatives of the City of South Fulton. Being a part of this alliance allows
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our newly created city to capitalize on our strategic advantage of being perfectly positioned near the world’s busiest airport and allows us to cultivate relationships with members from across the region, bringing us one step closer to fulfilling our mission of becoming a World Class City.” Chattahoochee Hills Chattahoochee Hills is pioneering a new type of planned community with Serenbe, a 1,000-acre sustainable community built over the past 15 years with abundant strategies to reduce its carbon footprint. In the fall of 2018, One Mado is slated to open in Serenbe’s Mado District as an alternative to the traditional suburban strip mall, offering a mix of health proprietors and more general retail attractions. “Chattahoochee Hills was incorporated around the idea that a city really can have it all: the beauty and contact with nature of rural living and the vibrancy and amenities of in-town life,” Mayor Tom Reed told Focus:. “Our unique zoning, which consolidates development into walkable mixed-use, transit-oriented nodes while permanently protecting 70 percent of the city as parks, forests and farms, ensures economic vitality with unmatched quality of life. None of this would be possible without the economic lift provided by our proximity to the world’s largest airport, which is why our participation in the Aerotropolis Alliance is so important.” Capital Analytics would like to thank Aerotropolis Atlanta for its contribution in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website: https:// aeroatl.org/.
Clayton County: With the world’s busiest airport in its backyard, Clayton County is bursting with untapped potential. Its film, healthcare and infrastructure industries are experiencing unprecedented growth, and its committed leaders are working with the Aerotropolis Atlanta to attract investment and new development county-wide. Affordable housing options and convenient access to MARTA are also enticing new residents and businesses alike to its diverse communities.
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CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
Connected community: Clayton County is home to the world’s busiest airport, but it is also home to a diverse population, growing industries and committed leadership If there is one thing Clayton County is known for, it is its strategic geographic location. Clayton is home to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — the busiest airport in the world — and is only 15 minutes from Downtown Atlanta. It is the most connected county in Georgia with unparalleled access to the global marketplace and direct rail access to Port Savannah, the fastest-growing container port in the U.S. It is no wonder it is nicknamed the “Heart of ATL’s Southern Crescent.” Various recently completed projects have served as a beacon for renewed interest in the area from the global business community. These include the opening of the $1.2 billion Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal and Porsche’s North American headquarters. Aerotropolis Atlanta is also seeing investment in the South Metro area, with BMW’s training facility in College Park, $500,000 spent on beautifying 22 miles of roads and interchanges and millions planned to redesign Camp Creek Parkway. Deep roots Clayton County — the 125th county formed in Georgia — originated out of Henry and Fayette counties in 1858 and
was named after Judge Augustin Clayton, who served in the Georgia General Assembly. Jonesboro (originally Leaksville) was founded in 1823 as an important stop on the Macon-Terminus (Atlanta) Railroad, connecting the Southeast to the Port of Savannah. The area was originally home to Creek Indians. Many important historical events have taken place in Clayton County over the years. Specifically, many Civil War battles were fought here, which inspired the setting for the fictional plantation Tara in Gone with the Wind. For the most part, the county was largely quiet and agricultural for 75 years before its transformation into the thriving, progressive urban area it is today. Booming business Clayton County is the fifth most populous but the third smallest county in the state — and its aggressive incentive structure for new and existing businesses continues to attract residents and businesses alike. Many new projects are in the works in the area, including Clorox’s $42 million investment in the Clayton County community, which will bring 85 jobs. ( )
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CLAYTON COUNTY INTERVIEW
Much to offer How Clayton County is poised and ready to expand business, increase film production, improve safety and capitalize on its strategic location for a vibrant future
Jeff Turner Chairman BOC – Clayton County movies and TV shows being filmed here. Not only does the film industry have a great impact on the county receiving revenue from the location sites, but also the ancillary businesses associated with the film industry reap benefits. Clayton County is ranked as a Tier 1 county in the state of Georgia, bringing state incentives for people to move here. With the film industry booming, I see an increase of new businesses moving to Clayton County.
What incentives does the county offer to attract new businesses and bring more jobs here? We are open for business and are looking for quality businesses to move here to Clayton County. We have to stop doing what we’ve done in the past and start trying to attract high end-paying jobs and quality businesses. When you have Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in your county, there should be no reason not to have more quality headquarters and businesses from around the world. We are looking forward to arranging a meeting with Mayor Bottoms and her administration to gain their support and discuss ways to collect revenue for the airport. What impact, both cultural and economic, is the growing local film industry having on Clayton County? With a 76 percent increase in film productions in 2017, Clayton County continues to have an abundance of 82 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | CLAYTON COUNTY
How have Clayton County’s partnerships helped to foster a safe and vibrant community? When I came into office, my primary goal was to make sure that we bridge the gap between the cities and law enforcement. When an officer calls for help or needs assistance, law enforcement agencies are going to be there for one another as elected officials. We need to make sure we properly fund our public safety officials so they will be successful in the field. Due to the current violence against America’s police force, a lot of people don’t want to be law enforcement officers anymore. I find that fact sad because it is a noble profession. Everybody wants to talk poorly about police until you need them, and then when you need them, they’re the best thing since sliced bread. What does the future of Clayton County look like in 2018 and beyond? Clayton County is a growing county. I’m encouraged about our future. Mountain View and other surrounding areas, such as Fort Gillem and the City of Forest Park, have an abundance of buildable land with great locations. Clayton County itself is strategically located on the southside of Atlanta, which houses the world’s busiest airport. We have a lot to offer as a county and will continue to grow.
CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
( ) The Clayton Commerce Center, on Anvil Block Road, will also bring hundreds of jobs and a $38 million investment. Low Temp Industries, a company that has been anchored in Clayton County for 65 years, has started construction on a $14.5 million facility in Jonesboro, and Cummins Power South has begun construction on a $10 million facility, which will create 80 new jobs. A total of 53 existing companies plan to hire an additional 545 employees over the next 12 months and are collectively investing $26 million in Clayton County. The Economic Development Office assisted 557 businesses in 2017, via phone, walk-in or e-mail. Overall, Clayton’s labor force has returned to its pre-recession levels; in 2017, it saw an increase from 131,000 to 134,260. The current county unemployment rate of 5.4 percent is near pre-recession levels as well. This number is expected to decline even further as Hartsfield-Jackson undergoes a $6 billion expansion and Aerotropolis Atlanta continues to work on projects around the airport area. Clayton County has a number of strategies to attract and retain businesses in the county. First, the county has a designated Opportunity Zone located east of Hartsfield-Jackson, which provides
aggressive tax credits in order to spur additional investment. The county also provides special tax considerations through taxable bond-issued financing for qualified operations through the Development Authority of Clayton County. Home to the Atlanta Tradeport Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), Clayton houses a federally designated site created to help businesses remain competitive in a global marketplace via lower duties, reduced processing fees and quicker movement of goods from the port. Building on this, Clayton County has 100 percent freeport exemption, meaning the county exempts tangible personal property, including inventory of goods in the process of being manufactured or produced, finished goods manufactured or produced within Georgia and finished goods destined for shipment outside of Georgia. Clayton County is also designated as a Tier 1 County, which incentivizes businesses with a $3,500-per-job tax credit for five years.
A total of 53 existing companies in Clayton County plan to hire an additional 545 employees over the next 12 months.
Residential uptick Residential home prices in Clayton County are on the rise. The average selling price of a new home was more than $180,000 in 2017, compared to just over $81,000
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CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
Frenda Turner Executive Director – Clayton County Convention and Visitors Bureau
Tourism is big business in Clayton County. Last year, direct spending by visitors reached an all-time high of $1.442 billion. Clayton County ranks number four in economic impact in the state of Georgia’s tourism industry due in part to being the Official Home of Gone With the Wind and the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. As the Metro Atlanta area continues to grow and attract major conventions, sporting events and international visitors, we make sure that we’re prepared to welcome guests from all over the world into our hotels and attractions.
five years ago. While this still trails behind Metro Atlanta’s average home price of more than $324,000, it demonstrates significant added value over the past five years. What is motivating people to move to Clayton County? For one thing, its central geographic location makes it easier for residents to avoid gridlock on Metro Atlanta highways, especially considering the county’s access to MARTA. Proximity to the airport is also key. Nevertheless, the main thing attracting new residents is affordability. The median listing price per square foot in Clayton County is $77, compared to the Atlanta Metro average of $123 per square foot. However, just because prices remain reasonable does not mean home values are not increasing in the area. In fact, as of May 2018 the median home value in Clayton County was $98,300, a 22 percent increase over the past year. Clayton County has one of the highest percentages of renters in the Metro Atlanta area, at 42 percent. This could be explained by the low median rent price of $995 in the area, compared to the Metro Atlanta average of $1,490. However, this 42 percent rental rate is a significant reduction from the 60 percent rental rate in the county during the 2008 recession. Clayton is taking advantage of this real estate uptick. The county is changing its zoning laws to encourage developers to build homes in the range of $230,000 and up to offer a more diverse housing inventory. It is also collaborating with the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, a partnership focused on promoting investment and economic development in the surrounding area of Hartsfield-Jackson (including parts of Clayton County), to provide bus tours of the county in an effort to show developers and real estate agents opportunities to develop land and attract new residents.
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Water and trails Clayton County residents and businesses take pride in their award-winning Clayton County Water Authority (CCWA), whose mission is to provide quality water and services to the community. Recognized throughout the world for its sustainable practices, Clayton was named one of the “Top Water Wise Communities” in the U.S. and a “Utility of the Future Today” by industry peers. CCWA reuses 80 percent of all the wastewater it collects using both natural systems like its 500 acres of treatment wetland and advanced treatment systems such as ultraviolet light for disinfection. The CCWA uses constructed wetlands for indirect potable reuse, treating more than 20 million gallons per day. Together, the wetlands and the existing reuse program have reduced Clayton County’s dependence on water supplied by surrounding watersheds. The CCWA continues to grow its Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE) Program, which certifies small businesses within Clayton County and 10 surrounding counties to do business with the company. The program hosts several networking events and informational workshops throughout the year to assist in supporting small business and increasing program awareness. Another notable infrastructure project is the recent completion of Phase 2 of the International Park/Lake Spivey Golf Club area Clayton Connects trail, adding a mile to the growing trail network in central Clayton County. The Clayton Connects master plan proposes more than 120 miles of new paths and trails and also calls for beautification and rebranding of the Jester’s Creek Trail built in the 1990s. Construction on Phase 3 of the plan began in February 2018, and Phase 4 is in the design stages.
CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
Modern transit Clayton County is unbelievably connected. With an unprecedented 15 interstate exits on four major U.S. highways, Clayton provides access to more than 80 percent of the U.S. population within a two-day drive. Direct rail and road access to the Ports of Savannah and Brunswick support efficient movement of goods and services within the county as well. The county continues to spearhead transportation initiatives that will directly contribute to the overall livability and quality of life within the area. Specifically, the county is currently working on the Clayton County High Capacity Transit Initiative, which will explore different transit alignment and technology options to improve Clayton County’s transportation mobility, accessibility and connectivity in the Atlanta region. It will also provide greater access to jobs, congestion relief, environmental benefits and economic development within the county. Since the addition of two new bus routes in early 2016, MARTA ridership has increased by 17 percent in Clayton County. MARTA has begun identifying
goals and objectives for the Clayton County High Capacity Transit Initiative study based on data collection, technical analysis and public input. This process will define and evaluate a range of potential transit alternatives to best meet the needs of Clayton County. A preferred transit alternative will be identified to conduct an environmental assessment and more detailed technical analysis to prepare the project for future phases of implementation. The High Capacity Transit Initiative study is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2018. Healthy community Clayton County has a diverse healthcare industry, from pharmaceuticals and medical devices to laboratories and health information technology enterprises. The county has a 1:31 primary care clinician to patient ratio. The largest employer in the Clayton healthcare sector is the Southern Regional Health System, with approximately 1,850 employees, physicians and specialists. SanofiAventis, a global healthcare leader that discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions, operates a main facility in the county as well.
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CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Home to Clayton State University’s well-known life sciences curriculum, the county has established itself as an important part of the emerging bioscience sector. Clayton County already has several major companies doing business in this important sector, covering areas from distribution to repackaging to testing. The Clayton County Board of Health continues to address the community’s needs through its own localized special healthcare initiatives, such as the Healthier Generations Project (HGP), Safe Kids Clayton County (SKCC) and the Community Registry of Emergency Donations (CoRED). The Board of Health offers comprehensive health services, health education and outreach programs in order to improve the overall health and safety of the community through promotion, prevention and protection. Workforce development Clayton County’s education sector is made up of three main entities: the Clayton County Public School System, Clayton State University and Atlanta Technical College. These three organizations play a significant role in the Clayton economy due to the impact they have on the future of the local workforce. “Continued workforce development is necessary,” Jeremy Stratton, CEO of the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, told Focus:. “We are always working on this, but the development of a cohesive and coherent workforce development strategy will be a game changer for Clayton County.” Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) is fully accredited by the AdvancED/SACS-CASI organization. The district is made up of 66 schools with a total of more than 55,000 students. With nearly 6,800 employees, it is the county’s second-largest employer. Establishing a district-wide theme of Committed to High Performance, CCPS is providing opportunities for its students to be prepared to live and succeed in a global, technologybased economy through a STEM approach. Evidence of this approach can be found in Rex Mill Middle School, the district’s first STEM-themed school, which was only the second middle school STEM program certified by the state; Brown Elementary School, which became the first elementary in CCPS to achieve AdvancED STEM Certification; the creation of four elementary dual language immersion programs to be implemented over the next three years; expansion of School Choice Programs, Advanced Placement Classes, Advanced Placement opportunities and Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) Programs/Pathways; and the implementation
Joy Day Mayor City of Jonesboro
What is your vision for the long-term growth and redevelopment of Jonesboro? We are renewing our downtown to help our existing businesses flourish. We have many businesses in our city that have been here for a long time, and we owe them that allegiance. We strive to attract new businesses that our citizens and visitors will frequent and enjoy. In 2017, we had visitors from 62 countries. We try to provide a meeting place for them and our residents to relax as tourists or between work hours. We have a large population during the day, so we want to provide an enjoyable and accessible place for them. What makes the City of Jonesboro so unique compared to the other cities around Atlanta? We still have a small-town flavor. We are very big on individual attention to our business owners and to our citizens. It’s like living in a small town, but you’re in the metro area and close to the airport. Our population is small; although 70,000 people have our zip code, the city itself is very small. I believe people want to come into an area where they can walk their dogs and have access to sidewalks. Jonesboro’s crime rate is very low, and our city is clean. Our citizens are focused on maintaining that. They want to maintain the flavor of the city while we work on progressing. What challenges does Jonesboro face in 2019? We struggle with getting developers to recognize that Jonesboro is full of opportunity, poised and ready for new development. We have a hard time fighting our reputation of high crime rates. There are over 80,000 people who bear the Jonesboro address, but only 4,700 residents live in the City of Jonesboro. I don’t believe the crime is due to city residents but to the transient population. Through our Comprehensive Plan, we work daily to spread the word that Jonesboro is a city people want to call home.
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CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
of an International Baccalaureate Program and establishment of the first Cambridge Assessment International Program in Georgia. Elite Scholars Academy (grades 6-8) and Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts (grades 9-12) were recognized as top schools in Georgia by the U.S. News and World Report. With 6,900 students, Clayton State University is the region’s largest higher education institution. The five colleges and schools within Clayton State offer eight master’s degrees and 40 baccalaureate degrees, including an MBA. Metro Atlanta has the nation’s fifth-largest concentration of supply chain companies. In order to meet this local workforce demand, CSU strategically created its new supply chain management program, along with a supply chain management center that supports research and training for people wanting to enhance their company’s logistics and supply chain networks. Atlanta Technical College conveniently provides the workforce with useful career skills that focus on targeted local industries in order to boost the regional economy. Atlanta Tech’s Division of Economic Development partners with specific employers within Clayton County in order to best address the community’s labor force demand. To continue to feed the Clayton economy and further this pattern of growth within the education sector, the community needs more investments to groom a workforce that matches what local businesses want, especially targeting skills in the technology, construction and medical fields.
elementary level on. Arts Clayton Inc. strives to address opportunities and challenges within the Clayton community by educating youth. The organization, founded in 1986, supports arts education for students in their schools at all levels, provides venues and exhibit opportunities for Georgia artists and promotes the arts in community development as a means of strengthening economic vitality and improving the quality of life for families who live, work and study there. Many cultural events are held throughout the county. The Clayton County Schools Performing Arts Center, an advanced facility seating 1,800, hosts professional, community and student productions in music, dance and drama. Additionally, the internationally renowned Spivey Hall is located on the campus of Clayton State University and is known as the best music performance facility in the Southeast due to its amazing acoustics and exceptional programming. The 400-seat recital hall attracts some of the world’s finest performers and hosts a yearround schedule of classical, world and jazz instrumental and vocal performances. Additionally, Clayton County is home to the Road to Tara Museum, the National Archives for the Southeast Region and the International Park.
Georgia has the second-largest film industry in the U.S., and Clayton County has contributed a large part to its growth.
Cultural center Georgia has the second-largest film industry in the United States, and Clayton County has contributed a large part to its growth. The film industry is one of Clayton’s most successful and economically impactful industries. In 2017, film productions in the county increased by 60 percent compared to the previous year, rising from 30 to 55 productions. The area is used as inspiration and location for many TV shows and films. In fact, big-name movies such as “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Flight,” “Baby Driver” and “Furious 7” were all filmed in Clayton County. Arts and culture are major industries in Clayton County and are a community-wide focus from the
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City spotlight College Park College Park is a thriving and affordable urban destination steps away from the world-class Hartsfield-Jackson airport and Atlanta’s bustling Downtown. Peppered with historic Colonial brick homes, colorful Craftsman bungalows and brightly muraled storefronts, this transitconnected neighborhood offers all the amenities of a big city with a friendly, small-town vibe. In 2017, German automaker BMW launched a Training Technical Center in College Park, set to open in the fall of 2018, and plans are in the works for the Atlanta Hawks’ to operate their G-league team out of a new facility in the city. The 100,000-square-foot sports and entertainment arena, dubbed Gateway Center@ College Park, broke ground in February 2018 and is expected to be a major economic driver for the area, hosting a variety of shows and G-league games. Some community leaders are calling it a “game changer” for the South Metro area.
CLAYTON COUNTY OVERVIEW
Jonesboro Jonesboro is in the process of revitalizing its older downtown area in the hopes of turning it into an attractive tourist destination. The city took the first step in January 2018, when it bulldozed several decrepit buildings on Broad Street. Over the course of the next few years, Jonesboro plans to remove additional older, vacant and non-historic buildings near the main street area and replace them with greenspace, restaurants and trendy shops. All of this is part of a long-term growth strategy dubbed Blueprint Jonesboro. With the recent designation of the downtown area as a Rural Zone, the city has yet another tool to incentivize development and revitalization. This designation makes businesses and investors who are creating new jobs, investing in properties and rehabilitating existing structures in Jonesboro eligible for tax credits. The Rural Act was adopted by the Georgia legislature in 2017 and went into effect on January 1, 2018. Jonesboro is the first of nine communities to date to receive the Rural Zone designation. Forest Park Located just nine miles south of Downtown Atlanta and five miles from the busy Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Forest Park’s accessible location has contributed to it becoming one of the largest cities in Clayton County. This diverse city is also home to Fort Gillem Military Reservation, which was acquired in 2012 for $30 million and encompasses 1,465 acres in the northern part of the city. Over the years, Forest Park has struggled with a negative image and is currently working to rebrand itself in order to attract a younger demographic. As part of this rebranding effort, the city has implemented the PEERS platform to make it more desirable to businesses.
Lovejoy Lovejoy is one of the fastest-growing cities in Clayton County. Located just 10 minutes from the Atlanta Motor Speedway and 30 minutes from Downtown Atlanta, its residents enjoy the benefits of a small rural community and accessibility to world-class urban amenities. As part of the city’s unique charm, the mayor and city council created the Lovejoy City Garden, a 14-acre community garden where fresh vegetables are grown and then sold in the Community Store. All residents of the city are eligible to register for an ID card with up to $29 worth of free vegetables a month. The city is also working to attract more big businesses and housing developments for its residents. Recently, the Lovejoy City Council signed off on plans for two 400-house, high-end gated communities, and the city hopes to add a couple thousand more homes by 2020 to support its growing population. Riverdale Riverdale is a diverse and dynamic suburban community located in the “Southern Crescent” of Clayton County, about 10 miles south of Atlanta and 5 miles south of Hartsfield-Jackson. “People are moving to our city,” Mayor Evelyn Wynn-Dixon told Focus:. “We are beginning to see some builders’ growth, too.” Boosting this economic development is the city’s partnerships with companies like Georgia Power and with the chambers of commerce in neighboring cities. Mayor Wynn-Dixon and other leaders are working tirelessly to change negative perceptions of the area and attract more millennials and families. The city is part of the beautification of America program and is also looking into incorporating a walking trail to improve connectivity.
Angelyne Butler Mayor – City of Forest Park
My number one priority is to keep the money in Forest Park. Too often, individuals come to Forest Park to work, only to deposit their paychecks in another city. Likewise, if our residents work outside the city, then they need to know that reliable transportation is an option for them. One way to ensure this is to increase public transportation in and out of Forest Park. As a result, I am in constant dialogue with various transitoriented companies. Each company has a unique footprint that will not only ease the transportation needs of the residents of Forest Park but will also give us another opportunity to keep resources in Forest Park.
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Bobby Cartwright Mayor City of Lovejoy
How does the City of Lovejoy handle its growing population? We are one of the fastest-growing cities in Clayton County. The Lovejoy area’s projected growth in the next two years is over 10 percent. We consider ourselves to be the “last Mayberry.” We are a rural area, but we are heavily populated. We are currently working with retail strategists who administered a study to produce data and statistics for what we need as a city and how we can grow. We have succeeded in creating a safe atmosphere; now our focus lies on what businesses we need to bring into Lovejoy. We traditionally have a lot of the mom-and-pop shops, so we’re looking to accommodate the growing population with places like Starbucks and Harbor Freight. The city council signed off on preliminary plans for two high-end gated communities with 400 houses. Over the next three years, we intend to add a couple thousand more houses for our growing population. How have the city’s amenities and programs helped to make Lovejoy unique? The city provides 19 annual free events, including block parties, trunk-or-treats, citywide Christmas parties and many children-friendly activities. We also have built multiple parks to host free movie screenings. We like to offer these free events to unite the city and keep the children busy and active. Our Elevate Lovejoy program offers mentoring programs to our middle and high school students. We partner with the House of Dawn in Jonesboro, which helps homeless teenage mothers. We were excited to welcome Gigi’s House last year. Gigi’s House helps young women who are victims of sex trafficking. Our Community Center offers programs for all ages. We are extremely proud of the programs we’ve created and the partnerships we’ve established. We find they set us apart from any other city and create a family atmosphere that makes Lovejoy a great place to call home.
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Challenges Despite the myriad opportunities in Clayton County, the region does face some challenges but has worked to respond. In 2008, CCPS lost its accreditation. The district regained its accreditation in 2009 and has remained fully accredited ever since. The current graduation rate for CCPS is 71.7 percent. This is the first time since 2011 that the district-wide graduation rate has topped 70 percent; the first time that all 11 regular or non-alternative high schools are reporting graduation rates in excess of 70 percent; and the first time seven of 11 regular or non-alternative high schools reflect a graduation rate over 80 percent. The county, through the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST), has been deeply investing in its educational system by building new schools and by expanding and incorporating technology into learning. The district has aggressively addressed the need for high-quality instruction by hiring qualified teachers and increasing accountability among staff and students. Bright future Clayton County’s economy is strong, and continued growth and diversification are expected. The government is hard at work on a strategic plan to prepare the region to adapt to the biggest challenges facing the community. Attracting new business is the main focus of county leaders as they move forward with this agenda. But attracting high-paying jobs will not benefit the county unless the residents have the skillset to fill them. For that reason, educating the workforce with innovative baccalaureate and technical programs is at the forefront of the county’s agenda. In the meantime, Clayton County’s industries continue to benefit from significant growth and development, especially in the film, healthcare and infrastructure sectors. With its excellent geographic location, diverse population, committed leadership and the world’s busiest airport in its backyard, Clayton County is poised for a very bright future, indeed. Capital Analytics would like to thank Clayton County for its contribution in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website: www. claytoncountyga.gov.
Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities: Metro Atlanta boasts a rich transportation network but remains one of the world’s worst cities for traffic. In an effort to improve traffic flow and access to public transit, leaders are working together on a comprehensive regional plan, spearheaded by the recently formed ATL In addition, in order to accommodate the exponentional population growth expected in the next few years, a flurry of infrastructure improvement projects are underway to keep the city both powered and connected.
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Transportation, Infrastructure & Utilities in numbers: MARTA annual passengers and revenue, 2007-2017 Passengers (millions)
Fare revenue ($ millions)
130
133
135
129
129
134
139
120
146
156
150
140
147
160
100 80 60 40 20 0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Source: MARTA Annual eport
Georgia energy prices (August 2018): Natual Gas
Georgia
U.S. Average
City gate
$3.74/thousand cu ft
$4.88/thousand cu ft
Residential
$29.63/thousand cu ft
$18.63/thousand cu ft
Electricity
Georgia
U.S. Average
Residential
12.51 cents/kwh
13.30 cents/kwh
Commerical
9.74 cents/kwh
11.01 cents/kwh
industrial
6.22 cents/kwh
7.24 cents/kwh
TOTAL RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPACITY (AUGUST 2018)
TOTAL ENERGY DISTRIBUTION (2016)
648 trillion Btu SHARE OF THE U.S.
0.8% Energy source used for home heating (share of household):
39.3%
3,964 mw SHARE OF THE U.S.
1.8% Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
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Natural gas
54.7%
4.6%
Electric
1.3%
Propane
Other
0.2% Fuel oil
TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES OVERVIEW
Modern mobility: Notorious for its traffic and transit challenges, Atlanta is looking to creative, modern solutions to streamline its connectivity Atlanta contains nearly 460 miles of arterial roads, 47.6 miles of heavy rail and 101 public bus routes. The heavy rail system is operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), as is the bus system, and the Atlanta Streetcar system operates a 2.7-mile Downtown loop. Even with this rich transportation infrastructure, however, Atlanta is notorious for issues with traffic and public transit access. Fortunately, many improvements are currently underway to address these problems. Lay of the land INRIX’s 2017 Global Traffic Scorecard pegged Atlanta traffic as the eighth worst in the world for the second year in a row. In a city used to receiving accolades, this is a dubious honor. However, Atlanta officials remind residents that traffic is a sign of the city’s health. After all, many of those cars on the road belong to employees who flock to the metro area seeking jobs, and those employees are a boon to the economy. While this is undoubtedly true, Atlanta’s population is expected to continue ballooning over the next 20 years
by more than 2 million residents, which could mean even worse traffic if the city fails to act proactively. The good news is that action is being taken. The General Assembly’s move to raise taxes on certain goods back in 2015 helped to generate more than $1 billion annually for road and bridge improvements. Since then, the assembly developed a 10-year, $10 billion infrastructure improvement plan for Metro Atlanta that includes 21 new or improved freeway interchanges and 308 miles of new arterial lanes before the end of 2023. At the local level, voters in Atlanta and Gwinnett and Clayton counties approved multibillion-dollar transit expansions. This is vital because the actual statewide transportation budget for 2019 is a mere $100 million. While these initiatives are certainly good news, realists point out a chilling reality: these billions of dollars’ worth of projects will serve to mitigate the traffic problem in Atlanta but not eliminate it. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), for example, estimates that even if all of the road improvement projects currently envisioned are completed, commute times will still climb with Atlanta’s ( )
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TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES INTERVIEW
Rider focused How MARTA is preparing for Atlanta’s population growth by expanding its services and focusing on improving rider experience with added amenities
Jeffrey Parker CEO & General Manager – Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
Another significant difference is that the region is poised for transit expansion. Clayton County joined the MARTA system, and the City of Atlanta decided to fund an expansion of the MARTA system: More MARTA. Voters said they were willing to invest in MARTA and help improve our services. Additionally, the state legislature passed a transit governance bill (HB 930). This legislation provides a mechanism for 13 Metro Atlanta counties to each hold referendums to invest in transit expansion
After being away from MARTA for about 10 years, what are the biggest differences? There is a marked difference in the connectivity between the importance of public transportation and economic development. The business community, government officials and the transit agency are all working together to build on that synergy. With 2 million people expected to move to Metro Atlanta in the next 20 years, we can’t afford to not work toward the same common goal of providing transportation options within the metro region. This shared vision includes economic development, affordable housing and connecting people to jobs throughout the region.
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In what ways is MARTA looking to enhance rider experience? We’re making a significant effort to upgrade amenities for our customers. Wifi on the buses and trains is a piece of that. Mobile ticketing is a piece of that. One of the things we need to be more focused on is improving the station environments and adding more amenities such as bus shelters and benches. With the Artbound program, we’re doing a lot of things around performance in the stations. We’re also adding physical artwork in the stations, with murals commissioned by local artists. All that gives the stations a good Atlanta vibe. We’ve received tremendous praise from our customers. It’s all about catering to the rider, investing in what people want and giving them a safe, clean, comfortable place to ride. We need to improve on the great work that has been done at this agency to bring our core services to a higher level. You can’t spend all your time thinking about the future and not focus on the services you’re currently delivering. At the end of the day, that’s really the most important thing we have: the hundreds of thousands of people we carry every day.
TRANSPORTATION OVERVIEW
( ) population. According to the ARC, the best residents can hope for is that traffic will be worse in the future but not quite as bad as it could have been. The city is doing the best it can in a challenging situation. The ATL On May 3, 2018, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal created the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (the ATL) when he signed House Bill 930 into law. The ATL aims to improve public transportation by consolidating the administration of the region’s numerous transit systems under the auspices of a single entity by 2023. The ATL will cover a multicounty region consisting of Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding and Rockdale counties. Some notable systems to be integrated into the ATL include CobbLinc, Gwinnett County Transit, GRTA’s Xpress Service and MARTA. The ATL will be organized under the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) and will be governed by a 16-member board. 10 of these members will represent newly created “transit districts” and will be appointed by county commission chairs and local legislators. Linking the ATL to the GRTA administratively will allow for the sharing of resources, an advantage that will be sorely needed given the mere $100 million that the governor allotted to transit authorities statewide for 2019. Another way that counties can augment their public transportation funds under the new bill is through a 1 percent, 30-year localoption sales tax. According to the ARC, 60 percent of commuters in Metro Atlanta leave their home counties to go to work. The ATL hopes to increase administrative efficiency and improve the economic viability of this inter-county commuting. Another purported benefit is the positive power of rebranding. MARTA has long been the target of public ire, with ridership dipping 22 percent over the last 10 years. A major contributor to MARTA’s bad reputation is the implication that its routes favor white neighborhoods at the expense of majority black areas. There is also a perception that MARTA is unsafe and unreliable. The ATL
rebranding hopes to move past this and provide a fresh start for public transportation in Atlanta. Smart moves Another approach to streamlining transportation in Atlanta is to turn it into a smart city. Nearly 100 smart city projects are being discussed for Atlanta, including smart “master plans” for Downtown and Buckhead, but a few notable projects took significant steps in 2017 and early 2018. One such project is the North Avenue Smart Corridor, which opened in October 2017. The corridor spans a five-mile stretch of North Avenue from Freedom Parkway to Northside Drive. 12 different organizations and vendors are testing exciting smart city concepts in the corridor, such as self-driving cars, smart traffic signals and intelligent streetlights, and the city is even planning to operate a self-driving shuttle along the corridor from Ponce City Market to the North Avenue MARTA station on West Peachtree Street. Much of the technology being tested is centered on making transportation in Atlanta safer and more efficient. The corridor was completed using funding from various sources, including $50 million obtained by the city for smart city projects, the $250 million Renew Atlanta Bond and the transportation special local-option sales tax (TSPLOST). Due to the success of the North Avenue Smart Corridor, a second smart corridor was approved. The new corridor will run for eight miles along Campbellton Road from Enon Road to Lee Street. The new corridor will also be about smarter transportation but will have a special focus on public transit. One major initiative will be connecting buses to traffic signals via 4G and radio signals, allowing them to force green lights and travel efficiently down the corridor. Emergency vehicles will receive the same technology. The new smart corridor will cost $23.7 million and has an estimated completion date of December 2021. Another smart city initiative involves Atlanta Streetcar’s 2.7-mile Downtown loop. The streetcars were recently outfitted with the Mindsphere data platform, developed by Siemens, which stores
On May 3, 2018, Governor Deal created the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (the ATL) when he signed House Bill 930 into law.
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TRANSPORTATION OVERVIEW
Transit-oriented development close to MARTA stations is one solution to improving ridership and reducing traffic congestion.
information about previous operations in order to optimize streetcar performance in the future. The technology provides a real-time visualization of the streetcars’ operation so that managers can understand how the cars are operating and adjust accordingly to make them run more safely and efficiently. Finally, Atlanta will manage hectic Downtown event traffic by installing Mobility Insight’s machine learning cloud analytics system and its Internet of Things (IoT) sensor network. This technology is a necessity for Downtown Atlanta, where more than 20,000 cars choke the city streets every day on their way to events at various Downtown venues. Mobility Insight’s system was used to analyze more than 30 events in 2017, and the data it collected will be used to aid in planning for the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta. MARTA Although the ATL will be changing the name of Atlanta’s transportation game by 2023, MARTA’s 96 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES
infrastructure isn’t going anywhere, and it continues to drive economic growth all around Atlanta. Many of the big-name corporations that have moved their headquarters to Atlanta — including NCR, State Farm, Anthem, WorldPay, Mercedes-Benz and Insight Global — cited MARTA access as a critical consideration when choosing office space in the city. This MARTA mania drives more than $1.4 billion in economic activity and supports up to 25,000 jobs in the city. Although 60 percent of all new construction in Atlanta today is Class A commercial space within a half mile of a MARTA station, commercial real estate developers are not the only ones clamoring for a spot near MARTA. Residential property values within a half mile of a MARTA station tripled over the last decade. This has been excellent for real estate developers and landlords but has dinged renters in the vicinity of MARTA stops with rents up to 50 percent higher than those in other areas. Still, this is a positive sign of the city’s growth. As Atlanta grows precipitously around MARTA stations, MARTA continues to expand throughout the metro area. On October 4, 2018, its board of directors approved, in a 10-0 vote, the final version of the transit agency’s “More MARTA” plan. The $2.7 billion dedicated to City of Atlanta projects represents the most investment MARTA has received since its inception. However, despite funding for MARTA’s expansion being approved in 2016, there was still considerable debate over exactly how the money should be spent leading up to the vote. MARTA’s original vision for the expansion included 21 total miles of light rail lines, including lines along the southwest and northeast segments of the Atlanta BeltLine. Additional light rail would also be built between Lindbergh Station and Emory University, connecting people to the major job center known as the Clifton Corridor. More light rail would connect to the Downtown streetcar system and link the northern and southern portions of the BeltLine with transit. The final part of the light rail expansion would run from Greenbriar Mall in the southwest of the city to MARTA’s Oakland City station. Of course, MARTA wasn’t planning to put all of its eggs in the light rail basket. Northside Drive, Campbellton Road, Capital Avenue and North Avenue would see an influx of bus rapid transit. Bus rapid transit consists of larger buses with their own exclusive lanes. Buckhead would also be serviced by limited arterial rapid transit. MARTA also planned
CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW
to up the frequency of local bus service in the near future. The icing on the cake for MARTA’s expansion plan consisted of two new transit centers at Moores Mill and Greenbriar, as well as quality-of-life improvements at other stations throughout the network. The final plan approved in October differs significantly from the earlier version, including a larger allocation for transit along the Atlanta BeltLine and less funding for the so-called Clifton Corridor. It also includes light rail service, and not the originally proposed bus rapid transit system, along Campbellton Road. In its final iteration, the 40-year plan involves 29 miles of light rail, 13 miles of bus rapid transit lines and three arterial rapid transit routes. Station improvements are included as well. On the road The Georgia Transportation Funding Act (GTFA) of 2015 provided for numerous road improvement projects in the Atlanta region, and the first of them is finally getting underway. State officials broke ground on a project to widen I-85 from I-985 in Gwinnett County to Ga. 53 in Jackson County. The project aims to ease traffic congestion on I-85 by adding one lane in each direction and will also add three overpasses. The project will cost $114.8 million and should be completed by the fall of 2020. Other Atlanta-area improvements that will be funded by the GTFA include the addition of new express lanes on Ga. 400 and the top portion of the Perimeter, I-285 interchanges at I-20 to the east and west of Atlanta and a hotly debated trucks-only highway from McDonough to Macon. Speaking of the trucks-only highway, the unique 40-mile stretch of highway would consist of an entire separate road for commercial vehicles only, replete with its own exits and entrances. The project is intended to address safety concerns, given the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s latest statistics reporting that 4,317 people died in highway accidents involving large trucks in 2016. At the same time, it will also alleviate congestion, with GDOT predicting a 40 percent reduction in delays on I-75. Although a promising concept, detractors of the project bemoan its price tag of about $2 billion. Given that this is the first such road in the U.S., critics question the wisdom of spending one-fifth of the GTFA funding on what is essentially an experiment. GDOT is aware of the concerns and says it will hire an engineering
Sam Bond Southeast General Manager Lyft
What were some highlights for Lyft in 2017? 2017 was a year of incredible growth for Lyft as a company, and it was a year when, as a market in Atlanta, we saw similarly phenomenal growth. One of the ways we were able to achieve that was by bringing to market partnerships and collaborations that resonated with Atlanta. Our partnership with Delta was a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the hometown airline. Our users have the ability to link their Lyft accounts and their Delta accounts so that every time they take a Lyft, they earn SkyMiles. That was a huge contributor to our growth last year, and it continues to be one of our most popular programs. How is Lyft partnering with the community to improve rider experience? Lyft has always been about collaboration; we think that’s the best way to partner. We have active and ongoing dialogues with the City of Atlanta and other local governments. We listen to what they need in terms of solving use cases or figuring out pain points and then determining where we can help. We’ve also worked with MARTA on programs like first mile/last mile rides. This program encourages people to use MARTA in lieu of driving to and from work or school by taking shared Lyft rides to stations. That’s a good example of the way we like to collaborate. What are your short-term plans in Atlanta? In a city and a metro area with a population as big as ours, transit has to be part of the solution. We’re excited about finding all the ways we can work with transit to be a complementary player in developing an overall transportation ecosystem that makes sense. Rideshare still represents only about .5 percent of total vehicle miles traveled. As we’ve grown, we’ve gained market share, but the opportunity for the industry to grow is massive. In order to help bring that to life in Atlanta, it’s about continuing to get better and better.
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Kasra Moshkani Southeast General Manager – Uber
We’ve been in Atlanta since 2012, and we’ve seen quite a bit of change over those years. Typically the way someone starts using Uber is when they are traveling to or from the airport. Or they’re going out at night and want to have a drink, and they want a safe ride home. Over time, however, people start to think about using Uber to go to the grocery store or to work. That way they don’t have to think about congestion or parking. That’s the life cycle we see impacting driving here in Atlanta and in other large cities across the country.
consultant by the end of 2018 who will request public input throughout various stages of project development. Another road project that many members of the community are finding questionable is the installation of toll lanes on I-285 and Ga. 400. The lanes would tower at least 30 feet over residential neighborhoods and even cut into some backyards. Construction on the Ga. 400 lanes is expected to begin in 2021 and be completed by 2024, while work on the I-285 lanes isn’t set to begin until 2022 and would take until 2028 to complete. Until then, the discussion between local officials and GDOT is expected to continue, with Sandy Springs representatives especially pushing for alternative locations for the interchanges that would accompany the toll lanes. GDOT’s initial suggested locations — Johnson Ferry Road, Mount Vernon Highway, Northridge Road, Perimeter Center Parkway and Raider Drive — all present infrastructural and traffic issues. However, GDOT representatives acknowledged the potential of one of the city’s suggestions: Powers Ferry Road in Cobb County. Innovation There is no shortage of interesting ride-sharing news coming out of Atlanta this year. First, Lyft has announced that it will be testing a new subscription-based service in Atlanta. The popular ride-sharing service will offer customers the chance to buy a $200 pass and save $15 on 30 rides. Lyft asserts that this model will provide a substantial savings for customers who rely on ridesharing as a primary mode of transportation. Another piece of ride-sharing news comes in the form of a mass transit proposal in the Georgia 98 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES
House that would impose a 50-cent-per-ride tax on ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. The tax is projected to raise as much as $40 million annually for mass transit expansion. The tax is not the first of its kind to be proposed, but it is the lowest rate to date and would provide a novel way for ride-sharing users to help fund local infrastructure projects. In autonomous vehicle news, Atlanta is soon to be home to not one but as many as three “living laboratories” for testing autonomous. The first test track will be built by the city and will run 1.4 miles from Spalding Drive to Peachtree Parkway. The track will cost $2 million and is expected to be operational by January 2019. The track will be used by the Advanced Vehicle Technology Accelerator, operated by Prototype Prime in Peachtree Corners, to bring together big-name car manufacturers and tech startups to realize the potential of autonomous vehicles. Another living laboratory is in the works on Georgia Tech’s campus and will follow a route that enjoys substantial visibility from the student body and the general public. Finally, the previously mentioned trucks-only highway running from McDonough to Macon has also been floated as an opportunity to test self-driving commercial vehicles. Looking ahead The outlook for transportation in Atlanta can be characterized by qualified optimism. Although the constantly growing city won’t likely be traffic-free in the foreseeable future, government officials are undertaking a litany of projects to at least mitigate issues related to transit.
TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES OVERVIEW
Parks and power : Atlanta is a trailblazer when it comes to powering its massive infrastructure network, committed to collaboration and sustainability Atlanta’s infrastructure is its lifeblood. The city was founded as a major railroad hub in the nineteenth century and has continuously built on that legacy to become a major logistics and transportation center. The region remains important for the transport of goods and people by rail and is also now home to the country’s ninth-largest public transportation network, sits at the nexus of three major interstate highways and features the world’s busiest and most efficient airport. In addition, the city is filled with roads and bridges that connect people throughout Atlanta to the places they need to go. When it comes to powering this massive network of infrastructure, Atlanta is a trailblazer. Electricity in Metro Atlanta is provided by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, and despite some plants still burning oil and coal, many are closing in favor of new clean energy-burning facilities. In fact, Atlanta has pledged to run entirely on green energy by 2035. The city is already making progress, meeting the EPA’s ozone standards for the first time in 2017. Facilitating the communication necessary for the throngs of people living and working in Atlanta,
or just traveling through it, requires a robust telecommunications infrastructure. Over the years, Atlanta’s telecom network has been enhanced to accommodate sudden and short-lived spikes in traffic, such as during the 1988 Democratic National Convention and the 1996 Olympic games. The metro area has benefitted from these improvements remaining in place even after the events concluded. Successfully integrating all of these factors has resulted in one of the country’s — and the world’s — busiest trading centers and travel hubs. A major challenge facing Atlanta today, however, is how to continue expanding its infrastructure to meet future growth and seize economic opportunities while simultaneously conserving its natural environment. Major projects The BeltLine One of the most exciting infrastructure projects in Atlanta is also one of the biggest urban redevelopment projects in the country: the BeltLine. A railway line that runs through 45 different Atlanta neighborhoods is in the process of being redeveloped into a transit and
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Kevin Greiner President & CEO Gas South
How is Gas South improving its customer service? We are focused on building stronger relationships with our customers — whether over the phone, in person or through digital self-service. We want to make every interaction that customers have with us amazing. As customers begin to expect more from companies in terms of mobile capabilities, we are working hard to launch more means to connect and manage accounts with via mobile devices. We challenge ourselves from a product and service standpoint to deepen our relationships with our customers, offer them more ways to do business, manage their accounts and choose the plan and services that are best for them. Communication with our customers is key to anticipating their needs. What challenges do you face in satisfying the energy demand in Metro Atlanta? Natural gas production from shale resources has been a game changer for our industry, and now we are challenged with getting energy from where it is being produced to where it is being consumed. This sometimes means that new investments in pipeline infrastructure are needed. The good news is that over many decades, Georgia has made the investments in local gas distribution systems, and Metro Atlanta is exceptionally well served. AGL maintains a distribution system that covers much of Georgia and has 32,600 miles of pipeline. What has been the local impact of the company’s corporate social responsibility activities? We have a strong commitment to the communities that we serve; 5 percent of our net profit is invested with nonprofit organizations that work with children in need. One example is our partnership with the Shepherd Center. We provide funding for the adolescent programs for kids who have experienced brain or spinal injuries and help to rehabilitate them. We also run a very successful United Way campaign each year.
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mixed-use space that is expected to fundamentally change the face of the city from largely car-centric to more walkable and community-oriented. All told, the project is expected to include 22 miles of streetcar tracks, 33 miles of walking and biking trails, 2,000 acres of new parks reclaimed from derelict industrial property and as much as $20 billion in total economic impact. Five miles of trails are already done, and the whole project is set to conclude by 2030. The BeltLine might be over a decade from completion, but much has already been accomplished. The Northside Trail near Piedmont Hospital, the Eastside Trail in Midtown and the Westside Trail have all opened already. The next major segment of trail, the Northeast Trail, is slated to begin construction in early 2020 and should be done by the end of the year. The Northeast Trail will run from the end of the Eastside Trail at Monroe Drive and terminate at the Lindbergh MARTA Station. An expansion of the Enota Place Playlot into the eightacre Enota Park is also underway, with 50 percent of the design plans already presented and completed plans to be presented sometime in December 2018. Finally, designs for the Southside Trail, another four-and-a-halfmile segment of the BeltLine, are underway. Despite the salient benefits it offers Atlanta residents, the BeltLine is not without its challenges. One of the biggest drawbacks to the BeltLine is that it presents issues of urban affordability and displacement. Several legs of the project will run through historically underdeveloped and economically depressed areas of the city, including the already opened Westside Trail. The tightrope that developers have to walk in this situation involves attracting business and investment to these portions of the trail without creating an environment in which existing residents can no longer afford to live. This will be tough considering that a Georgia Tech study reported that home values rose anywhere between 17.9 percent and 26.6 percent more for houses within a half mile of the BeltLine from 2011 to 2015. One attempt at addressing this issue is a law passed by the Atlanta City Council that would require BeltLine developers to build 5,600 units of affordable housing. However, to date only 785 such units have been delivered. Although there’s still a ways to go before the project’s estimated completion in 2030, there is certainly a substantial amount of housing left to produce. Still, there is at least a decade of experience in making projects like this work in cities like Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and New York. Learning from these examples can help make Atlanta’s BeltLine a model for urban redevelopment.
CONSTRUCTION ECONOMY OVERVIEW
Renew Atlanta Renew Atlanta is a massive, $252 million infrastructure improvement and repair project that aims to take a bite out of the city’s bloated $900 million repair backlog. This roster of necessary repairs grew over the course of the last decade, during which there was a noticeable dearth of large-scale investment in Atlanta’s infrastructure. Now, thanks to the Renew Atlanta program, the city will be able to replace street lights, repair and replace bridges, synchronize traffic lights, install bike lanes, build and repair sidewalks and wheelchair ramps and even upgrade certain public facilities and parks — all major quality of life improvements for residents. By 2017, two years after Renew Atlanta was approved, 70 projects had been completed and an additional 241 were underway. These completed or in-progress projects account for $125 million in road projects and $44 million in structural/building projects — accounting for $169 million of the borrowed $252 million. With just under $100 million left, Renew Atlanta is poised to speed ahead with more repairs and improvements around the city. Park Over 400 Another unique project that recently received a boost is the Park Over GA400, which in June 2018 secured a grant of $600,000 to advance the project. The money is slated to be used for topographic and utility survey work on the $250 million infrastructure project, which would cap the highway between Peachtree and Lenox roads, renovate the Buckhead MARTA stop and enhance the area with much-needed greenspace. “Buckhead has an identity that has long been special to the city,” Chris Godfrey, president-elect of the Buckhead Business Association, told Focus:. “As we’re looking to set Buckhead up for growth, MARTA is key. The Park Over 400 will be instrumental, connecting the walkability of Lennox Road and Peachtree. There’s also Path 400, which is Buckhead’s answer to the BeltLine. It’s an incredible project that offers an opportunity for a biking trail through the main artery.” Utilities Atlanta is experiencing a period of rapid population growth, adding more than 500,000 new residents since 2010, and is expected to be the country’s sixthlargest metro area in 2040. While this is certainly good news for the city’s economy, it leaves a pressing question unanswered: will Atlanta’s infrastructure,
Bryan Batson President Atlanta Gas Light
What makes the Georgia and Atlanta Metro energy markets unique? Georgia is the only fully deregulated market, meaning that customers have the right to pick their natural gas provider. We are the gas deliverer, if you look at it that way. What we do is maintain and manage a safe, reliable and affordable system to deliver gas. In the old utility world, there would be only one price and one way. Within the deregulated market, you have the ability to make packages that are unique to the customers. That provides options, and today’s consumers want that. Specific to Atlanta, it’s one of the few major cities in the U.S. that has no bare-steel or cast-iron pipes. If you look at Philadelphia, New York or any other major metropolitan area, there are miles and miles of baresteel cast iron in the street, which ultimately need to be replaced. But Georgia is a national leader in that regard. That makes it so we can handle the city’s growth, and we’re better prepared for the growth that’s coming. How can regulators and policy makers be more supportive of your goals? They actually are supportive of our goals to make sure that we have a safe and reliable system that can support economic development. Georgia has a very constructive regulatory environment. There’s probably no entity in the state around utility infrastructure that has more influence than the Georgia Public Service Commission. Of course, they’re tasked by law to balance interests. You can’t have an environment that places undue burden on a utility’s ability to operate because, in the long run, it’s not good for the consumer, and you can’t do the inverse of that because utilities have to be held accountable to ensure that we are meeting the customers’ needs. Usually we end up where everyone’s either a little bit happy or a little displeased — that is the spirit of compromise. Overall, the State of Georgia is aggressive at being business friendly. Healthy utilities are important to the state. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES OVERVIEW
particularly its utilities, be able to accommodate 8 million residents by 2040? At a glance, Atlanta residents pay an average of $146 per month for basic utilities, including electricity, heating, cooling, water and trash removal. Internet with download speeds of 60 mbps will run an additional $65 per month. Moving beyond the dollars, below is a more detailed picture of Atlanta’s utility infrastructure by type. Water Water in Atlanta is managed by the Department of Watershed Management (DWM). The DWM is preparing for the expected influx of residents by implementing its Strategic Plan, a $1.2 billion capital improvement program that aims to update Atlanta’s water infrastructure so that it can sustainably accommodate the 8 million people who will be inhabiting the city in 2040. The DWM’s Strategic Plan earned it the 2017 Sustainable Water Utility Management Award from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies. Another way Atlanta is preparing its water supply for the future is through the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District). The Metro Water District was created in 2001 and spans 15 different counties and 95 cities. The Metro Water District is among the country’s most expansive regional water management plans and encompasses water supply and conservation, watershed protection, wastewater management and public education. Conservation initiatives in the Metro Water District have contributed to a 10 percent decrease in water use, even as the region’s population continues to rise. Electric In July 2018, Atlanta-area households paid an average of 14.2 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, roughly the same (14.3 cents) as they paid that same month in 2017
and not far from the nationwide average of 13.9 cents. Interestingly, while Atlanta is one of the costliest cities in the U.S. for a daily electric vehicle (EV) commute (at $131.16 annually), it also ranks in the top five cities where commuters save the most annually ($184.39) by driving an EV to work in lieu of a gasoline-powered vehicle. A number of initiatives have helped reduce overuse of electricity in the metro area. For example, the federal Better Buildings Challenge has sparked nearly 600 commercial property owners in Atlanta to identify inefficiencies in their buildings and address them with energy-saving options. In addition, all new buildings in the city are required to meet LEED environmental standards, and Hartsfield-Jackson has made improvements like installing LED runway lights that burn 50 percent less electricity than their predecessors. It’s clear that Atlanta is committed to working toward more reliable and responsible electricity consumption. Natural Gas Atlanta is serviced by numerous natural gas providers: Georgia Natural Gas, Gas South, SCANA Energy, Commerce Energy, Atlanta Gas Light and Infinite Energy. Natural gas prices in Atlanta fluctuate throughout the year depending on temperature, as is the case in most cities, meaning consumers pay more in colder months and less when it gets warm. However, the overall price of natural gas dipped to a 20-year low in 2017, resulting in the lowest gas bills Atlanta residents had seen in 10 years. Against this backdrop of falling rates, one of the city’s major natural gas providers, Atlanta Gas Light (AGL), a subsidiary of Southern Company, is planning to improve its natural gas infrastructure in order to meet the demands of Atlanta’s rising population. AGL sought a $22.3 million increase in its December 1, 2017 Georgia Rate Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) filing, which would amount to a 98-cent increase in monthly basic
Felicia Moore President – Atlanta City Council
We have Renew Atlanta bonds and transportation funds. It is my hope and desire that the council will look at the funding that is left and decide how to best direct these funds. We aren’t going to be able to do any major projects, but things like synching the traffic lights at major intersections are projects we can handle and will be voting on.
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INFRASTRUCTURE & UTILITIES OVERVIEW
By 2040, Atlanta is expected to be the country’s sixth-largest metro area, so the region is laying the groundwork today in order to accommdate 8 million residents.
service rates per customer. $10 million of this would go toward various projects to improve AGL’s gas pipeline in preparation for the projected increase in customers. Some of AGL’s past infrastructure improvements included replacing 2,712 miles of cast-iron and bare steel pipe, removing and replacing 756 miles of aging vintage pipe that was vulnerable to early decay, installing 126 miles of new pipeline to maintain service to 200,000 existing customers and preparing for future growth and extending lines into underserved areas. The rate increase would allow AGL to complete additional, similar projects more quickly and would still allow it to remain among the least expensive providers in the region. Alternative energies Atlanta is currently powered by only 6 percent renewables — about 3 percent solar and the rest through hydro from Georgia Power’s Lake Sinclair dam — but the city has pledged to run exclusively on renewable energy by 2035. This includes a commitment to solar, wind and hydro energy sources. A “solarize” program launched in Atlanta in 2018 creates opportunities for homeowners to afford solar panels thanks to bulk-purchasing leverage. The idea is that the program can save on panels by purchasing them in bulk, which it can do if enough Atlanta residents preregister to buy panels.
Hydroelectric power also has a presence in Atlanta. The state’s premier power supplier, Georgia Power, owns and operates a network of 19 hydroelectric dams and 18 generating plants that provide energy to customers across Georgia, including Atlanta. In addition to its hydroelectric infrastructure, Georgia Power is also looking into the possibility of developing wind farms in certain parts of the state where wind energy is abundant. Additionally, in April 2018, the State of Georgia pledged to fuel a new, first-of-its-kind program that will allow major corporations (like Google and Walmart) to buy renewable energy directly from Georgia Power. Looking ahead Ensuring adequate infrastructure is a critical issue in Atlanta. The city continues to attract new residents in droves and is projected to be the country’s sixth most populated metro area by 2040. In order to accommodate a population of 8 million residents by that time, a flurry of infrastructural improvement and repair projects are underway. While only time will tell if the growth of Atlanta’s infrastructure will keep up with its expansion, government and business leaders in the city appear to be working together and taking all the right steps to ensure that this powerhouse city continues to grow gracefully.
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Banking & Finance: On the heels of tax reform, regulatory relief and continued advancements in techology, Atlanta’s banking and finance industry is running strong. The city is quickly becoming known as a powerhouse in the global fintech world, with 70 percent of North America’s digital payments passing through the region. It also played host to the P3 Conference in 2018. The financial industry continues to be a strong jobs creator, anchored by institutions like SunTrust and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, as well as the state’s 90-plus fintech companies.
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Banking & Finance in numbers: Top 5 Georgia banks by total deposits (billions), 2017:
54.26
SunTrust Bank
36.81
Wells Fargo Bank N.A.
35.76
Bank of America N.A.
14.69
Synovus Bank
11.99
Branch Banking & Trust Co. (BB&T)
0
Institution
10
20
Total depostits
30
No. of offices in Georgia
40
Total assets
50
Bank class Federal Reserve member
SunTrust Bank
$54.26 billion
230
$202.48 billion
Wells Fargo Bank N.A.
$36.81 billion
275
$1.73 trillion
national bank
Bank of America N.A.Â
$35.76 billion
170
$1.71 trillion
national bank
Synovus BankÂ
$14.69 billion
114
$30.53 billion
Federal Reserve member
Branch Banking & Trust Co. (BB&T)
$11.99 billion
155
$215.27 billion
Federal Reserve nonmember
Market share:
22.53%
15.29%
14.85%
SunTrust Bank
Wells Fargo
Bank of America
Source: fdic.gov, Atlanta Business Chronicle
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6.1%
4.98%
Synovus Bank
Branch Banking & Trust Co.
Top 5 Georgia community banks by total deposits (millions), 2017:
739.21
Pinnacle Bank
694.80
Thomasville National Bank
561.95
Morris Bank
523.83
The Heritage Bank
The Piedmont Bank
502.02
0
Institution
150
Total depostits
300
450
No. of offices in Georgia
600
Total assets
750
Bank class
Pinnacle Bank
$739.21 million
15
$846.57 million
Federal Reserve member
Thomasville National Bank
$694.80 million
3
$798.03 mrillion
national bank
Morris Bank
$561.95 million
60
$644.67 mrillion
Federal Reserve nonmember
The Heritage Bank
$523.83 million
17
$573.68 million
Federal Reserve nonmember
The Piedmont Bank
$502.02 million
4
$597.67 million
Federal Reserve nonmember
Georgia banks’ performance, Q1 2018: TOTAL EARNINGS
$2.1 billion TOTAL LOANS
$228.8 billion
NET INCOME
31.0 %
DEPOSIT RATES
3.4 %
Source: fdic.gov, Atlanta Business Chronicle
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Financial powerhouse: Anchored by large institutions and bolstered by a growing fintech industry, Atlanta’s financial sector is a major player on the global scene Atlanta’s banking sector is anchored by institutions like SunTrust, the seventh-largest bank by asset holdings in the country, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, part of the central bank of the United States that oversees the Sixth District (including Alabama, Florida and Georgia, as well as parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee). Invesco, a major independent global investment management firm, is also headquartered in the city. These assets — along with financial deregulation, rising interest rates and lower taxes — are bolstering the metro area’s banking and financial industry moving into 2019, despite concerns over the impact the escalating trade war and heating global tensions could have on corporate America. Emerging powerhouse Atlanta is quickly becoming known as a powerhouse of the financial technology world. The state of Georgia is home to more than 90 fintech companies of all sizes, two-thirds of which focus on digitally processing payments. In fact, nearly 70 percent of North America’s $4.4 trillion in digital payments
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passes through companies in Atlanta, earning it the nickname “Transaction Alley.” The fintech industry is also a strong jobs creator, currently employing about 40,000 people directly and 80,000 indirectly in support industries like transportation, infrastructure and construction. And the industry is only going to continue to grow, according to a report by McKinsey Global Consulting, which notes that global payment revenues are projected to exceed $2 trillion by 2019. On top of the metro area’s fintech success, a 2018 study by the Boyd Co. Inc., a highly respected Princeton, NJ-based corporate relocation firm, named Atlanta one of the world’s Top 40 cities for administrative operations of the banking and financial services industry. The costs of operating a bank’s back office in Atlanta are estimated at about $10.8 million a year — significantly less expensive than in major U.S. financial hubs like New York, Chicago and Boston. The report also noted that the financial sector is one of the hottest fields for corporate relocation thanks in large part to the recent rollbacks to Dodd-Frank and emerging ( )
BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW
Stronger together How Wells Fargo is focused on rebuilding trust with its customers through giving back to the community, supporting small businesses and assisting in vital investment
Chad Gregory Region Bank President, South Metro Atlanta/ West Georgia – Wells Fargo
How has Wells Fargo positioned itself in the local community? Giving back to the local community is one of our greatest strengths. Over the last year, we gave more than $8.6 million in charitable contributions to more than 1,000 nonprofits in Georgia. In Atlanta, we gave more than $3.5 million, and our team members logged about 25,000 hours volunteering in the city and surrounding areas. This year, in April we had our biggest single day of giving back, what we call Community Service Super Saturday. It was our volunteer blitz, and we had 445 team members out in the community for hundreds of hours combined, working at dozens of nonprofits across Georgia. It was so inspiring to see all of those red volunteer T-shirts at different locations, working on homes, schools or neighborhoods. How important is small business lending to Wells Fargo? Working with small business owners is one of the most important things we do at Wells Fargo. Small businesses comprise 99 percent of American business and over 50 percent of the workforce. We know that for our communities to prosper, we need small businesses to succeed financially, grow and add jobs, and we play a major part in that. We have bankers who coach and mentor business owners from their very first business plan through their evolving needs as they mature, grow and expand. We also collaborate with numerous organizations like the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) to support, guide and mentor new business owners. When small businesses prosper, our communities prosper, and in turn we’re going to prosper. We know that we’re making a difference by helping them succeed financially.
What is the impact of foreign capital on banking strategies in Atlanta? We believe foreign capital is a positive thing. When you look at foreign companies making the move to Atlanta, they increase jobs and investment and boost our economy. They help Atlanta move forward, and we want to collaborate with them on that. We recognize that foreign direct investments typically create more jobs and investment in the community. Last year, the international investment team assisted with $1.6 billion worth of capital investment that created more than 6,000 jobs. We’ve seen similar numbers in prior years, and it’s just more evidence of how fast Atlanta is growing and that this city is a great place to do business.
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Jenna Kelly President & CEO, Atlanta Division SunTrust Bank
What has been the impact of fintech in Atlanta? With Atlanta being such a vibrant economy, the technology scene here continues to grow. It is a huge fintech and payment-processing hub in the U.S., and that’s important to us in a lot of ways. From a commercial banking perspective, we’ve dedicated bankers here to focus entirely on technology companies. Every day we are looking at new technologies to improve our ability to serve our clients. We made huge investments last year in our treasury and payments solutions offerings and rolled out a new client-facing portal called SunView Treasury Manager. That’s just one example of how we’re using technology to give our clients a better experience and better access to their banking and information. Are Atlanta banks doing enough to finance and support local industry? We wake up every day thinking about how we can deliver our purpose of lighting the way to financial well-being. We are constantly looking for ways to support Atlanta industry and the community. We have a large not-forprofit and government team here; all they do is work with nonprofit and government entities in Atlanta. We’ve done great work through the SunTrust Foundation, which last year gave a total of $17 million in grants across the country to support community organizations. In Atlanta, that number was close to $5 million. What challenges faceAtlanta businesses today? We do an annual business pulse survey, and this year one of the key findings was that businesses are more optimistic than they were last year. 62 percent felt that the U.S. economy is strong, and 79 percent were even more optimistic about their own business. But the bigger takeaway was that attracting and retaining employees is a big concern. The ability to hire folks and retain them is going to be a challenge in 2019 and could be a big obstacle to growth.
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( ) university programs in artificial intelligence (like the one offered at Georgia Tech). Tax takeaways After passage of December 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, companies like Wells Fargo — Georgia’s secondlargest bank by deposits — were praised for promising bonuses and higher wages to their employees in a true show of trickle-down economics. Wells Fargo reaped a $3.35 billion benefit from the legislation, mostly due to deferred tax liabilities it had on its books. The bank reported that it would be raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour and that about 70,000 of its employees would see some sort of benefit from the reform. After the bill passed, more than 70 financial institutions announced they would increase wages or offer bonuses. Despite taking one-time $2.4 billion and $22 billion hits, respectively, from the tax law — largely due to recalibration of their tax-deferred assets — JP Morgan and Citigroup both expect higher net income and increased returns in the long run. In January 2018, SunTrust — Georgia’s largest bank by deposits — reported $172 million in tax-related benefits. U.S. banks are among the highest-taxed industries, which also makes them some of the biggest winners in the tax bill game. Larger banks will reap the benefits of lowered corporate tax rates, while smaller banks will benefit from pass-through deductions. Wells Fargo and JP Morgan reported that they expected their 2018 effective tax rates to be around 19 percent, nearly onethird lower than what they paid in 2016. In Q2 2018, SunTrust’s effective tax rate was 19.11 percent compared to 29.52 percent in Q2 2017. PNC Financial expects its effective rate to fall even further, to 17 percent, in 2019. “Tax reform was a game changer,” Betsy Evans, Atlanta tax leader for Deloitte, told Focus:. “Everybody wants to talk about it because it impacts every single company and every single person.” New blood According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), there were 1,042 de novo community banks chartered in the U.S. from 2000 to 2008. From 2011 to 2017, the FDIC received only 30 de novo applications for deposit insurance. Of those 30, six were approved, 10 withdrawn and 14 are still outstanding. At the end of 2017, the number of U.S. banks fell below 5,700 — a low the industry hasn’t seen since the 1800s. Some reasons for this significant shrinkage include low interest rates, tight regulations under Dodd-Frank and new developments in financial technology pushing
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
banks to offer more products and consumer-friendly services. Over the past decade, Atlanta’s banks have overwhelmingly been faced with one of two choices: acquire or be acquired. The landscape is beginning to shift, however. Interest rates are on the rise — with three increases in 2017, three already in 2018 and one more expected before the year’s end — and new legislation passed in May rolled back some of the heavy restrictions of Dodd-Frank. Recently, the FDIC has indicated that it is open to accepting applications for new charters. Hoping to capitalize on this warming environment, Georgia is seeing a volume of potential de novo banks that it hasn’t seen since the recession. As of August 2018, three groups had applied to reserve names with the state Department of Banking and Finance, and at least two others were in the pre-application stages. “Georgia continues to have more banks chartered within its borders than any of the other southeastern states,” Joe Brannen, president and CEO of the Georgia Bankers Association, told Focus:. “As of the beginning of 2018, there were 177 Georgia-based banks and 223 banks total doing business in Georgia. That says two things. Number one, we have a diverse and robust banking environment within the state for the banks that are based here. Number two, the largest banks in the country all want to be in Georgia because of the the dynamic nature of the state’s economy and the diverse nature of our metro areas. It’s where the money, the investment and the growth are located.” Loosening chains In May 2018, Congress approved and President Trump signed a bipartisan bill that rolled back the Dodd-Frank regulations put into place following the 2008 financial crisis. Among other things, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act raises the threshold for increased regulatory scrutiny from banks with $50 billion in assets to those with $250 billion. The legislation also exempts banks with less than $10 billion in assets from the Volcker rule, which limits banks’ ability to make risky bets through activities like proprietary trading, and exempts small banks from reporting detailed data on borrowers. In addition, it loosens restrictions on high-volatility CRE loans (HVCRE), which were marked high risk under the Basel III mandate. Under the previous law, banks had to keep more capital on the books for HVCRE loans in an effort to prevent them from damaging the economy by taking on too much risk. This translated into higher costs for the borrower. Loosened restrictions could have a big impact on Atlanta’s CRE sector.
Randy Koporc Regional President & CEO Fifth Third Bank GA
What have been some highlights for Fifth Third Bank in the past 12 months? Fifth Third Bank planted its flag in Georgia in 2009, and since that time we have been committed to growing in the region. The state’s capital is an attractive market for us. Atlanta is a rapidly growing city with a strong university system and a vibrant pro-business community focused on innovation and growth. This year, we made an announcement about our plans to expand in the region. We are actively looking to expand banking centers and grow our commercial, wealth and asset management and capital market businesses to create a unique customer experience in the marketplace. What synergies exist between fintech companies and traditional banks? To adjust to the realities of digitalization, banking institutions are embracing opportunities to collaborate with fintech organizations. The evolution of financial institutions and fintech engagement is fascinating. In a short span, the relationship between the two has advanced from adversaries to collaborators. Both establishments bring unique assets. Banks have strong compliance controls and capital, and fintech companies have matchless product development models, the ability to quickly meet market needs and the capability to expand their footprint beyond an existing banking structure. These unique and separate advances allow us to join forces to meet client expectations and deliver innovative solutions more effectively together. One key partnership to highlight is our agreement with the Atlanta-based financial technology company GreenSky. The alliance speeds up loan decisions for Fifth Third customers and brings new efficiencies and security to GreenSky’s customers. I believe that the partnership between banking and fintech is more important today than ever to offer solutions, personalization, speed, seamless delivery and innovation.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
While the new bill doesn’t completely do away with the strict regulatory regime imposed by Dodd-Frank, it does substantially water it down. Under the new law, fewer than 10 large U.S. banks will be subject to stricter federal oversight, giving thousands of banks — including many in the Atlanta metro area — newfound freedom from harsh regulatory burdens. However, loosening regulations can also come with their own set of challenges. “As a large credit union player, we have to understand regulations when they come out,” David Preter, CEO of Georgia’s Own Credit Union, told Focus:. “It’s not possible to just flip a switch and make it work. First we need to understand the regulations, which means we have to bring in lawyers and compliance officers. Then we have to build compliance into our systems and operations, which means technology and IT personnel. The same thing goes for taking regulations away. Adding regulations was definitely a strain, but taking them away requires almost as much work.”
nationwide unemployment at 3.7 percent — the lowest since 2000 — inflation is slowly creeping higher. The Federal Reserve is gradually raising interest rates in order to prevent the economy from overheating. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 4.46 percent in May 2018, the highest in seven years, before falling slightly again in June. While mortgage rates typically fluctuate with the bond market, a higher federal funds rate can also cause them to increase. As it becomes more expensive for banks to borrow money, this often translates to higher borrowing rates for consumers. According to recent data from realtor.com, Atlanta homeowners can expect a mortgage payment increase of $213 this year. Investors are showing some concerns over the yield curve, or the difference between interest rates on short-term U.S. government bonds (twoyear Treasury notes) and longterm bonds (10-year notes). In a healthy economy, rates are higher on longer-term bonds in order to compensate for potential inflation. However, with the Federal Reserve’s short-term rate hikes, the yield curve has been flattening. Compounding this, long-term rates have been slower to rise, indicating some concern about long-term economic growth While a flattening yield curve has historically indicated softening market conditions on the horizon, it also suggests that present market conditions might be prime for savvy investment in certain product types. In addition, the economic backdrop of 2018 is ( )
Investors are showing some concerns over the yield curve, or the difference between interest rates on shortterm U.S. government bonds and long-term bonds.
Temperature rising In September 2018, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark federal funds rate — which helps determine rates for mortgages, credit cards and other types of borrowing — a quarter point, from 2 percent to 2.25 percent. This was the third rate hike so far in 2018. A majority of policy makers expect a fourth rate hike in December, a reflection of the hot U.S. economy. With
R. Stanley Kryder President & CEO – First Landmark Bank Without strong community banks in this country, in small, rural areas — particularly in the state of Georgia — the sidewalk rolls up, so to speak. These areas need banks because the community organizations need sponsorship. It’s the leaders in the bank who volunteer as board members and make sure the organizations get the support they need. If community banks close, the towns around them suffer greatly.
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Market voices: Tax Reform
James Gnefkow
Executive Vice President Peachtree Planning
For the small American-based business owner, there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity here. Capturing the 20 percent deduction transfers into tax savings, which can then be parlayed into additional capital to hire, to expand and to make capital purchases or improvements. That’s on the pass-through side, which is the structure of most domestic small business. But even on the C-corp side, we’ve already seen corporations give out bonuses to employees. I think it’s going to be an opportunity for people who have always desired to start a business to take a risk and to do it. As far as Atlanta is concerned, our economy is booming right now. Tax breaks will only continue to foster that growth and expansion. I see the reform as a good thing for the city of Atlanta.
The tax reform immediately caused our audit practice and especially our tax practice an incredible amount of volume in helping our clients digest, deal with and try to decipher what all of it means without a lot of guidance from the government or the IRS. Our folks really scrambled, especially to help public companies that had to release earnings and then file their 10Ks in the very near term around revaluing their deferred tax assets, thinking about repatriation of cash and everything associated with that. What we’ve seen, and what we think we’ll continue to see, is that getting the numbers right for 2017 was just the beginning. Now it’s about digesting what the act really says and how we deal with it from a planning and strategy perspective for those running large organizations, especially global organizations. The factors around tax reform are pretty complicated.
Wes Hudson
CPA and Commercial Real Estate Partner Cherry Bekaert, LLP
Glenn Mitchell Office Managing Partner EY
Cherry Bekaert helps companies with historic rehabilitation and the syndication of historic tax credits. We are seeing a trend of buying property — taking old buildings, identifying target properties and bringing them back to life. Downtown Atlanta is a landmark area and is proceeding to redefine itself. A number of companies experienced a restructuring period after the change of the historic tax law credits. The new rule that is phased in for new deals post-2017 has limited the interest of investors at this time. That may change in the near future. Building completion was accelerated to a twoyear period, causing projects to be moved up in the development process. That affected the market greatly.
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Ed Heys Atlanta Managing Partner Deloitte
What is your focus for Deloitte in Atlanta in 2019? We are trying to build on three things in Atlanta. We want to maintain our marketplace leadership by continuing to deliver industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to large public firms in addition to private- and family-owned businesses and emerginggrowth companies. A second focus is to continue giving back to the community. We want to leverage the intellectual capital we have for our pro bono work and strategically identify the areas where we can have the greatest impact. One of the best examples is our current focus on global health and working to ensure Atlanta is recognized and appreciated for the leadership it can provide to that sector. We have so many assets here and such a strong business community. There are a lot of different places for us to plug into when it comes to pro bono services. The third area of focus is inclusion. That’s a priority for us both nationally and locally. One of our signature inclusion events that we’ll continue to emphasize in Atlanta is Board Ready Women, a program that is working to identify talented women in the community and provide them with the guidance needed to take on board positions. I am very excited about this program as it can lay the groundwork for real change in Atlanta when it comes to boardroom representation. What services are seeing the most demand? There’s a lot of interest in new technologies. We at Deloitte like to say that, today, every company is a technology company – and that’s true for not only our clients but for us as a professional services firm. Technology affects our own services and how we deliver them. We’re making large investments in innovative technology solutions to make what we do faster, smarter and quicker, and our clients are trying to do the same thing. Every single industry is investing in technology and startups. They all want to be in the tech business, which is why it’s so important to serve that piece of the market.
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( ) quite different from 2007 and other pre-recession years, with technological innovation, globalization and an aging population suggesting a lower likelihood of inflation rising too quickly. It’s too soon to tell what the future holds, but Atlanta’s financial sector will surely be keeping its eye on interest rates and the yield curve moving into 2019. Growth and expansion In a swiftly changing financial environment, many Atlanta-area banks are expanding to take advantage of favorable conditions, new markets and fresh sources of capital. Additionally, out-of-state banks continue to move to Atlanta, acquiring local banks to capitalize on the region’s abundant deposits. In April 2018, CenterState Bank Corp., based in Winter Haven, Florida, announced it would be purchasing Georgia-based Charter Financial Corp. for $360.1 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2018. This marks CenterState’s first entry into commercial banking in the Georgia market, including Metro Atlanta. Also in April, the parent companies of the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) and Marietta-based First Landmark Bank signed a merger deal, putting First Landmark under the NBC umbrella. First Landmark, which operates three full-service offices in the Metro Atlanta area, will continue to operate under its own name. The combined institution will have about $4 billion in assets. In May, State Bank Financial Corp. — Georgia’s 11thlargest bank and Metro Atlanta’s 17th-largest based on deposits — announced that it would merge with Houston-based Cadence Bancorporation in a $1.4 billion deal. Combined, they will have $16 billion in assets, $12 billion in loans, $13 billion in deposits and about 100 branches across the Southeast. In June, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp, Atlanta’s 16th-largest bank by deposits, announced that is looking to add 10 new branches in and around Atlanta in the next 12 months. This would expand on the 30 locations Fifth Third currently has in the metro area, opening up opportunities to capitalize on the region’s tremendous growth potential. Disruptors In Georgia, lending to small businesses is currently at an all-time high. According to a 2018 report by the Georgia Small Business Administration (SBA), the state saw $1.41 billion in loans last year. In the first two quarters of 2018, $650 million in loans was
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
disbursed to small businesses statewide. This growth can be attributed to increased access to different sources of funding than traditional banks, such as SBA loans and online lenders. A 2017 survey by Mercator Advisory Group found that 27 percent of U.S. small businesses use online alternative lenders like Atlanta-born Kabbage, valued at an estimated $1.3 billion. Millennials were nearly twice as likely as older business owners — at 48 percent versus 25 percent, respectively — to use alternative lenders to finance their businesses. These young entrepreneurs cite ease of the approval process as the main reason for turning to alternative lending sources, as they can typically receive their funding faster than through traditional lenders. This is indicative of a broader trend toward digitization, with a new generation of customers seeking fast, easy and reliable financial services. To capitalize on this changing tide, Atlanta-area fintech companies and financial institutions are increasingly finding synergy as they partner up to provide consumers and businesses with convenient and fast mobile and online service. According
to the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), Georgia numbers more than 90 fintech companies responsible for $118 billion in global payment transactions. The state’s top fintech companies generate annual revenues of more than $72 billion, which ranks Georgia third in the country behind New York and California. On a global scale, Atlanta has partnered with international financial hub London to launch the P20 (short for Payments 20) Conference, which kicked off in October 2017 in London. Atlanta is hosted the 2018 summit at the Atlanta History Center, with 100 heavy-hitters from both cities in attendance. The goal of the conference is to improve the security of electronic payments around the world, thereby igniting economic growth and ensuring that the industry can serve the unbanked or underbanked in emerging markets. The American Transaction Processors Coalition (ATPC), one of the main organizers behind P20, believes that the longterm health of the global economy depends on a robust payments sector — and it hopes Atlanta will be at the center of building that strength.
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Market voices: Fintech
Dani Cushion CMO Cardlytics
For the IT sector in Atlanta, there is still such an explosion of things happening – whether that’s through amazing analytics- and tech-based programs at Georgia Tech, Emory, UGA, Kennesaw State, Spelman, Georgia State, Morehouse and other universities or through the great work nonprofit organizations like Women in Technology (WIT) are doing to empower girls and women to excel in STEM so there’s a solid next generation of diverse talent coming through the ranks. In 2019, I would expect Atlanta to become more widely known as home to great tech companies of all sizes. The support for startups and entrepreneurs coming from organizations like ATDC, Atlanta Tech Village, and TiE make a real difference in driving growth.
While Atlanta is not our HQ, we have been here for quite a while. One of the first FIS acquisitions was Intercept, which is based here. Atlanta has a deep history of supporting startups and in particular fintech startups, going back to the late 1990s/early 2000s. We talk about ‘Transaction Alley,’ and when we put numbers to paper we realize the massive amount of transactions going through the state of Georgia. There is just a tremendous amount of talent around the financial services space here. It’s a great place from the perspective of available talent, innovation and real estate and as a commercial hub through Hartsfield-Jackson. There are a lot of positives about the city.
Allen Maines
Managing Partner Holland & Knight
Bruce Lowthers COO FIS
Holland & Knight is the leader in the electronic payments and transaction industry, both in regards to government relations and in trying to moderate the multiple, overlapping regulations that apply to the industry. We try to help our clients innovate and engage in best practices for cybersecurity and best practices for inclusiveness. With respect to cybersecurity, the chips that are used in credit cards employ 20-year-old technology, and it’s not very safe. What is safer, and what does make sense, is the Token BlockChain, per-transaction technology where a merchant never has your personal information or your credit card number. The only thing that can be hacked is that one little token. It’s a loss for that one transaction, and that’s the worst that can happen. We are working with a lot of our clients to facilitate security technology.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Adaptability The U.S. Treasury Department recently cited cyber attacks as one of the greatest risks to the country’s financial sector, with more than $445 billion lost in 2017. As one of the world’s fastest-growing and highestpaying industries, cybercrime is redefining the nature of security for banks and other payment companies. For many Atlanta-area financial leaders, cybersecurity has become a top priority. “Fintech, the internet of things and cybersecurity are seen as challenges for companies, especially small businesses, and we will use that as an opportunity to connect those companies to Georgia’s tremendous resources and programs for businesses innovation,” Steve Justice, executive director at Georgia Centers of Innovation, told Focus:. The regulatory landscape and consolidation are also at the forefront of bankers’ minds, both in Atlanta and across the nation. “Banks are as clean as they’ve ever been because of the regulation coming out of D.C.,” Justin Berman, CEO of Berman Capital Advisors, told Focus:. “On the commercial banking side, their balance sheets are strong. I think where they continue to be pressed is with regulations out of Washington. It’s hard for Middle America to qualify for mortgage loans, and until they do, that money will not trickle into the economy.” As 2019 approaches and we look toward a bright financial future, there are other important challenges afoot as well. Talent management is becoming critical, particularly for community banks, whose staffs need to be up-to-date and in tune with risk and management strategies. As technology continues to evolve, it becomes crucial for institutions to be able to identify risks before they become priorities. Banks will need to spend both time and money on proper training. While the economic boost promised by May 2018’s Dodd-Frank rollbacks is a positive thing, it will also likely bring an expansion of financial services, shining a light on the process, quality and development of new products. It will become increasingly important to ensure that proper infrastructure is in place to control risk. The financial industry’s reliance on third parties is also poised to become a bigger challenge, as are the intricacies of catering to a restive customer base that wants what it wants and wants it now. But perhaps most importantly, automation continues to accelerate change in the industry’s workforce. In addition to permanent employees and contractors, we will start to see more freelancers juggling multiple banks, fintech innovators and even robots working alongside humans. Banks will need to put extra effort into preserving day-to-day continuity in their business.
Eddie Meyers Georgia Regional President PNC
What are the unique opportunities and challenges in the Atlanta market? Atlanta is an ultra-competitive and growing market. The growth creates opportunities for PNC to differentiate itself from our competitors and gain both retail and corporate clients. Atlanta, like many markets, is real estate driven, and PNC did a great job when we first entered the market by providing financing for several high-visibility real estate projects such as Ponce City Market, Emory Point I & II and Buckhead Atlanta. We also provided new market tax credits for the Drew Charter School and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. PNC’s two primary challenges in the market are acquisition and retention of talent and coverage of the entire Georgia market. That said, PNC continues to grow year over year in Atlanta and continues to make changes to meet both challenges and opportunities. How do you protect your customers at PNC? PNC has and will continue to protect its customers, clients and shareholders’ information, which is critical to our business. We invest heavily in technology and internal training and infrastructure to make sure we keep our customers’ information safe and secure. Our corporate office employs cybersecurity specialists who assess, monitor and adapt to guard against potential threats. Also, we continuously run tests on our systems, which help protect against vulnerabilities. What sets you apart from other banks? There are many significant strategies and values that set us apart. PNC’s regional president’s model, our “go-to market as one” strategy and our culture of inclusiveness differentiate us from our competitors. We make a strong effort to invest in the growth of the communities we serve. We also make a strategic effort to reflect the demographics of the cities and communities we serve.
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Jack Sawyer President, Southeast Region – Wilmington Trust We’ve seen continued growth in this geographic area. I don’t know where I’d rather be in the wealth management business other than right here in Metro Atlanta. With all the Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 companies moving here all the time, lots of executives are making a lot of money. Smaller business owners are, as well. We have certainly seen our share of growth in both assets and people.
Traditional work environments are starting to shift toward more collaboration and inclusivity, with a focus on work-life balance. Bank employees will need to be digitally enabled and customer-oriented to provide a richer experience to consumers. And with increased competition from Atlanta’s booming fintech industry, the region’s traditional banks will need to put more focus on attracting, training and retaining proper talent. Bright future According to the FDIC, 70 percent of the U.S.’s 5,606 banks grew their bottom lines during Q1 2018, while the percentage of money-losing banks dropped to 3.9 percent. The FDIC’s list of problem banks — or those at risk of failure — fell to 92, the lowest number since Q1 2008. In Georgia, the state’s 176 FDIC-insured banks earned a combined $1.04 billion in Q1 2018, an increase
of 35.9 percent over Q1 2017. 95 percent of all Georgia banks were profitable, and 81 percent saw earnings gains in the first quarter. While the FDIC cites the tax cuts for boosting bank earnings by about $6.7 billion, primarily among the largest banks, even without the sweeping reform U.S. banks would have seen about $49.4 billion in profits. December’s tax reform has made an already strong banking industry even stronger. Today U.S. bank capital levels stand at nearly $2 trillion, putting financial institutions in a solid position to increase lending to meet future demand. Banks are prepared to offer more financing as businesses start to capitalize on the incentives and opportunities created by the new tax laws. With the recent tax cuts, regulatory reform and continued advancements in technology, Atlanta’s banking and finance sector is poised for positive growth for many years to come.
Gwinnett County: “Vibrantly connected” Gwinnett County boasts an award-winning public school system, a high quality of life, convenient access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the state’s fastest-growing population. With a pro-business climate, committed leadership and unparalelled demographic diversity, the county continues to attract both new residents and businesses. It is quickly becoming a leading player in today’s increasingly global marketplace.
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Vibrantly connected: With the state’s fastest-growing population, an award-winning school system and unparalleled diversity, Gwinnett is making waves Gwinnett County’s new slogan — Vibrantly Connected — expresses the pride of a dynamic suburban community with easy connections to Metro Atlanta, the region, the nation and the world. Residents enjoy a world-class quality of life and daily direct flights to almost anywhere in the world. With a nationally recognized public school system and the state’s fastest-growing population, Gwinnett’s many claims to fame include being the birthplace of Waffle House and home to the BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu Mandir, one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States. The county’s pro-business climate and diverse population continue to attract new and expanding businesses, both large and small. With its social and economic development accelerating rapidly, Gwinnett is poised for unparalleled success in today’s increasingly global marketplace. From Button to boom Gwinnett County is named for Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett helped draft the state
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constitution and served briefly as acting president of Georgia, then lost in a bid to become governor. In 1777, he died of injuries several days after a duel with his political rival General Lachlan McIntosh, who was never charged in connection with the death. In 1818, the Georgia General Assembly created Gwinnett County — the state’s 50th county — from land ceded by the Creek and Cherokee. There were just 4,000 residents at the time. In 1821, the city of Lawrenceville was founded as the county seat. Gwinnett’s three representatives to the Georgia Constitutional Convention in 1861 all voted in the minority against secession. No major Civil War battles took place in the county. In 1871, the first of two railroads was built through the county, and many of Gwinnett’s 16 cities grew up along the tracks, including Norcross, Duluth, Suwanee and Buford. Tanneries were the first real industry, beginning in 1868 with the R.H. Allen Tannery in Buford. An earlier cotton mill in Lawrenceville was burned during the war. Construction of Buford Dam created Lake Lanier in 1950 and moved Gwinnett into the modern era. Major ( )
GWINNETT COUNTY INTERVIEW
Strong growth How the Gwinnett Chamber is targeting five industries to strengthen the county’s job growth, especially in the tech sector, and supports regional transportation solutions
Nick Masino Chief Economic Development Officer – Partnership Gwinnett; Senior Vice President – Gwinnett Chamber
What industries in Gwinnett County are currently experiencing the most growth? There are five target industries for which we have 1 to 2.5 percent times the average workforce of the average county in the U.S. Gwinnett is 20 percent of Atlanta, so we are really strong in the corporate regional headquarters cluster; in fact, it’s our largest cluster. We have two Fortune 500 headquarters in Gwinnett. Another industry that’s very strong is supply chain logistics. If you make a product, you have to move it. We also have the largest cluster of flex industrial space in the region, at 150 million square feet. It is the largest cluster in the entire state. The other two industries are health sciences and services. We’re really good at bioscience and life science. The last industry where we excel is technology. We are one of the three places in Georgia with the largest concentration of tech companies. Our strongest tech sub-cluster is advanced communication. What sectors do you think need to be nurtured? I believe we’re nurturing the right sectors. Metro Atlanta is leading the United States in job growth. In terms of new jobs, we crush it in the service sector and construction. Metro Atlanta is experiencing the biggest construction boom in the U.S. right now, so there’s obviously huge job growth, and we’re also seeing the largest growth in the technology sector. What are some of the main challenges to economic development in Atlanta, and what are some solutions to solve these issues? Atlanta has a reputation for congestion, and it is an unfair reputation. I had offices in Chicago and D.C.,
and we can’t hold a stick to their congestion. Any successful metropolitan area has congestion. We’re not any worse than anybody else. What we need is a strong expansion plan and investment because when investors are making decisions about where to bring their business, they just want to know that the issues are being addressed and not ignored. We have experienced sweeping changes in legislation. Gwinnett will be a huge investor in the regional transportation solutions, which will include expanding transit and promoting different forms of transit, from bus rapid transit, dedicated bus rapid transit to light rail and even heavy rail expansion.
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GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
( ) infrastructure investments helped support a rapidly growing population. For example, the Crooked Creek Water Reclamation plant, which was built in 1972, has been upgraded and expanded several times and is now undergoing a major $136 million renovation to improve efficiency, reliability, odor and noise control. Near man-made recreation magnet Lake Lanier on the northern edge of Gwinnett County, the state-of-theart F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center is now the County’s primary wastewater treatment plant. It is attracting worldwide attention for using innovative technologies such as returning highly treated water back to Lake Lanier, generating some of its own electricity supply from methane gas and commercial kitchen grease and making commercial fertilizer pellets from byproducts of the treatment process. Conservative fiscal management, voter approval of a series of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) programs and a pay-as-you-go tradition led to low debt, low taxes and one of the few Triple AAA credit ratings among 3,069 American counties. With a population now approaching 1 million, Gwinnett combines the amenities of big-city living with the pleasant charm of suburbia.
Gwinnett is a leading majorityminorty community, with 25 percent of its population born outside of the U.S.
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Diversity Gwinnett is a leading majorityminority community, with 25 percent of the population born outside of the U.S. and a 78.6 percent diversity index. This diverse population has been growing rapidly since the 1970s and is expected to surpass 1 million in the next decade, making Gwinnett the most populated county in Georgia. A new kaleidoscope logo adopted by the county government in 2017 reflects the community’s diversity and vibrancy. The new logo projects a county that connects its residents to the unique people, place and promise of Gwinnett with three overlapping crescents representing Gwinnett’s three river basins.
GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
The crescents’ overlapping layers create many shapes that represent connections to one another, to our state, to our nation and to the world. At the heart of the kaleidoscope is a unifying crest, a symbol of integrity and a token of the unwavering mission to make life better for the people of Gwinnett. In addition to demographics, Gwinnett is also diverse in terms of business and interests. The county is a leader in investment and job creation in the Atlanta metro area. It is home to the global headquarters of Fortune 500 companies such as AGCO Corp and Asbury Automotive with more than 60 international company headquarters, including Mitsubishi Electric, Ricoh Electronics and WIKA Instruments. The county also supports small businesses with more than 250,000 square feet of incubator and accelerator space in at least a dozen facilities — including the newest addition, Atlanta Tech Park, a 43,000-square-foot innovation center that opened in 2017 in Peachtree Corners. Partnership Gwinnett — a public-private initiative dedicated to bringing new jobs and capital investment to Gwinnett County — has worked with local partners since 2007 to attract and retain jobs, cultivate capital investment, support educational institutions, foster workforce development and contribute to Gwinnett’s exceptional quality of life. “Gwinnett County is different in that our cities have a great working relationship with the county,” Steve Edwards, mayor of Sugar Hill, told Focus:. “In addition to having our own Economic Development Department, we participate in Partnership Gwinnett, which provides county-wide economic development efforts.” Hot market With a wealth of thriving downtowns and vibrant retail corridors, Gwinnett County boasts a thriving real estate market. “We do not have a lot of industry in Loganville, so the real estate market is critical,” Rey Martinez, mayor of the City of Loganville, told Focus:. “We have been growing over the last several years and will continue to develop new neighborhoods in 2019.” Home values in Gwinnett — already up 10.8 percent year-over-year — are expected to rise another 6.4 percent by the end of 2019. The median home value in the county is $221,200, according to Zillow, while the median list price per square foot is $111, lower than the metro area average of $125. Median rent in Gwinnett is $1,550, slightly higher than the metro-area average of $1,500. Even with 16 cities wholly or partially within the county’s 437 square miles, about three-fourths of all Gwinnett residents live in unincorporated areas.
Home values in Gwinnett County are on the rise moving into 2019.
Gwinnett is the busiest market for home sales in the metro area, according to the Atlanta Realtors Association, logging 1,086 sales in the first six months of 2018, with the median sales price at $252,000. Gwinnett’s housing market remains strong with high demand moving into 2019.
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Daniel Kaufman President & CEO Gwinnett County Chamber
What roles do technology, life sciences and healthcare play in Gwinnett’s economy? The medical school in Athens is new and a straight shot from Gwinnett, so ideally we want this to become our bioscience corridor. Between the programs at Gwinnett Medical Center and the students studying bioscience at Georgia Gwinnett College, we want development occurring along the road connecting Lawrenceville and Athens to be based primarily around bioscience and healthcare. In terms of information technology, we are also strong. We are the fifth-largest gaming center in the U.S. What sector is most important to provide a better quality of life to the county’s residents? Education continues to be the foundation of success in this community. As the county has grown dramatically in previous decades, and as the demographics have changed dramatically in the last 25 years, the continued success of the Gwinnett County Public School System is truly extraordinary. It was recognized as one of the finest urban school systems in the country and is by far the largest in the state of Georgia. Combined with the the success of the workforce development programs out of Gwinnett Tech preparing people for 21st-century jobs and Georgia Gwinnett College’s 13,000 students, we have created an educated workforce and citizenry that has added so much to our community. What characteristics of Atlanta’s economy stimulate the most international trade? First and foremost: connectivity. You can get to anywhere in the world from Atlanta. The airport is an enormous asset for the entire Metro Atlanta region. We also have a temperate climate, a reasonably low cost of labor, stable energy costs and well-developed and cost-efficient infrastructure. The economics of international trade are strategic, and the dynamics of that trade work very much to our advantage here in Atlanta. 124 | Focus: Atlanta 2019 | GWINNETT COUNTY
The county is also seeing ramped-up interest in mega developments. Anchored by the Infinite Energy Center, Revel is a $900 million, entertainment-focused mixed-use venture by North American Properties on 118 acres in Duluth. CBRE is managing leasing for the development’s 750,000 square feet of high-tech office space. Revel will also have 50 single-family homes, 840 multifamily residences, 400,000 square feet of street retail space including a bowling alley, a 300-room hotel and a food hall. The community is expected to open in 2020 with Gigabit connectivity and high-end concierge and retail experiences. The county seat of Lawrenceville is welcoming a major development spearheaded by George Berkow, the Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Company. SouthLawn is a $200 million, 32acre mixed-use project that includes more than 15,000 square feet of retail space, 600 single- and multifamily residences and a town green connecting city hall, the police station and Lawrenceville’s historic downtown. Gwinnett County will relocate the new Lawrenceville Branch Library to an area adjacent to the historic Hooper-Renwick School, which the city will preserve as part of the overall project. Commissioners agreed in 2018 to buy part of the OFS Brightwave Solutions site on I-85 near Jimmy Carter Boulevard to help stimulate economic development in the area. OFS will keep 66 of its 169 acres and expand its fiber-optic cable manufacturing operations there. The Urban Redevelopment Agency of Gwinnett County is buying about 103 acres, including an office building and another building that currently houses film production studios. The site has been a principal production facility for more than 35 movie and TV productions in recent years. A Venture Drive Overlay and active Community Improvement District are upgrading infrastructure and attracting new investments to an area surrounding the county’s first shopping mall, Gwinnett Place. Across the county overlooking Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park, Gwinnett County leaders have purchased the site of the 1996 Olympic tennis complex and will look to the private sector to redevelop the site as an economic catalyst for the area. Warehouse space is also big business in Gwinnett. Eberly & Associates got approval in 2018 for a fourstory, 640,000-square-foot distribution center that could employ up to 1,800 workers. The project is located northeast of Stone Mountain Park with expected completion in 2020.
GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
Going green In 2018, Gwinnett commissioners approved a Countywide Trails Master Plan, with the ultimate goal to create a seamless, interconnected 320-mile network of bike and pedestrian trails for recreation and transportation. Nine “Signature Trails” are identified as regionally significant pathways offering amenities and connectivity. Some trails, like the Sugar Hill Greenway, are spearheaded by cities, while others built by the county often stretch across multiple jurisdictions and even into neighboring counties. With trail access from about three dozen county parks and at least 100 miles already completed, the plan’s Core Network Trail is projected to be complete by 2040. Gwinnett County is committed to environmental sustainability to ensure a healthy future for its younger generations. It was the first county to achieve the Gold
level and is now seeking Platinum status in the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) Green Communities Program, which promotes energy efficiency and green building efforts. The ARC was the first in America to transform a region by promoting sustainability through green certification. In 2009, Gwinnett launched its Environmental Sustainability Program to preserve natural resources and reduce government impact on the environment. These efforts include water and energy conservation and reducing air pollution and waste throughout the county. Gwinnett has demonstrated its commitment with many LEED-certified buildings, including the Environmental and Heritage Center, Hamilton Mill Public Library, Morgue/Medical Examiner facility and the Police Training Center. The county’s water conservation efforts have earned an international reputation. The state-of-the- ( )
Gwinnett County is committed to environmental sustainability to ensure a healthy future for its younger generations.
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GWINNETT COUNTY INTERVIEW
Rebranding How Gwinnett County is revamping its image to reflect both its demographic and business diversity and adopting technology to create intelligent traffic systems
Glenn Stephens Commissioner– Gwinnett County
Knowing that transportation doesn’t just mean interstates and major arteries but also our regular twolane roads and trails, we conducted a robust citizen outreach to determine exactly how they wanted us to prioritize transportation spending and where they felt the pressure points were in the county. One of the things we learned through this process is that I-85, whether we like it or not, is our main street. It’s our thoroughfare. It’s where our residents tend to go to connect north or south. We’re working closely with GDOT on improving I-85. No fix is cheap, but the state is stepping up to the plate. We also have miles and miles of trails. There’s a long-range goal of having trails that traverse the entire county, not just to try to relieve the congestion but also because folks love trails. Property values increase in and around most multi-use trails, and with our population continuing to grow, there will be more walkability as density increases in certain parts of the county.
What were some highlights for Gwinnett County in 2017? Toward the end of 2017, the county adopted a logo for the first time in its history. We changed our seal as a part of that as well, but we’ve never had a brand or logo before. The logo is a kaleidoscope to reflect the diversity in Gwinnett — and not just the demographic diversity, but also the diversity of interests and businesses. At its core, the crest symbolizes integrity. If you don’t have integrity at the heart of everything you do, you’re going to go off track at some point. What are your plans to ease transportation issues connecting Gwinnett to Downtown Atlanta? We just entered the final stages of our required comprehensive transportation development plan.
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How is Gwinnett adopting new technology to help address some of today’s traffic challenges? Many of us have become believers in autonomous vehicles; they will eventually have their place on our roadways. The smart corridor that we’re developing along Peachtree Industrial Boulevard is incredible. It’s one of the first of its kind in the state. On Pleasant Hill, we have an intelligent traffic management system that monitors traffic lights in real time through computers, as opposed to a traffic control center that relies on people. The same way autonomous vehicles will benefit roadway congestion, traffic signals can be managed earlier and more efficiently through this intelligent traffic system. They’re going to be able to do, in real time, what it used to take people an hour to do. I think you’ll see Gwinnett be a leader in adopting that new technology.
GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
Philip Wolfe President & CEO – Gwinnett Medical Center
While the community is still at the heart of everything we do, our hospital has expanded to that of a regional health system. As the most diverse and second most populous county in the state, our community’s needs are ever changing, and we’ve taken the opportunity to evolve, consistently adding new services and physician partners. From sophisticated neurological care and physician residency programs to our culturally based community support services, Gwinnett Medical Center continues to be a visionary institution and anticipates the future needs of the region.
( ) art F. Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Center uses byproducts to generate electricity and make fertilizer as it returns highly treated wastewater to its source in Lake Lanier. In 2018, officials broke ground on a global Water Innovation Center for applied research, technology innovation, workforce training and public engagement. Transit plans Atlanta is fourth on a list of America’s most congested cities. The I-285 and I-85 interchange near the entrance to Gwinnett may be the nation’s most congested freight bottleneck, with thousands of Gwinnett drivers passing through daily going to and from Atlanta. State and regional leaders recognize the urgent need for improved transportation options. The state opened its first Georgia Express Lanes in Gwinnett County in 2011 and has issued almost 690,000 active Peach Passes to date. Gwinnett will also see two new interchanges and additional express lanes on I-85 over the next few years. Gwinnett commissioners have already installed more than 225 miles of fiber optic cable and 250 traffic cameras to help control the county’s 700 signalized intersections. They approved new smart technology in 2018 for four additional high-traffic corridors. The state is providing nearly 80 percent of the $4.4 million cost, with the remaining 20 percent coming from SPLOST funds. The Gwinnett Traffic Control Center, established for the 1996
Olympic Games, monitors traffic volume and controls signals to improve real-time traffic flow. Connect Gwinnett, a transit development plan adopted in 2018, recommends a heavy rail line connecting the Doraville MARTA station to a new multimodal hub in the Jimmy Carter Boulevard area. The state had already approved legislation to create a regional transit agency called the ATL to develop a regional transit plan and oversee all federal and state transit funds in the 13-county Metro Atlanta region. Gwinnett voters have the opportunity to decide in the spring of 2019 whether to approve a plan to join MARTA, which would operate and expand the existing Gwinnett Transit system. A new transitfunding sales tax would go into effect through June 2057. The Connect Gwinnett vision outlines short-, mid- and long-term improvements to Gwinnett Transit, like expanded local and express bus routes and a key stretch of bus rapid transit near the busy I-85 corridor. The plan aims for balance both geographically and in terms of modes of transit.
Gwinnett commissioners approved new smart technology in 2018 for four additional high-traffic corridors.
Healthy community A merger between Gwinnett Health System, parent of Gwinnett Medical Center, and Northside Hospital was announced in 2015. When completed, the merger will result in a hospital system with 1,479 beds, 21,000 employees and 3,500 physicians serving Gwinnett, Cherokee and Forsyth counties.
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GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
Gwinnett Medical Center’s primary care facility in Suwanee just celebrated its one-year anniversary and already has plans to grow, after seeing more than 5,500 patients. Eastside Urgent Care — voted Best of Gwinnett 2017 — recently added a new robotic orthopaedic surgery center and a new Grayson facility, the hospital’s fourth walk-in clinic in the area. Gwinnett County has also provided chronic care assistance grants to two nonprofit healthcare organizations: Hope Clinic and Good Samaritan Health Center. The grants help provide resources to manage chronic diseases and reduce calls for onsite emergency medical services, transport and hospital emergency room visits. To also help those who can’t afford insurance or high-cost medical care, the Gwinnett County Health Department offers an array of services with a slidingscale fee regardless of income. Expanding minds Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is the largest school system in Georgia and the 14th largest in the country, with 143 schools and more than 180,000 students. The system earned national recognition for excellence by winning the Broad Prize for Urban Education in 2010 and again in 2014. Forbes named GCPS the best employer for women in Georgia and number 10 in the U.S. in 2018. Also high ranking was the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, which U.S. News & World Report ranked best high school in Georgia and number 31 in the nation in 2018. The City of Buford operates its own award-winning school system, and there are also many private school options in Gwinnett, including the Greater Atlanta
Stanley “Stas” Preczewski President – Georgia Gwinnett College
We have the single largest undergraduate information technology program in the country. Every faculty member at Georgia Gwinnett College is issued a cellphone and required to put his or her cellphone number on the syllabus for every course. We do not have issued office hours because the idea is to make ourselves available 24/7 to our students, who balance both work and school. We make sure that our students are provided with the highest quality of service and availability. Every classroom is high tech and uses the latest smart technology.
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GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
Gwinnett County hosts a variety of festivala and events year-round to keep its residents and visitors entertained.
Lisa Anders Executive Director – Explore Gwinnett
As part of my current role as head of Gwinnett’s tourism office, I am also the Camera Ready liaison to the film and TV industry. We are home to two major production studios (Eagle Rock TV Studios and OFS) and currently have about 10 projects being filmed. Georgia is such a popular place for people to produce films and television for a lot of reasons, but the main draw is our robust tax incentive for filming. Additionally, we have almost every landscape imaginable, from new and old buildings to farm and urban backdrops to mountains and coastline.
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Market voices: Mayors’ Corner
Mike Mason
Mayor City of Peachtree Corners
Peachtree Corners came to a tipping point. From an economic development viewpoint, our property values were dependent on the jobs in Tech Park. But by the early 2000s, Tech Park was beginning to look like an aging, suburban office park. A lot of the high-tech stuff — Hayes Microcomputer, Scientific Atlanta, a lot of those names — had already merged, sold off or become other things. There were other places that were more exciting from a tech point of view. Plus, Downtown Atlanta and Midtown had been discovered. This was no longer the high-tech place that it used to be. When you reach a tipping point, you need to ask whether you want your community to be bypassed or whether you want to revitalize it. So we became a city. This is our sixth year as an incorporated city.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve been focused on the density aspect of our downtown. We’ve learned from other experts that if we want a downtown with 10 to 15 restaurants to survive, we need about 2,000 residential options within walking distance of these restaurants. We are at 1,500 right now, and we’ll be over 2,000 within 18 months. We have new residential housing options — multifamily, townhouses, single-family homes and apartments — coming online. We’re also buying lots in some of the older subdivisions that wrap around downtown in order to create a path that will connect right to downtown.
Craig Newton Mayor City of Norcross
Nancy Harris Mayor City of Duluth
We had a study done in the 1980s on our downtown sector to determine what could be done to re-energize the area. The first thing we found was that we had something unique: our downtown has historic character that is impossible to reproduce. At the same time, we knew we needed to grow the sense of our downtown being a gathering place. We needed a walkable community with everything — business, pleasure and government — happening at the center of it all. The challenge for us was marrying these ideas — embracing change while keeping our historic identity, embracing growth while keeping what makes us Norcross. We continue to invest in our downtown, but we are expanding eastward and southward to further re-develop around the downtown area.
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GWINNETT COUNTY OVERVIEW
Christian School, the second-largest independent school in Georgia. For higher education, Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville was established in 2005 with 118 students and has grown rapidly to more than 12,000 in 2017. More than 8,000 were enrolled full-time and 70 percent were Gwinnett residents. In 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked Georgia Gwinnett College the number 10 public school in the southern region and the most ethnically diverse southern regional college, public or private. The school offers 17 majors with more than 45 areas of concentration, small classes and flexible scheduling to accommodate its students’ busy schedules. Gwinnett Technical College, with campuses in Alpharetta and Lawrenceville, provides career-focused education to at least 11,000 students. The school offers more than 140 associate degree, diploma and certificate programs, along with hundreds of seminars, workshops and specialized training courses. Gwinnett Tech is also the largest provider of corporate training services in the county. Gwinnett Tech believes in promoting technical education early so the college partners with Kids 4 Coding, a youth technology and design education company. It offers small-group sessions teaching seven- to 15-year-old students how to write computer code.
The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine established a campus in Suwanee in 2005 to help meet a growing need for healthcare providers in the South. Today, the school offers a wide range of health-related degree programs. Movies and more Georgia has become one of the nation’s leading locations for the film industry, and Gwinnett County plays a major role. In 2017 alone, the county issued 95 permits for 48 film projects. Gwinnett is home to two major TV/film studios along with many smaller production and post-production shops. Eagle Rock TV Studios, with more than 470,000 square feet, is the largest studio facility under one roof in the U.S. It has been home to such feature films as “Mother’s Day” and “Escape Plan 2.” The nearby Atlanta Media Campus at OFS has hosted several Marvel productions and provided sound stages for films like “Hunger Games” and the “Divergent” franchise. The campus also houses one of the largest backlots in Georgia. Among Gwinnett’s more popular filming locations are Gwinnett Place Mall, the Infinite Energy Center, Gwinnett County Pre-Trial Detention Center and historic downtowns like Norcross and Lawrenceville. Gwinnett County also has a variety of arts and culture options for residents and visitors alike. With more than
Gwinnet is home to two major TV/ film studios, along with many smaller production and post-production shops.
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The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is a traditional Hindu mandir, or place of worship, inaugurated in 2007. Located in the City of Lilburn, it is the largest mandir of its kind outside of India.
100 hotels, 50 special event venues and numerous downtown areas, Gwinnett offers diverse and authentic culinary offerings and growing nightlife. Other entertainment and cultural attractions include the Infinite Energy Center, the BAPS Swaminarayan Hindu Mandir, Netherworld and a National Gold Medal county parks system of 50 parks, some featuring aquatic centers and historic sites. The county’s official travel office, Explore Gwinnett, says the tourism industry has a $1.2 billion economic impact on the county. Professional sports teams in Gwinnett include the minor-league baseball Gwinnett Stripers and Atlanta United, a soccer club playing at Coolray Field. The Gwinnett Gladiators play ice hockey, and the Georgia Swarm plays professional lacrosse at the Infinite Energy Center Arena. Looking ahead In the Metro Atlanta area, the many challenges ahead include transportation, redevelopment, affordable housing, healthcare access and workforce development. In Gwinnett, leaders are carefully planning and taking action today to ensure a better tomorrow for future generations.
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“Gwinnett County is closing in on 1 million residents, so we are a strong player in Metro Atlanta,” Barbara Bender, mayor pro tem of the City of Snellville, told Focus:. “All the cities work well together. We also have a great relationship with the county, and the county commissioner works well with us. It’s a collaborative environment, and it makes us a huge presence at the state legislature.” A long tradition of civic involvement, fiscal conservatism and pay-as-you-go financing have built an enviable quality of life based on solid infrastructure, great education, plentiful employment opportunities and attractive amenities for shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation. Accelerating development and a rapidly growing population are positioning a vibrantly connected Gwinnett County to greatly expand its role on the global stage with resounding success. Capital Analytics would like to thank Gwinnett County for its contribution in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website: www. gwinnettcounty.com.
Healthcare: Atlanta is a recognized global leader in healthcare and home to such industry powerhouses as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Cancer Society. With continued growth and expansion of its existing healthcare institutions and the emergence of innovative new health-tech hubs and mutually beneficial partnerships, Atlanta’s healthcare industry is poised to continue its growth into 2019, despite the strain of an increasing population and continued uncertainty surrounding healthcare policy.
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Picture of health: Metro Atlanta continues to be a global healthcare leader, pioneering in areas like health IT, innovation and cutting-edge research Metro Atlanta is home to the headquarters of multiple renowned healthcare organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, the Carter Center and the Task Force for Global Health. In addition, the region is home to over 40 premier hospitals that treat a diverse group of patients of all races and ages. Georgia is also considered the national health IT capital, with more than 200 companies in this field employing over 30,000 Georgia residents. This amounts to a $5-billion-a-year industry, and much of it is centered on Atlanta. In fact, eight health IT companies in Atlanta made Healthcare Informatics’ list of the top 100 health IT vendors. The growth of this sector remains strong in the metro area thanks to the presence of these top companies, as well as the city’s world-class academic institutions and hospitals. As Atlanta’s population continues to grow in both absolute terms and diversity, it is vital that the city continue to expand its healthcare system in order to accommodate its new residents and maintain its growth into a vibrant, healthy global metropolis.
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Growth and expansion 2018 was a busy year for transactions involving area hospitals, which made moves to expand both in terms of square footage and services offered. One major deal was Piedmont Healthcare’s acquisition of Columbus Regional Health, finalized in March. The purchase is not likely to be the last by Piedmont, with experts speculating about Piedmont’s ambitions for a statewide healthcare strategy. Piedmont asserts that its growth will be beneficial for patients, as the consolidation of healthcare providers brings savings in overhead costs that can then be passed on to patients. Insurance providers are skeptical, though, and point out that previous expansions have failed to provide the promised savings. Speaking of Piedmont’s growth, construction is currently underway on the Piedmont Hospital Tower, located on Piedmont Hospital’s Buckhead campus. The tower will be 16 stories tall and cost $500 million to build. When all phases are finished in 2026, the tower will house 408 beds and 10 operating rooms. Another substantial transaction being finalized this year is the merger of the Northside Hospital Health System and Gwinnett Medical. The state attorney ( )
HEALTHCARE INTERVIEW
Ecosystem of care How Emory Healthcare is growing both in terms of physical expansion locally and as a global leader through its focus on innovation, education and patient care
Dr. Jonathan Lewin President, CEO & Chairman of the Board – Emory Healthcare
What were some highlights for Emory Healthcare in the past year? The past year has been one of growth in terms of access both within the communities we serve and in our main hospitals. We added a new Emory University Hospital tower with 232 beds on our Clifton Road campus, providing state-of-the-art facilities for tertiary/ quaternary care in cancer and organ transplantation. We have also continued to develop our regional network around the state. This is significant because rather than patients having to be transported to us in Atlanta, we can provide services like TelePresence consultations, which allow patients to remain at home where they are most comfortable. We now have 24 hospitals and 15 health systems across the state that are affiliates of Emory Healthcare. We also announced the construction of a new Winship Cancer Institute Tower on our Midtown campus. And during the past year, we achieved the Comprehensive Cancer Center designation, which means the National Institutes of Health have designated us as one of this country’s most elite cancer research and care providers. What is Atlanta’s role as a leader in healthcare? We view Atlanta as a gateway to the world. Having an airport as dynamic and easy to navigate as HartsfieldJackson is a game changer. We see a tremendous number of patients who need complex specialty care able to travel here from all corners of the globe. And through our close work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we have begun to collaborate with governments and health systems globally, helping them create their own CDC-like organizations. Our organization is also a center for innovation in areas like infectious disease treatment and prevention, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia
and other brain health issues, as well as educating future generations of healthcare providers as physicians, physician assistants, nurses and other health professions. What is Emory’s biggest strength in the healthcare sector? We are able to take advantage of our size and collaborative approach to tackling illness. One of the areas where we are most unique is our Brain Health Center. We were recently named a national resource for Alzheimer’s research by the National Institutes of Health. We take a collaborative approach that brings together resources and experts in psychiatry, neurology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology and neuropathology. As we continue to live longer lives, it is inevitable that we are going to have a tsunami of brain-related cases coming our way. For that reason, we are focusing on creating an ecosystem of innovation, education and care. That’s special.
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( ) general has already approved the deal, with only federal approval still outstanding. When the merger is finally approved, it will result in a healthcare system comprising Northside Hospital in Sandy Springs, Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and hospitals in Canton, Cumming and Duluth. DeKalb Medical and Emory University also received approval of their strategic partnership from the state attorney general in August 2018. The deal will bring all of DeKalb’s hospitals under the Emory administrative umbrella. The deal represents a significant boon for DeKalb, which had lagged financially while other regional hospitals entered similar partnerships. Now DeKalb is part of the impressive Emory academic health system, promising an even better quality of care to its patients and a brighter financial future for its hospitals. Another exciting piece of news for Emory comes in the form of a medical partnership with the Atlanta Falcons. The deal, inked in March 2018, makes Emory Healthcare the official healthcare provider of the NFL franchise. This deal provides the healthcare system with a chance to engage in community outreach and education using the Falcons’ brand. Emory is also party to the largest expansion of the City of Atlanta in more than 60 years. The city council unanimously voted to annex Emory University and the CDC campus on Clifton Road, adding 744 acres to the city’s boundaries. An additional 2,000 people will also now be Atlanta residents. This annexation has several important impacts for the city. On one hand, it brings the Clifton Corridor within Atlanta’s city limits, making it eligible for the development of a MARTA rail line. On the other hand, the annexation will tentatively result in the absorption of the DeKalb County School District by the Atlanta Public School (APS) system. This would cost DeKalb County tax revenues of $2.5 million, which DeKalb officials decry as unfair given prior promises by APS that the DeKalb County School District would remain unaffected by the annexation. DeKalb County has filed suit, seeking an immediate injunction preventing the expansion of APS into its school district and further seeking a permanent injunction that would invalidate the annexation ordinance. This last point, if successful, could have considerable ramifications for the city.
Finally, other notable benchmarks for the growth and success of Atlanta’s healthcare industry in 2018 include the opening of a new Children’s Hospital of Atlanta (CHOA) facility on its North Druid Hills Campus, which will house more than 20 pediatric specialties and clinics, and the groundbreaking for Anthem’s new technology center in Atlanta’s Tech Square, which is slated to open in 2020 and will house 3,000 healthcare IT professionals. Politics of health Another important source of change in Atlanta’s healthcare field is the ever-evolving field of federal, state and local healthcare policy. In May 2017, House Republicans passed their version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which aimed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed under the Obama administration, as well as defund Planned Parenthood. As of July 2017, the Senate had failed to pass any version of the act or repeal the ACA. While there has not been much new movement in 2018, the potential impact of these acts, should they resurface, has those in the healthcare field keeping a keen eye on Congress. The inertia of the AHCA is not the only news in federal healthcare law. The Trump administration has been busy gradually chipping away at the ACA despite Republicans’ inability to repeal the act outright. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in December 2017, repealed the ACA’s tax on individuals who fail to procure health insurance by 2019, known as the individual mandate. Although this measure is a relief for healthy, uninsured people who were caught between having to purchase expensive insurance they felt they didn’t need or paying a hefty fine, it could have unfortunate consequences for the healthcare industry. Young, healthy people are now more likely to forego getting insurance, which will reduce the pool of people paying premiums to only those who actually need coverage because they plan to draw on it. This will likely cause health insurance costs to increase. The Trump administration also loosened regulations and allowed insurers to sell cheaper, short-term plans that do not meet the standards of the ACA. This does not repeal the ACA, according to Trump administration
In March 2018, Emory Healthcare became the official healthcare provider of the Atlanta Falcons.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
officials, but is merely intended to provide additional cheaper options. The newly permitted short-term plans can last up to 12 months at a time and can be extended for up to three years, up from the ACA’s limit of three months on such plans. Critics of the new rules worry that, just like repealing the individual mandate, they will induce healthy individuals to pursue cheaper, non-ACA alternatives that will only lead to higher health insurance costs in the long run. Other big moves by the Trump administration include allowing states to impose work requirements on recipients of Medicaid coverage and the unveiling of the American Patients First plan, which aims to lower prescription drug prices. The long-term effects of these policies remain to be seen, but in general opponents view them as little more than an attempt to undercut the ACA, while proponents see them as a return to a fairer healthcare market. Closer to home, Georgia has seen its fair share of healthcare policy news in 2017 and 2018, as well. First, there is the stunning story of a small nonprofit in DeKalb County receiving the entirety of the state’s grant to provide navigators, or people tasked with assisting those seeking to enroll in ACA coverage. The nonprofit, Georgia Refugee Health and Mental Health, has previously provided navigators but worked with far less than the $500,000 in funding that will now be at its disposal. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal source of the funding, is steering away from funding navigators in favor of using insurance brokers and agents. The national budget for navigators in 2019 is $10 million; in 2018, it was $36 million. The opioid epidemic, which has now officially claimed lives in Atlanta and other parts of Georgia, also received attention from the legislature in the form of the Senate’s unanimous approval of a bill that established a Georgia director of substance abuse, addiction and related disorders and created a commission to address the epidemic of substance abuse. The CDC reported 918 deaths from opioid overdose alone in 2016, according to its latest statistics, and many experts believe this to be an underreporting. On the market The health insurance market in Atlanta, and Georgia overall, has experienced some interesting changes over the last year. Enrollment in the ACA marketplace was down statewide in 2018 by 2.6 percent, but this decrease was lower than the 3.6 percent drop nationwide. In 2018, Atlanta will be serviced by two of the four insurers participating in the Georgia
Dr. Jim Sams CEO Privia Medical Group Georgia
How can healthcare providers stay successful in a changing market? What became very obvious to me was healthcare’s need to move from volume and unit price — our fee-for-service system — to better care at a lower total medical cost and, as primary care physicians, the opportunity for us to renew our position in this ecosystem of the “medical industrial complex” in which we live. There’s a place for hospitals to go where they’ll be successful in this new disruptive value chain that is emerging, and that is back to being a hospital: offering the absolute lowest cost and becoming the highestquality outcome player in the market. Then you are a must-have. The hospitals that can move to that model — that’s disruption, that’s success. What sets Privia Medical Group apart from other healthcare providers in Atlanta? I want to find physicians who believe what I believe and are willing to go where we need to go. If all you want to do is churn fee-for-service and you’re most interested in how high a rate you can get today, you’re not the physician who needs to be in this medical group. We’re built for the purpose of moving into value and risk. About one-third of the physicians out there can work this way; the other two-thirds out there either cannot or will not go forward. I don’t want every doctor. The powerful thing that this medical group can do is to answer an existential question on the table for physicians: Are you going to be hospital-centric or patient-centric? You will not be allowed to be both. You have a choice to make. We believe that the value to be unlocked moving forward lives with those physicians who can be uniquely and differently patient-centered. That’s what the group is about. We are relevant in a different way in this market, and we’ll be capable of having different conversations with those people who both consume and pay for healthcare.
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ACA marketplace: Ambetter Peach State and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Of those insured, an average 35-year-old Atlantan with the least expensive bronze-tier plan paid premiums of $355.16 in 2018, up 46 percent from the $243.15 she paid in 2017. Those individuals insured under Ambetter experienced a steeper increase, with the insurance company finalizing a premium hike of 50.8 percent. Kaiser, on the other hand, raised premiums by only 30.8 percent. A piece of non-ACA-related insurance news is the contract dispute between Piedmont Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. The conflict arose when the parties failed to renegotiate their contract before its expiration on April 1, 2018, meaning that thousands of state employees, retirees and their dependents covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield were at risk of being out-of-network for Piedmont doctors and services. Fortunately, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced on April 17, 2018, that the parties had reached a handshake agreement in his office, which would avoid any interruption of coverage for Georgia residents as a result of the dispute. Although the parties declined to reveal the specifics of the agreement, they confirmed that the terms of the contract that expired on April 1 would continue until June 1, and that the parties would work as quickly as possible to negotiate a new contract. Research matters Atlanta is fertile ground for medical research, thanks to its numerous hospitals and research universities, and this leads to constant breakthroughs in a variety of specializations.
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For example, in May 2018 Northside Hospital in Atlanta announced that it will participate in a study aiming to measure the effectiveness of monitoring patients’ cancer treatments with the use of bloodbased biopsies. This experimental monitoring method will use genetic markers in patients’ blood to obtain more detailed information and aid both doctors and patients in treatment decision-making. Northside Hospital’s participation in the trial is exciting because medical professionals recognize that up to 80 percent of cancer patients seek treatment in community hospitals like Northside rather than at the large university hospitals that typically attract such studies. Now, patients at this local institution will have access to world-class, cutting-edge clinical trials. Another piece of big news for medical research in the Atlanta region is the Goizueta Foundation’s $25 million grant to Emory University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), also announced in May. In recognition of the gift, Emory has renamed the ADRC the Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (GADRC). The grant is to be used for the development of a Clinical Trials Unit and a Neuroinflammation Discovery Unit at the GADRC. Investigators in the Clinical Trials Unit will focus on expanding the active testing of new drug trials, while those in the Neuroinflammation Discovery Unit will research new means of combating neuroinflammation, which contributes to disease progression. This grant comes on the heels of a 2014 investment of $28.9 million by the Goizueta Foundation in Emory’s Healthy Aging and Healthy
Market voices: Specialty Care
Sarah Morrison CEO Shepherd Center
From a global rehabilitation perspective, Shepherd Center puts Atlanta on the map. We admit patients from across the nation and world, with more than 50 percent coming from outside of Georgia. Our mission is to help people with brain and spinal cord injuries rebuild their lives with hope, dignity and independence so they can fully re-integrate into their communities. And when patients can’t get admitted here, we can provide training for doctors, nurses, caregivers and other providers to give them that ‘just-in-time’ education, allowing them to take advantage of our knowledge while keeping the patients comfortable and healthy in their own environments.
We recently launched a cause campaign called ‘Let’s Get a Grip on Arthritis’ to eradicate the disease once and for all. More than 54 million Americans have arthritis; it’s the number one cause of disability and can greatly interfere with a person’s everyday life. We are dedicated to providing the resources and support to people living with arthritis as we pursue a cure. The cause campaign, which has a #LetsGripArthritis social media component, is aimed to raise national awareness about arthritis. We’re also committed to funding scientists and researchers who are passionate about finding better treatments and ultimately a cure for the disease.
Anne Meisner
President & CEO Cancer Treatment Centers of America (ATL)
Ann Palmer
President & CEO Arthritis Foundation
The way healthcare is delivered today is very local. It’s hard for cancer patients to travel extensively to get treatment and evaluations. Our goal is not to take patients out of their communities; rather, we want to support patients within their communities and partner with providers in those communities to be here when they have high-level specialty needs. The growth goal for us is to continue to double down on specialty services and to reach out to communities to figure out how to better partner with local organizations in order to better serve their patients.
Some of the things we look at are how do we work better with hospitals as consolidation continues to change the healthcare landscape while at the same time reaching into the rural areas of North Georgia and serving people who don’t have access to a urologist. Young urologists are not going to live in rural parts of Georgia. We are looking at how we can reach through medicine or other means into other areas to serve patients most effectively and extend the reach of Georgia Urology to meet the needs of our communities and at the same time remain successful in our business.
Jason Shelnutt CEO Georgia Urology
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Good medicine How Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is committed to providing affordable and accessible coverage and investing heavily in independent primary care practices
Jeff Fusile CEO – Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Georgia
think companies fully understand that. I think a lot of people are misinformed and think that we make all the profit in the system. What makes Georgia’s healthcare environment unique? I think everybody thinks they’re unique. A lot of people say our state is different because we have one really largely populated area, and then we have all these rural places that are struggling. But everyone has that. If you go to Indiana, it’s Indianapolis surrounded by rural areas. You can pick almost anywhere in the country, and they’re all very similar. What has been unusual in Georgia recently is that it was very late to get into provider consolidation. We’re going through now what most states went through several years ago.
What is something people might not know about Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield? We are insuring one in three Georgians today — certainly more when you include vision and dental customers. We insure over 3 million people in Georgia, and 90 percent of those members are self-insured. When we’re negotiating with the hospital for a fair rate, 90 percent of those dollars are being paid by a company directly, so when I see a Fortune 500 company going out to contract directly with a hospital, I want to know why. I already contract directly with the hospital and pass that contract price on to them. I have 3 millions customers here; maybe they have 3,000 employees in this market. I’m going to get a better price, and if I don’t, something is wrong with the system. I don’t
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Can you speak a little bit about the planned projects you have coming up in Georgia? We are investing heavily in independent primary care practices. Hospitals today are busy buying up all the physicians to ensure that referrals from those physicians come to their hospitals. We decided we needed to offer the independent physicians a rate competitive with what the hospitals are offering; otherwise, they’re going to go to the hospitals. We want the physician to be independent and free to refer patients to the right place at the right time for the right reason. That’s where we spend a lot of our time, giving these doctors incentives to send people to the right place. My job is to keep physicians independent and happy and to make sure they feel safe so they can continue to practice good medicine. My primary belief is that if we can get physicians who are willing to do what’s right for people on our side, everyone wins.
HEALTHCARE OVERVIEW
Dr. Walter Curran Executive Director – Emory Winship Cancer Institute Since 2009, we have been NCI designated as one of the top cancer centers in the country. Our research and education is helping to address cancer issues in the state of Georgia. We are the only cancer research institution that addresses the state as a whole. We partner with organizations, healthcare institutions and research universities to help us succeed in fighting this devastating disease.
Brain Studies, which are also focused on developing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Public health Public health in Atlanta currently faces several challenges, but medical practitioners and researchers, as well as community leaders, are attacking them head-on. Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital weathered an unprecedented 2017-2018 flu season. In total, there was an increase in visits of about 25 percent, and sometimes more than 500 patients were treated on a single day. In a truly novel approach, Grady Hospital set up a mobile ER on its grounds with room for 12 patient bays, a nurses’ station and all of the medical equipment needed to treat the flu. The mobile ER is expected to increase Grady Hospital’s capacity to treat the flu by up to 150 patients, which is sorely needed. Grady Memorial Hospital may be getting even more help in its fight against the flu, as Georgia State University researchers announced a “universal” flu vaccine in January 2018. The new vaccine will not need to be updated annually to match the influenza strains anticipated each year, as is the case with existing seasonal vaccines. The universal vaccine targets the interior of the influenza virus protein, or the stalk, instead of the surface protein targeted by seasonal vaccines. Because the stalk is less likely to change year to year than the surface protein, it is more susceptible to universal vaccination. At the time of print, the vaccine was still in the animal testing phase, and no clear timetable exists for when human testing will begin. There are other positive public health-related projects in Atlanta, including the Good Samaritan Health Center on the Westside. Good Samaritan provides medical, dental, mental health, health education and social services on a reduced,
sliding-fee scale. This expands the availability of vital healthcare services to a broader spectrum of Atlanta’s population, including those who need it most. Good Samaritan served about 7,000 patients and handled 39,000 visits in 2017. Chris 180 is another Westside public health organization that provides behavioral health services for families at Washington High School, Brown Middle School and numerous elementary schools. The goal of Chris 180 is to increase the accessibility of these services by making them available right in the schools that the children who need them attend. In this way, Chris 180 hopes to treat whole families more easily. Health tech Atlanta leads the way in integrating emerging technology with the provision of healthcare. Emory Healthcare aims to continue this trend with its new Innovation Hub, which will focus on testing and implementing high-tech approaches to healthcare that improve outcomes while minimizing costs for patients and providers alike. The Innovation Hub will bring together tech companies with a focus on improving patient care. Sharecare, an Atlanta-based digital healthcare vendor and developer of the consumer wellness engagement platform, was the first to partner with the Innovation Hub, with many more to come. Another exciting innovation taking center stage in Atlanta is telemedicine. Telemedicine connects acute care hospitals and micro-hospitals with other physicians via video communication, which allows for a sharing of knowledge and resources that elevates the level of care at small, rural hospitals above what was possible in the past. The power of this method is currently being demonstrated through the partnership between Atlanta-based
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Atlanta’s education and health services industry added 13,300 jobs from October 2017 to October 2018, an increase of 3.8 percent.
Eagle Telemedicine and Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia, Georgia. After partnering with Eagle, Meadows Regional went from falling short in some of its quality reviews and earning a “C” from the Leapfrog Group (a nonprofit that promotes hospital transparency), to earning an “A” less than a year later. Meadows Regional is now also transferring fewer ventilator patients and weaning patients off of ventilators more quickly than before Eagle was in the picture. This indicates that the hospital is all-around more efficient and patients are happier and healthier. World stage Atlanta’s international impact on the healthcare industry is well known. The CDC, Hubert Department of Global Health and Emory University all work nationally and internationally to promote advancements in healthcare and establish similar organizations in other countries. In order to maintain and enhance this international reputation, institutions in Atlanta continue to innovate and expand. One major drive to cement Atlanta’s title as the center for global health is Global Health ATL, which is a collaboration among corporations, healthcare organizations and universities to create a health innovation hub focused on disease eradication, economic development and disaster response. The Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia Global Health Alliance and Deloitte announced Global Health ATL on May 9, 2018. The new innovation hub is envisioned as the global health counterpart of Tech Square, the
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push by Georgia Tech and several tech company partners to drive healthcare technology innovation and entrepreneurship. Another organization based in the Atlanta region and focused on improving health and healthcare worldwide is the Task Force for Global Health. The Task Force has a more than 30-year track record of proven excellence and continues to grow. It has a reputation for being able to bring together stakeholders, surmount obstacles and accumulate the resources necessary to address major health problems plaguing the globe. To this end, the Task Force is moving to a new headquarters in Decatur that will greatly expand its capacity to address its current five-year strategy to eliminate three neglected tropical diseases, eradicate polio, strengthen global preparedness for influenza epidemics, eliminate leprosy and address viral hepatitis. As the Task Force continues to succeed in improving global health, it will elevate Atlanta’s reputation as a healthcare leader. Looking ahead Atlanta is a national and international healthcare leader and shows signs of continuing to dominate in this sector. With the continued growth of established healthcare organizations and hospitals, as well as the development of new tech-based research hubs, health network partnerships and nonprofits, there will be no shortage of health innovation and jobs in the region. This proactive growth will help Atlanta face challenges, such as the opioid epidemic, the strain of an increasing population and evolving healthcare policy, and become an even better, healthier city.
Education: Atlanta is home to 57 colleges and universities, robust public school systems and a wide variety of private and charter school options. While many of the region’s K-12 schools have struggled with performance, leaders are working hard to improve educational outcomes across the board. The area’s vast secondary education network offers diverse academic programming, abundant research opportunities and extensive workforce development programs for students of all backgrounds and ages.
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Learning mecca: Atlanta offers a diverse array of educational opportunities, all geared toward providing the future workforce with the skills needed to succeed A southern metropolis known for its diverse population, bustling airport and civil rights legacy, Atlanta is also a nexus of higher education. Metro Atlanta is home to 57 colleges and universities enrolling a quarter million students each year. This robust academic presence ranks the metro area in the top 10 U.S. urban areas for both student enrollment (seventh) and annual college graduates at the bachelor’s level or higher (sixth). Additionally, Atlanta ranked number 24 overall and number eight among large cities on WalletHub’s December 2017 report of the best college towns in America. Funneling students into Atlanta’s hardy network of higher education institutions are 50 elementary schools, 15 middle schools, 21 high schools, four singlegender schools and 13 charter schools. In 2016-2017, 608,145 students attended these 103 schools at the K-12 level, up from 569,159 in 2010-2011. “There are remarkable statistics that come out of single-gender school environments,” Ayanna HillGill, head of school at the Atlanta Girls’ School, told Focus:. “Research shows that girls like interaction in the classroom. It has also been shown that girls
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attending an all-girls’ school are three times more likely to study engineering or pursue a STEM field in college.” Government policy toward funding and taxing these primary and secondary schools remains a highprofile issue in the Georgia state legislature in 2018. At the same time, Learn4Life — a partnership among Atlanta economic institutions — is striving to improve educational outcomes for students of all ages. The organization seeks to leverage “proven solutions [it] can scale for the benefit of each and every child” in Greater Atlanta’s education system. Economy of learning Quality schools are, of course, a necessity for producing skilled members of an urban workforce, but Atlanta’s education sector is an economic driver itself, yielding 3.2 percent of Georgia’s annual gross product and $3 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2016. It also contributes about 130,000 jobs and 5.7 million visits to the region every year. According to the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the city is a national leader in attracting ( )
EDUCATION INTERVIEW
Representing ideas How Morehouse College is working to raise its graduation rate, launch a major capital campaign and represent the idea that black men can thrive, not just survive, to the world
David Thomas President – Morehouse College
What are your short-term goals for Morehouse College? The first goal we have is to raise the four-year graduation rate to 70 percent or more from 38 percent. This sounds audacious, but people have embraced it. The power of it is that it really makes it clear to people that we can’t get there by simply doing more of the same better. We have to engage in new strategies and innovations and work in different ways. It also will require collaboration across the different aspects of the school. We’ve begun preparations to launch a major capital campaign, which we know will need to be somewhere between $250 and $500 million to actually make a difference. We’ve identified four priorities for the funds: increasing the endowment for scholarships; building the campus of the future, which is about both infrastructure and the buildings themselves; supporting research, which includes professorships, as well as support for some of our major research initiatives; and expanding transformational educational programs that focus on STEM education, data analytics and emerging media. How does Morehouse fit into the higher educational fabric of Atlanta? Morehouse College is the world’s only historically black institution for men. We were founded in this state in 1867 and are connected to the history of Georgia. We’re relevant to Georgia and Atlanta in the same way we’re relevant to the rest of the U.S. and the world. We represent a special kind of place for young men — in particular, young African-American men and young black men from all over the world — to go and spend the most important period of adult development, from age 17 to 23, without all the noise that often surrounds being a black male in this society. Morehouse is a place where young black men can come and just be, and we think that has something to do with what happens to them in that critical period
of development. They are anchored in a set of ambitions and confidence, and when they go out into the world, they aren’t thrown off. Morehouse is an idea in the same way that America is an idea. If you go back three centuries to when this country was being formed, there was no country on the planet that believed that a combination of free markets, guaranteed individual liberties and rule of law could be a sustainable governing system. It was an idea. In the same way, Morehouse is an idea. You can walk onto this campus at any time, and there are 2,000 black men here. Where else in this country can find 2,000 black men together? You don’t even want to think about most of those places. Here, they’re moving with purpose. They want to thrive, not just survive, which is the traditional black male narrative. Imagine a world where when you saw a group of black men together, that’s what you assumed was happening. We represent that idea to the world.
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Lawrence Schall President Oglethorpe University
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( ) college-educated young adults — a critical cohort for both economic growth and cultural vivacity. By the numbers The City of Atlanta itself contains roughly 486,000 people. With a population of 5.6 million, Metro Atlanta represents the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. It is experiencing slow but steady growth and is expected to reach over 8 million people by 2020. Overall, residents of Greater Atlanta are well educated; more than 70 percent of adults over age 25 have attended at least some college, while 48 percent have earned a bachelor’s or graduate degree. Only 10 percent lack a high school diploma. In the City of Atlanta, 40 percent of adults hold at least a bachelor’s degree — the sixth-largest proportion for American cities and well over the national average of 27 percent. A 2016 study by Central Connecticut State University ranked Atlanta as the fourth most literate city in the U.S. based on an analysis of education levels, the number of booksellers and media publications and access to the internet. Atlanta’s substantial array of higher education institutions offers nearly 1,800 distinct programs of study at the associate’s level or above. The city ranks among the top seven American urban centers in number of degrees awarded in fields such as engineering, computer sciences, math, physical and biological sciences, health professions, business, arts and theology. In 2005, the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area (MSA) awarded 35,802 degrees at the bachelor’s level or higher. Atlanta’s population of African-American students enrolled in higher education programs ranks third in the nation. For number of students of color, Metro Atlanta is ranked ninth. World view Many countries are represented among the enrollees of Greater Atlanta’s higher education institutions. In 2015, 42 percent of graduate students and 11 percent of undergraduates at Georgia Institute of Technology originated outside the U.S. At Georgia State, 6 percent of the student body was international in the fall of 2016. Emory counts more than 2,700 international students; countries of origin include Brazil, China, India and South Korea. In terms of ethnic diversity, 37 percent of Georgia State students are African-American, 11 percent are Asian and 8 percent are Latino. At Georgia Tech, 16 percent of the student body is Asian, 6 percent is
EDUCATION OVERVIEW
African-American and 6 percent is Latino. Emory has 14 percent Asian students, 10 percent AfricanAmerican and 6 percent Latino. Inclusivity As it is across the country, tuition is rising at Atlanta colleges and universities. In fact, college costs in Georgia have increased 77 percent since 2006, in large part because of reduced public funding. Other contributing factors include institutional policies requiring students to live on campus and expanding facilities and athletic programs. Administrators of the University System of Georgia acknowledge the challenge growing costs presents for students and are attempting to control the increase. At the primary and secondary levels of education, Atlanta-area schools continue to confront challenges with racial segregation, safety, funding and marginalized student populations. According to Learn4Life, in 2014-2015, 60 percent of K-12 students in the Greater Atlanta region were classified as low income, and 13 percent had limited English-language ability. Only 38 percent of eighth graders that year were proficient in math. Local officials are committed to solving these problems, however. Atlanta’s new mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, is making education a pillar of her policy agenda, saying, “Great schools should not be an option just for the wealthy but for all who call Atlanta home.” To that end, planning agencies are creating mixed-income communities to close the gap for access to quality education and stop the cycle of poverty. Learn4Life has identified six key
indicators of education success and is leading efforts to promote them. While education is a critical piece of the puzzle, sometimes it’s not enough. Metro Atlanta numbers an estimated 110,000, or nearly 13.6 percent, of young adults who are not in school and are unemployed. In May 2018, the city was selected to host a 100,000 Opportunities InitiativeTM job and resource fair at the Georgia World Congress Center. This initiative is a coalition of more than 50 leading U.S. companies and foundations — including FedEx, Starbucks and more — working to connect thousands of youth to jobs. Innovation incubator In recent years, Metro Atlanta has become a burgeoning hub of technological innovation. Nearly 190,000 professionals worked in innovation industries in the area in 2015, while more than 163,000 were employed in high-tech fields. The proportion of hightech workers has grown 30 percent since 2006. In 2014, Metro Atlanta colleges and universities conferred just under 10,000 degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, representing a 40 percent increase over the previous decade. The proportion of STEM degrees awarded is a metric of innovation progress in which the Atlanta area outpaces other similar regions. Another indicator of excellence for Atlanta higher education is investment in research and development. In 2014, total academic research and development (R&D) expenditures amounted to $1.85 billion, exceeding the levels of innovation centers such as Austin, Boulder, Denver and San Diego. Meanwhile,
Tavarez Holston President – Georgia Piedmont Technical College
The main driver of growth is economic prosperity. This area is really booming, and there are a lot of industries and businesses here. We’re living in some really great economic times. Along with that comes a responsibility for our colleges — especially the technical colleges — to make sure that as our partners in the communities tool up and try to meet the needs and demands of their own customers and clients, our students and graduates are trained in such a way that they have the right skills to help those companies continue to grow and expand. We’re partners in that, standing behind those businesses and industries by training the workforce and making sure their skills are relevant.
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private investment in Atlanta companies in 2015 totaled $3.5 billion, while early stage funding reached $211 million between 2013 and 2015. Initiatives that link Metro Atlanta educational institutions with corporate partners are driving a wave of innovation in the region. In April 2018, the City of Atlanta announced the Students2Startups program — a joint initiative of Mayor Bottoms, Invest Atlanta and WorkSource Atlanta. This program is designed to bolster the city’s tech talent pipeline by subsidizing high-potential students, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in the tech world, for internships at Atlanta-based startups. In return, Students2Startups also supports Atlanta startup companies by meeting some of their talent needs and encouraging skilled workers to stay in the city.
connected, a $504 million MARTA rail expansion is proposed for the Clifton Corridor near Emory. The project was still under consideration during the summer of 2018, with completion expected in 2026. Georgia Institute of Technology A major driver of economic development in downtown Atlanta, Georgia Tech plays a key role in Atlanta’s Smart City Initiative, a collaborative effort to ease city traffic using street-level sensor nodes and analytics to gather and process real-time data. In 2018, the university launched the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge — with lead sponsorship from Georgia Power — which will help local governments across the state plan and implement smart development. The program will provide seed funding and access to technical assistance, expert mentorship from a Georgia Tech researcher and a network of peers. The school’s $180 million, 1.1-million squarefoot Technology Square complex has sparked further development by adding office, retail, medical and residential space. Boasting the highest density of startups, corporate innovators and academic researchers in the U.S., it serves as a hub for local technology and innovation companies. Georgia Tech will be the anchor tenant of Tech Square’s forthcoming 770,000-square-foot Coda building, anticipated to be complete in 2019. The facility will house university research and rent 339,000 square feet of space to corporations and university research partners focusing on technology and data gathering.
Georgia Tech’s $180 million, 1.1-million-squarefoot Technology Square has sparked further development.
Cap and gown Major higher education institutions in Metro Atlanta include Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Morehouse College and the University of Georgia. These schools, and the 51 others located in and around Atlanta, offer incredibly varied student populations, academic specializations and cultural experiences. Many of these educational heavy-hitters are undergoing both physical and program expansions in order to continue to enhance the quality of educational opportunities available in the metro area.
Emory University Emory University is well known for both its academic programs and its medical institutions. The school has recently completed multiple projects expanding its 630-acre campus, and in early 2018 it received $400 million — the largest gift in its history — from the Woodruff Foundation. Some of these funds will help build a new Health Sciences Research Building, while others will support the new Winship Cancer Institute Tower in Midtown. The university is also planning a mixed-use campus on North Druid Hills, which will break ground in 2018, and a new pedestrian bridge. A new Campus Life Center is currently underway, as well, and is expected to be finished in May 2019. To keep the university
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Georgia State University Georgia State offers more than 200 majors and minors but is perhaps best known for the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, which fosters partnerships between science and business faculties to encourage innovation. Of its 70,000 alumni, some 45,000 are located within Metro Atlanta. More Georgia executives hold advanced degrees from Robinson and Georgia State than from any other school in the nation. Georgia State is ranked number 108 for research activity in the Carnegie Foundation’s elite category of Highest Research Activity. In fiscal year 2017, it received $147 million in research funding, setting
EDUCATION OVERVIEW
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Atlanta University Center Consortium The Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) includes Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College. Clark Atlanta University has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,741 and offers almost 40 areas of study. Morehouse College is ranked 159th in the nation, with a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,167. The Morehouse School of Medicine trains 400 students in the practice of medicine. With an undergraduate enrollment of 2,144, Spelman College is all female and the first black college campus to create a women’s studies curriculum. The AUCC is the largest association of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in American higher education. As a nonprofit organization, it aspires to deliver high-quality education to African-Americans, as well as to maintain economic and financial support for students and their families. In June 2018, the consortium announced the appointment of Todd Greene as executive director. As former vice president of community and economic development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Greene is charged with transforming and reorganizing the AUCC with a focus on four main areas: health and wellness, environment and sustainability, technology innovation and education.
Atlanta’s higher educational institutions offer varied student populations, academic specializations and cultural experiences.
a record for the sixth consecutive year. More than $10 million of that funding went to the Institute for Biomedical Sciences research, while another $16 million went to the School of Public Health. Externally funded research at the university has climbed 81 percent in the past three years; in 2017, one of the largest funding increases came from industry research grants and contracts, which grew nearly fivefold. In 2017, Georgia State announced a partnership with Atlanta-based insurance company State Farm on the Learning, Income and Family Transformation (LIFT) program. State Farm pledged $1.5 million to support the program, which is designed to help disadvantaged students attain educational success, as well as $5.5 million to nonprofits and local schools. In terms of physical expansion, a $53 million redevelopment project converted Turner Field into a new football stadium for the Georgia State Panthers. It opened in the fall of 2017.
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Other Institutions Kennesaw State is Georgia’s third-largest university, offering 150 degree options and a growing doctoral program. In 2018, Kennesaw State named Dr. Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Georgia, as its new president. Morris Brown College is an HBCU featuring strong ties to the history of civil rights in Atlanta. Due to issues with financial mismanagement, it lost its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation in 2003 but is applying to have it reinstated by late 2019. Mercer University is ranked 135th nationally and is currently undergoing a complete transformation project within its Macon campus. In 2017, it completed the Spearman C. Godsey Science Center, as well as a new baseball stadium. Mercer also received a grant last year to encourage underrepresented communities to join the medical field. As a result, Mercer is collaborating with Dalton Public Schools, Dalton State College and Hamilton Medical Center to introduce teenagers to the medical profession. Clayton State University has more than 7,000 students enrolled and boasts a unique partnership with Pinewood
EDUCATION OVERVIEW
Todd Greene Executive Director – Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. (AUCC)
We have been in existence for more than 90 years. In the intervening years, there are massive changes in higher education in general, with smaller colleges and universities, and especially with HBCUs. Rethinking the Atlanta University Center Consortium model is an opportunity to ensure our relevance for today and tomorrow, especially as we leverage economies of scale to pride enhanced opportunities and experiences for our students, drive our research agendas which are increasingly interdisciplinary in nature and gain efficiencies with our operations.
Atlanta Studios to offer a film production course. The film industry in Atlanta has grown to be worth more than $7 billion. Since its emergence three years ago, Clayton State’s certificate program has developed into a varied curriculum in conjunction with the Georgia Film Academy. “86 percent of our graduates stay within Georgia’s state lines after graduation, giving us an advantage in cultivating long-term partnerships with local film and television production companies,” Tim Hynes, president of Clayton State University, told Focus:. “From these partnerships, we’ve been able to establish scholarship programs for our film production students, including ones created by the founders of Atlanta Metro Studio and Pinewood Studios.” Founded in 1974, Life University is a private institution with a total undergraduate enrollment of 718. The school’s mission is to educate students in a set of core proficiencies, equipping them to become skilled professionals and preparing them for successful careers focused on serving society’s health and wellness needs. “The university is not only concerned with education; it is concerned with character and values,” Dr. Guy Riekeman, chancellor of Life University, told Focus:. In June 2018, the university’s Life Neuro Institute announced a new 100-hour certification course in Applied Clinical Neuroscience designed to deepen professionals’ understanding of the brain and how the nervous system affects overall health. Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC) has a strong reputation as a transfer pipeline for students who earn two-year degrees and complete their educations at other area schools. But since 2012, it has also been granting limited BA degrees. “We are the impact and opportunity school; 95 percent of our students are Atlanta and Georgia residents,” Dr. Gary McGaha, president of AMSC, told
Focus:. “We are educating native Georgians who take their skills and talents back to their communities, where they are sorely needed. We have become more intrusive and profound with that impact as we have expanded our mission, our programs and our curriculum to meet the needs of this community. We are the bridge that these kids and families use to change their circumstances.” Online degree programs are also available to Atlanta residents. “For more than 125 years, Strayer University has been creating innovative educational programs for working adults,” Tonya Moore, dean of Strayer University - Chamblee Campus, told Focus:. “Our students often juggle work, school and family obligations. Because of all the demands on their time, they need a program that’s flexible, practical and delivers a measurable return on investment.” Movers and shakers Public officials in Metro Atlanta and across the state have solidified education as a focal point of their policy agendas. Previously a city council member, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms made headlines in 2016 by brokering the sale of Turner Field and surrounding land to Georgia State University, from which she received her law degree. Soon after taking office in 2018, the mayor signed an ordinance to transfer 31 properties from the City of Atlanta to the Atlanta Public Schools in an effort to remove the properties from a lawsuit and save tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars that could be spent on education. Mayor Bottoms also advocates for the Mayor’s Summer Reading Club (MSRC), which promotes child literacy, and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI), a city-endowed resource that aims to support female entrepreneurs.
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oundtable:
Atlanta’s business schools recognize the important link between education and entreprenuership and are focused on developing savvy future business leaders through tech-forward, hands-on experience in partnership with local industries.
Business Schools Maryam Alvai Dean Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business
Four things set us apart: our heritage as part of Georgia Tech, a premier research institute; our unique positioning at the intersection of business and technology; our top-notch Jones MBA Career Center; and our tight-knit, collaborative community created by experiential, team-based learning, worldrenowned and accessible faculty and passionate and talented students. We know there is nothing better than firsthand experience. Putting classroom knowledge to the test with real-world issues and problems is what we do best. Long before it was popular to incorporate hands-on learning into business programs, we were doing it. For years we have been tapping into the Atlanta and the Tech Square ecosystems with practicums, capstone projects and international trips to provide hands-on opportunities for our students to tackle real-world business issues. This experiential learning leverages classroom learnings to position our students for long-term success. Our MBA curriculum boasts an offering of 12 practicums, where students work directly with clients on hands-on consulting projects. As a result, Scheller MBAs are prepared to tackle demanding business challenges, to frame and solve complex problems, to assess opportunities and apply analytical skills, to take on leadership roles and to foster team dynamics. Our undergraduate students also enjoy immersive, experiential learning experiences like the Denning Technology & Management (T&M) Program, a twoyear program that offers its students cross-curricular coursework and hands-on experiential learning through a client project. Simply stated, experiential learning is a core component of our approach to business education, and we make the most of our location in Atlanta and reputation around the world when connecting students with hands-on projects.
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BANKING & FINANCE ROUNDTABLE EDUCATION ROUNDTABLE
Erika James
Richard Phillips
Dean Emory University’s Goizueta Business School
Dean J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
We serve the academy through our scholarship and knowledge creation, primarily in the form of our faculty research, but we also want to serve the business community. This is equally important to us. One of the advantages to being in Atlanta is that it is a very business-friendly city with a high concentration of Fortune 500 companies headquartered here. Whether it’s through the talent we have working at our school or through our students, who go to work for these organizations, we want to ensure that we’re contributing to Atlanta’s business community in a positive way. It’s also important that we leverage the research our faculty does to help answer some of the challenging questions that companies have as they’re trying to grow and compete in a globally competitive landscape. Those have been key hallmarks for us. Essentially, we identify how successful entrepreneurs who are in a position to be able to give back can provide mentorship to our students who want to learn how to navigate an entrepreneurial venture. These residents come in at various times throughout the year and have one-on-one engagements with the students. They come to classes and work with students in larger group settings. If there are students who have ventures at some point along the pipeline, these residents can help them navigate from point A to point B. They talk with them about where to find capital and how to scale smartly — those kinds of things. It has been an important program because it’s really hand-to-hand combat. Students have exposure to people who have done it at a high level. We also have a program called Pitch the Professor, in which a student or group of students come up with an idea for a venture and go through the process of putting together a pitch. If the venture is deemed worthy, they then have access to get incubated at the Atlanta Tech Village, where we have a partnership.
In 2017, we launched several innovation labs in our analytics facility, the Institute for Insight. These are places where students, faculty and business leaders come together to collaborate and learn about what’s possible with technology. The first lab we started was the Fintech Lab, which opened in the fall. It was followed by the Legal Analytics Lab, which tackles projects at the intersection of business, law and big data, in partnership with the College of Law. In January 2018, we launched the Social Media Intelligence Lab, which allows us to absorb data from social media channels and conduct real-time analysis of the information collected. The competition, like competition in any industry, is part headache and part blessing in that you’re always wondering how to improve and how to differentiate your product and your experience for students. At the end of the day, I think it makes us all better. And as we all get better and truly differentiate our institutions, we offer a lot of choices for both students and parents. This helps enable the great economic engine that is the city of Atlanta. There are schools around the country that spend millions of dollars and have huge operations to build diverse graduate programs or undergraduate student bodies. Georgia State doesn’t spend a dime on building diversity in its student body; it’s just a natural occurrence. And because we’re not expending resources to build diversity, we are able to spend our time, energy and money on finding ways to take advantage of the great diversity of our city. We leverage that diversity to create unique programs and unique experiences for students that can’t be replicated anywhere else.
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In May 2018, the American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees Local 1644 and the Georgia Federation of Public Service Employees named the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Meria Carstarphen, as Georgia Superintendent of the Year. Carstarphen is dedicated to improving the the city’s public education system and cultivating a better experience for its more than 52,000 students, 6,300 employees and 98 learning sites. In the first half of 2017, she implemented a $17 million plan to improve 21 of the district’s lowest-performing schools. Today, graduation rates in the district have reached 77 percent, an 18 percentage point increase during her nearly four-year tenure. Carstarphen has also shuttered some schools and hired charter school groups to run others. Charter school growth is projected to promote surrounding community redevelopment that could attract more than $100 million in investment by 2019. Building for the future In Georgia, there are a total of 2,291 K-12 schools; 1,320 of these are elementary, 488 are middle schools and 470 are high schools. Statewide enrollment at the K-12 level reflects similar ethnic and racial diversity as the state’s higher education climate. In the 2016-2017 academic year, 705,686 of enrolled students in Georgia were white, 646,327 were African-American, 268,279 were Latino, 70,132 were Asian, 3,437 were Indian, 1,868 were Pacific and 61,814 were multiracial. “We have a deep respect for difference,” F. Stuart Gulley, president of Woodward Academy, told Focus:. “That’s reflected in every difference imaginable, not just race, ethnicity or religion. We have found a way to build on the strengths of our history, our diversity and our
staffing to make a large school — the largest independent school in the continental U.S. — feel small.” Public schools in Greater Atlanta and the state of Georgia as a whole continue to face challenges with graduation rates, student poverty and funding. From 2015 to 2016, public high school graduation in Metro Atlanta fell slightly, by 0.4 percent, to a rate of 71.1 percent — below the average for public high schools in Georgia (79 percent). However, in 2017 the rate rose to 77 percent, a new district high, narrowing the gap with the state graduation rate by 4.7 percentage points. Georgia has the fourth-highest level of student poverty: nearly two-thirds of its students are economically disadvantaged, based on participation in the federal free- and reduced-lunch program. The state ranks 37th in the nation for per-student funding, at $1,800 less than the U.S. average. As education standards have fallen, many families have relocated from urban to suburban areas of Metro Atlanta. Today, however, state and local government officials are taking action to address these problems. The 2018 state education budget increased for the first time in over a decade, and spending on public K-12 education during fiscal year 2019 will reach $9.9 billion. Recent legislation provides for increased funding to charter schools, as well. Groups such as WorkSource Atlanta, Leadership Atlanta and Emory ECE collaborate with Atlanta’s adult education system to improve options and outcomes for adult students. The partnership with WorkSource Atlanta cultivates job opportunities for GED graduates by connecting business leaders with potential applicants. Leadership Atlanta, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019, focuses on providing community leadership programs. Through an extensive alumni
Ronald Johnson President – Clark Atlanta University
Our Cancer Research Center is 14 years old. We were among the first institutions to be part of the Georgia Research Alliance. That group includes all of the state’s institutions, including Georgia Tech, UGA, Georgia State, Augusta and now Emory, Mercer and Morehouse School of Medicine. Our area of focus is prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is actually more prevalent than breast cancer, but it has not attracted the kind of notoriety that breast cancer has received. In the South, prostate cancer rates are the highest in the world. The leading group is AfricanAmericans, but right behind them are white males.
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TRANSPORTATION OVERVIEW
network and forums, dialogues and social gatherings, the organization links young professionals with executives who help prepare them to enter the workforce. Interestingly, nearly one-fifth of the 89-member 2019 Leadership Atlanta class is made up of lawyers at firms, in government and in-house. For 50 years, Atlanta Technical College has offered a range of associate degrees, diplomas, technical certificates and GED opportunities for students of various ages, races and socioeconomic backgrounds. Part of the larger Technical College System of Georgia, the institution had 3,718 students enrolled in the 2016-17 academic year. “The HOPE Grant in particular has been useful to our students and has been a great resource for the State of Georgia,” Victoria Seals, president of Atlanta Technical College, told Focus:. “Through the newly designed HOPE Career Grant, select programs are tuition free for students. In addition, the State of Georgia has revamped its dual enrollment program. That has allowed us to continue to reach back into high schools and start those workforce pipelines a lot earlier, which saves students both time and money. Both of these programs have helped Georgia be the number one state in which to do business for five years in a row.” Outlook Despite a high poverty rate, a growing and diverse population and inconsistent state funding, Metro Atlanta is home to an impressive array of educational institutions. In the past two years, government officials have committed to transforming Atlanta’s public school system, and with increased funding and charter school opportunities, the region is poised to oversee a resurgence in K-12 education in particular. “The City of Atlanta itself and the metro area have about as wide a range of educational options as you can imagine,” Keith Evans, president of Westminster Schools, told Focus:. “What distinguishes Atlanta in terms of educational choices is that the schools here tend to be focused on their unique mission and philosophy and serving a particular kind of student. Schools in Atlanta have done a good job of defining their purpose: what place they want to occupy in the ecosystem and who they’re here to serve. It’s an interesting landscape, and it’s definitely growing stronger year by year.” Atlanta also continues to attract top talent and innovation from high-tech companies. Along with local colleges and universities, these businesses are forging partnerships to promote the development of an educated, prosperous Atlanta.
Bryan Ginn Chief Campus Officer Georgia Campus Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
How do you hope PCOM’s South Georgia campus will impact healthcare in rural Georgia? There is a decided need for healthcare and healthcare provision in rural Georgia. In fact, the Georgia House of Representatives, through the Georgia House of Rural Counsel, is looking into this significantly. They are looking at the issues that are impacting economic development and healthcare delivery in South Georgia, and we certainly hope to be a partner with the State of Georgia to advance medical education and healthcare delivery in the southern part of the state. What are some of the community outreach activities PCOM participates in in the Atlanta area? We are blessed with a student population that is willing to give back to the community. As we celebrate the graduation of our current students we will also be celebrating their volunteer service. Some of the programs we participate in include mentorship of high school students in lower-income communities and multiple charitable organization. The hallmark for me is that our students are engaging in service at this point in their educational careers, and they’ll take that service with them as they become active members of the medical communities where they will serve in the future. What challenges does being in a city with such a high concentration of medical schools present? One of the challenges of being in what we call “white coat states” is that everybody is looking for the same clinical rotation. It can be competitive from that standpoint. In fact, that’s one significant reason we chose to consider establishing an additional location in the southern part of the state, to see if there were other opportunities for us here. By the same token, you get a tremendous concentration of sophisticated delivery systems, so when you are able to secure those, they translate to high-level teaching spots for our students.
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DeKalb County: As the fourth most populous and the second most affluent county with an African-American majoirty in Georgia, DeKalb is adept at attracting both residents and businesses. It has a booming life sciences industry and a thriving real estate market, as well as excellent schools, convenient transit options, abundant greenspace and a wide variety of cultural institutions to suit every taste. DeKalb is also capitalizing on Georgia’s film industry, which generates $2 billion a year for the county. Whether you’re looking to live, work or play, DeKalb is the place to be.
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The place to be: DeKalb County is a thriving community offering excellent schools, abundant outdoor activities, arts and culture and a quality way of life In metropolitan Atlanta, DeKalb County boasts connectivity, diversity, Fortune-500-headquartered companies and a rich history. The county is the fourth most populous in Georgia, with more than 740,000 residents, and offers award-winning school systems, transit, bike paths and trails, cultural institutions and greenspace. DeKalb is on the cutting edge of the life sciences industry and is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the world-renowned Task Force for Global Health. There are also more than 1,000 commercial properties in DeKalb that are ready to be used for business development or expansion. On the residential side, home prices range from $90,000 to $12 million, meaning there is somewhere for everyone to call home in DeKalb. Whether you are looking to live, work, play or learn, DeKalb County is the place to be. Making history DeKalb’s rich history is worth delving into in more detail. The county was named after Baron Johann DeKalb, a hero of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. DeKalb was incorporated on December
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9, 1822, out of land formerly belonging to Henry, Gwinnett and Fayette counties. The incorporation of Fulton County in 1853, and the subsequent rise of Atlanta, came about due to DeKalb County’s historic decision not to serve as a railroad hub. Consequently, Fulton was formed out of the western half of DeKalb, and Atlanta was made a railroad terminus instead. DeKalb played an important role during the Civil War as a primary site in the Battle of Atlanta and the starting place of Sherman’s March to the Sea. Later, the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned a carving on the face of Stone Mountain, a quartz monadnock that rises 825 feet above the surrounding land. Taking decades to complete, the carving is the largest high-relief sculpture in the world, measuring 90 by 190 feet, and depicts Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. When DeKalb decided against being a railroad hub, it turned its focus to the agricultural industry for the better part of 100 years. The turning point for transitioning into a suburban county came in 1947, when General Motors selected Doraville as the site of its new plant, which manufactured Buick, Oldsmobile ( )
DEKALB COUNTY INTERVIEW
A new day How DeKalb County is becoming reconized as a leader in economic development across the Southeast thanks to its connectivity and effective leadership
Michael Thurmond CEO – DeKalb County
How is Dekalb County focused on economic development that extends beyond the metro area? We believe that a new day has dawned in DeKalb County. We are quickly becoming a leader and economic juggernaut, not only in the metro area, but also in the state and the southeast United States. One of the key metrics that drives economic development, whether it’s commercial or residential, is proximity to mass transit. We were the first suburb to truly embrace mass transit and center our growth on our many transit stations. In addition, we have the second-busiest airport in the state, DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) and five major interstates and freeways that run through this county. We are very proud of our recently passed SPLOST referendum, which will inject more than $660 million toward infrastructure improvements throughout the county for the next six years. DeKalb citizens will see hundreds of miles of roads resurfaced, sidewalk and multi-use trail improvements and investments in parks, libraries and public safety. This investment, along with a robust capital improvement program of water and sewer lines, provides a foundation to sustain the growth of DeKalb. What are some of your strategies to attract, expand and retain businesses within the county? The diversity we have in DeKalb is unmatched. We have a phenomenal K-12 school system and amazing colleges and universities, both of which are producing a welleducated and talented workforce. We are also a central focus of the booming movie industry in Georgia, with 300 applications for new projects awaiting approval with our entertainment commission. Most importantly, we are dedicated to increasing access to transportation and creating an environment where it is easy to work, live and play in DeKalb.
What are your goals for the future of DeKalb County? My first goal is to make sure that this organization is running at maximum efficiency. We cannot have continuous economic development without a government that is effective, efficient and transparent. We are in a unique position as a leader in public transportation to attract major companies to relocate here. PDK houses aircraft of Fortune 500 companies and is central to their headquarters and offices, allowing CEOs and VIPs to avoid the hassle of commercial travel. We now have expansion plans in place for as many as nine additional hangars. We also are closely working with the new Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport administration, as well as city and state officials, to make sure our regional transportation stays top shelf.
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Katerina “Kat” Taylor President & CEO – DeKalb Chamber
Our focus for growth in DeKalb is on entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs and small businesses make up a significant portion of our membership. The chamber and the rest of the Atlanta region understand that our future workforce will be employed by small businesses by as much as 80 percent, so we created capacity-building programs that allowed businesses to address, at no cost to them, customer service, workforce plans and revenue strategies. We see ourselves as a solution-based partner for businesses. When our members come to us with a problem, we like to be part of the solution, and the only way we are able to discover our members’ concerns is when they are engaged with us.
( ) and Pontiac cars. In the 1960s, Atlanta’s prosperity began to spill over into DeKalb, and urbanization accelerated. Farsighted leadership in 1971 successfully led the county to approve a regional mass transit system with the creation of Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and funding with a onecent sales tax. Today, DeKalb is making new history on the cutting edge of healthcare research and education thanks to the presence of organizations like the CDC, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Task Force for Global Health and Emory University. Strategic growth There is a wealth of economic opportunity in DeKalb County for both businesses and individuals. The county
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is the second-most diverse and most affluent county with an African-American majority in Georgia. Specifically, the county’s population is 54 percent black, 29 percent white and 8.55 percent Hispanic. Additionally, 19.4 percent of its residents speak a non-English language. The median age in the county is 35.4, indicating a younger population, and the median income is $56,109, with a growth rate of 3.8 percent annually. This diversity leads to a strong job market, as is evident in the fact that DeKalb is home to 372,074 employees and an annual job growth rate of .99 percent. DeKalb County is adept at attracting and retaining businesses through a series of ambitious economic incentives and strategic plans. The county’s first Economic Development Strategic Plan was adopted in
DEKALB COUNTY OVERVIEW
Stephanie Freeman President & CEO – Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber
The business climate in Dunwoody is all about opportunity. There are currently over 2,500 active business licenses in the city with new construction on the rise. Dynamically, we are not only seeing growth for larger companies but also with that of smaller businesses. Both sets are taking advantage of the great amount of co-working space available in the market. As we strengthen our partnerships, we will work with the DeKalb SBDC to provide education and mentoring for large and small businesses alike as we continue to support the businesses we serve.
2014. The extremely in-depth plan spans three separate documents and aims to not only attract big business but also facilitate entrepreneurship and small business development and innovation. The strategic plan also aims to revitalize and utilize underdeveloped areas of the county through rezoning, development incentives and private-public partnerships. Finally, the plan includes undertaking cultural and aesthetic improvements, such as reducing crime and making major corridors more appealing. In furtherance of this strategic plan, DeKalb enacted an Economic Development Incentives Policy on March 22, 2016. The incentives policy consists of a tiered benefit structure based on the taxable value and job creation prospects of a project. Benefits range from a 50 percent permit discount on general contractor fees and a $1,000 cap on business occupation taxes for one year at the lowest tier, to permit discounts of 100 percent on general contractor fees and a cap of $1,000 on business occupation taxes for five years at the highest tier. The county also offers a matching funds incentive for water and sewage infrastructure projects. This approach appears to have been successful, as more than half of the Fortune 500 companies in Metro Atlanta operate in DeKalb County. In addition, the financial health of the county, as indicated by real estate values, appears to have improved steadily over the last decade. DeKalb County’s record for countywide gross digest was set in the 2008 fiscal year at $27.9
billion, and after weathering the financial crisis of 2008, the county broke that record in 2017 with a gross digest of $28.3 billion. Booming market DeKalb’s real estate market is booming, especially considering that the county was one of the hardest hit areas in Metro Atlanta during the housing crisis. There are countless real estate development projects in the pipeline or already underway throughout the county, ensuring that the huge influx of new residents expected over the next couple of years will have somewhere great to live. One of the major developments that has been proposed is Hybrass Properties LLC’s 214-singlefamily-home development in Lithonia. These homes would sit on 95.5 acres that previously comprised seven large tracts that were foreclosed on back in 2009. The new homes, occupying average lots of 8,900 square feet, would put the land back to productive use. An additional 102-lot development has been proposed by Arrowhead Investors LLC in Decatur on Valley Brook Road. 26 of the lots would be reserved for detached cottage-style homes with a minimum square footage of 1,950. The other 76 lots would be used for attached townhomes with a minimum of 1,650 square feet. An additional 25 townhomes have been proposed for a site just southeast of Decatur by Grandview Residential
DeKalb County broke its record for county-wide gross digest in 2017 with a gross digest of $28.3 billion.
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LLC. The development will sit on 2.4 acres at 1473 Columbia Drive, with 10.5 units per acre. Each unit will be at least 20 feet wide, have a two-car garage and will boast community greenspace and a dog park. Each townhome is projected to cost between $240,000 and $275,000. Another exciting residential development being proposed in DeKalb is the construction of two sevenstory apartment buildings adjacent to the Kensington MARTA station. The developer, Kensington Station LLC, also wants to construct a six-story parking deck to accommodate residents of the apartments and believes that the entire development will induce additional high-intensity residential use and investment opportunities in the Memorial Drive Overlay District. However, the developer will need to succeed in having the plot rezoned for high-density residential before the project can move forward. On top of all this planned growth of residential real estate, there is yet another fantastic benefit coming to residents of DeKalb County: property taxes are dropping. For the next six years, homeowners in the county will receive approximately $110 million every year in property tax cuts. The cuts came about thanks to the Equalized Homestead Option Sales Tax (EHOST) and the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). EHOST lowers property taxes, while SPLOST increases sales taxes. This results in a rare condition of rising property values throughout the county (with a median value of $181,000 and an annual increase of 40 percent in Lithonia, 16 percent in Druid Hills Kirkwood and East Lake and 11 percent in Clarkston), decreasing property taxes and a county flush with funding to undertake capital improvements. Additional relief for DeKalb residents comes in the form of the Department of Housing and
DeKalb County’s real estate market is booming, and property values are on the rise.
Urban Development (HUD)’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The Housing Authority of DeKalb County (HADC) uses the program to preserve assisted housing for various at-risk communities, including senior citizens, and to ensure that such housing is modernized, accessible and affordable. HADC used the program to convert all of its affordable housing leases to long-term, project-based Section 8 housing
Christopher Sanders Executive Director – East Metro CID
Public safety and beautification are the areas our board members and property owners want to focus on because of the issues — which are well known — of east and south DeKalb not being as developed from a commercial standpoint as other parts of the county. We are hoping to use the East Metro CID as a mechanism to spur these developments. We have several partners, from DeKalb County Government to GDOT, that are all focused on improving the area. For example, there are major I-20 reconstruction and I-285 express lane construction plans that will impact our CID.
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contracts. This ensures stability and affordability for residents and also attracts private capital for improvements and preservation. Finally, on the commercial side, the aging North DeKalb Mall is set to undergo a renovation and upgrade project that aims to take it from a struggling relic to a model for commercial modernization and revitalization. The mall, which opened just outside of Decatur in 1965, has struggled in recent years, as the city has turned more toward walkable mixeduse developments and has less of a need for the sort of shopping mall that catered to Americans in the middle of the last century. Therefore, the mall has applied to have its lot rezoned for mixed-use so that it can better suit the present and future needs of residents. The redeveloped mall lot would consist of a 150,000-square-foot Costco, 150,000 square feet of additional shops, a 14,500-square-foot food court and 45,000 square feet of restaurants. The plans also propose moving the AMC movie theater to a new 48,000-square-foot building. In addition to these commercial uses, the complex would also contain a 150-room hotel, 50,000 square feet of office space, 450 multifamily units and 50 townhomes.
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Capital improvements Wishes are becoming reality in DeKalb County due to overwhelming voter approval of a special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) that is funding capital improvements. In 2017, DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Michael Thurmond worked with the county’s state delegation, Board of Commissioners and mayors of its 12 municipalities to form an unprecedented alliance that created a referendum for a one-cent sales tax. Funding was allocated for roads, transportation, public safety and improvements to parks, senior centers, health centers and libraries. On November 7, 2017, a large majority of voters — over 70 percent — voted to approve the SPLOST. Over its six-year lifespan, the SPLOST is projected to raise a total of $637 million; $388 million of that will go to the county, while the remaining $249 million will be divided among DeKalb’s 12 municipalities. The county’s number one priority is addressing the approximately 300 miles of roads in need of repair within county limits. To this end, $151 million of the county-specific funds raised by the SPLOST are being allocated to road resurfacing. In addition
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to repairing its roads, the county is also dedicated to ensuring the health and safety of its residents and will be spending $84.7 million on building new fire stations, buying more emergency response vehicles and repairing existing police precincts and fire stations. A joint police and fire training academy is also planned to train new generations of responders. Other county projects include renovating parks, public libraries and various health and recreation centers. On top of the SPLOST funds that the county plans to spend on parks and recreation, an additional $1 million grant from Park Pride will be used to improve parks in Atlanta and throughout DeKalb. Within DeKalb, the focus will be on Briarlake Forest Park, where a circulation trail will be developed and park amenities will be improved; Frazier-Rowe Park, where a pavilion will be built, along with an accessible trail connecting to other areas of the park; Hairston Park, which will add three fitness centers and a nature trail; and N.H. Scott Park, which plans to improve signage throughout the park and implement a community garden.
DEKALB COUNTY OVERVIEW
The Lawrenceville Highway is also experiencing transformation. Matthew Lee, executive director of the Tucker-Northlake CID, told Focus:. “New residential developments began this year, and the 50-acre Johns Homestead Park has a new boardwalk overlooking the marsh and Twin Brothers Lakes. It’s rare to have a park of that size within 1,200 feet of the Perimeter.” Finally, the county will spend $79 million to repair and upgrade its aging sewage system. The repairs are expected to be complete by June 2020 and will consist of repairing structural defects, replacing pipes, improving public education about sewer use and preventing overflows and trying to anticipate and address future issues. Transit matters On top of the infrastructural improvements funded by the SPLOST, a host of other exciting projects related to transportation are on the docket in DeKalb County. First, the county will benefit from $3.6 million in mass transit improvements thanks to a Federal Transit Authority grant awarded to MARTA. The grant is designated for the expansion of bus services on MARTA route 120 in central and south DeKalb. This route runs through the Ponce de Leon Avenue Corridor and is one of the county’s busiest. Specifically, the money will be used to replace DeKalb’s 40-foot diesel buses with 60-foot buses that run on natural gas, thereby reducing pollution and congestion. The county has embarked on a Transit Master Plan to address DeKalb’s mobility challenges, enhance future development opportunities and improve the quality of life for all citizens. The plan is identifying transit service enhancements needed today and expansion opportunities for tomorrow to create a 30-year, cost-feasible vision for transit investments in DeKalb. There are other transportation projects underway designed to make DeKalb County greener and less congested. For example, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) approved $31.29 million in transportation projects throughout DeKalb, all of which are expected to be completed by 2023. Specifically, the projects are the Peachtree Creek Greenway Trail, which will extend the Peachtree Creek Greenway from Atlanta to Druid Hills Road, connecting it to the Atlanta BeltLine Trail; improvements to the I-285/I-20E interchange, with a focus on improving traffic flow and mitigating congestion; improvements to Panola Road, in
Patti Garrett Mayor City of Decatur
Our goal is to provide interconnectivity for our residents. We want to be able to connect every sector of the city in some way with pedestrian and bike paths. We recently adopted a PATH Connectivity Implementation Plan that will guide the city in installing the infrastructure needed for bicycle connectivity. We also installed protected bike lanes on North McDonough Street and eventually will expand bike lanes downtown and through the southern part of Decatur with the goal of connecting to the Atlanta BeltLine. We are coordinating with the City of Atlanta to ensure that we create a seamless connection where our borders abut. Our downtown housing units are walkable and bikeable to MARTA, retail shops, restaurants and office buildings. Our Strategic Plan supports density close to transit stations. The three transit stations in Decatur; our downtown mixed-use developments; the development at the Avondale MARTA station, which includes apartments, retail and senior housing; and the master plan currently underway for the Eastlake MARTA station all support this goal. A new downtown apartment project includes retail and a new Class-A office building and supports our efforts to energize the Trinity Place corridor. Decatur also has one of the largest participation rates in the state for the Safe Routes to School Program. Our students walk and bike to and from school, and we want to support bike and pedestrian safety for all ages, as well as connectivity throughout the city. DeKalb County citizens recently passed a special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST). One of the projects approved by Decatur voters is the use of SPLOST dollars to redesign the Atlanta Avenue railroad track intersection to make it safer and to enhance connectivity from the north and south sides of the city. This project represents the last big transportation goal to be funded from our current Community Transportation Plan.
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particular the addition of a center turn lane, bike lanes and sidewalks and the optimization of stoplights; and a redesign of U.S. 278 into a walkable “main street” with improved sidewalks, bike lanes and better crosswalks. “We have a number of truck companies here that cause a tremendous amount of congestion on the roads that could be fixed by the creation of a few strategic changes in controlling traffic flow,” John Kranjc, executive director of the Greater Conley Industrial CID, told Focus:. “Part of our mission is to get studies done about the traffic control efficiency on our roads and how much we could relieve the traffic congestion with a few wellplaced entrance-exit ramps to the interstate highways in our area, traffic lights to reduce accidents and promote better traffic flow and other traffic improvements such as roundabouts where needed. We are hoping the SPLOST initiative passed last November will fund projects to alleviate some of these issues.” Health leader Thanks to a formidable existing healthcare infrastructure, as well as some recent developments, DeKalb County remains an extremely healthy place
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to live. The county is home to the CDC, Task Force for Global Health and Emory University, which puts DeKalb on the cutting edge of medical research and provides a wealth of jobs and healthcare options. In addition, DeKalb is home to world-class hospitals and healthcare facilities. Thanks to a recently approved partnership between Emory Healthcare and DeKalb Medical, DeKalb’s hospitals — including Emory Decatur Hospital, Emory Hillandale Hospital and Emory Long-term Acute Care — now have the advantage of even more resources. DeKalb is also a leader in health insurance coverage, with 82.9 percent of residents currently insured. 56 percent of those insured obtained their coverage through their employers, while 14 percent purchased their insurance directly. 15 percent of the county’s insured are on Medicare, while 9 percent have Medicaid or other public insurance. School days DeKalb is a top destination for world-class education, with prestigious institutions like Agnes Scott College, Emory University, Mercer University, Georgia State University, DeVry University, Oglethorpe University,
BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
Ray Gilley President Decide DeKalb
DeKalb County is home to a number of prestigious higher ed institutions, including Oglethorpe University.
Georgia Piedmont Technical College, Columbia Theological Seminary and Luther Rice College and Seminary within its borders. DeKalb is also home to a renowned school district. The DeKalb County School District focuses on early education and preparing students for success in competitive and employable industries. The school district is planning to deliver an even more superior education to its students by launching a five-year, $561 million education special purpose local option sales tax (E-SPLOST) capital improvements program. “Reel” estate Entertainment is a $2-billion-per-year industry in DeKalb County, and three major film studios already call the county home. This figure comes from the DeKalb Entertainment Commission’s 2016 study on the economic impact of the industry on the county’s economy. The study specifically examined the film, TV, music and gaming industries and found particularly strong job growth in the motion picture and video production sectors for independent writers and artists. Interestingly, the DeKalb Entertainment Commission says the $2 billion impact indicated in its study is conservative, and it expects that number ( )
Can you tell us a little bit about Dekalb Thrives? Dekalb Thrives is an economic and strategic plan developed in 2014 that made more than 100 recommendations that were consolidated to 88 total. Each organization and stakeholder was given their specific part of the plan, including the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, Decide Dekalb, the District School Board and DeKalb County Government. We monitor the progress on a quarterly basis, which allows every organization to evaluate how the recommendations are being addressed or if they need adjustment. We are excited that the strategic plan recommendations were developed, processed and executed. Going forward we look to update the plan with things that might not have existed in 2014, such as some large retail store closings and new industry growth. This gives us a chance for adaptive reuse of the space using that strategic plan update. What are some of your strategies for supporting startups and small business in DeKalb? The University of Georgia has an office in DeKalb that helps individuals clarify their focus or intentions from ideas into viable business plans. Georgia Tech is one of our regional partners, and it offers a manufacturing series with local businesses on how to make their operations more efficient. We also have a county small business loan fund of $30,000 to $50,000 loans for startups. Moving from that startup level, we have strategic marketing partners through the Atlanta Metro Chamber that can help move a business forward into those next phases of market expansion. Themed co-working spaces are the private sector model of the idea of incubators, which used to be government subsidized. We think the most successful model is entrepreneurial driven and private sector driven. It’s important to have an ecosystem where an individual or business can connect with the resources to get to the next level or solve whatever problem or issue they may have.
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Market voices: Mayors’ Corner It feels like it’s in the process of exploding. It was good before, but it was quiet. It was a bit of a well-kept secret, but in addition to gaining Animi, custrum sit ipsae preperiores inventempera secae et ideliqu cityhood we’re in the path of development. We’re on a line between the City iasperumque ventibus dolorat prat apitas porehendam, utatemos dolorrum of Atlanta and Decatur. We have a couple of major arteries running through aruptam ium fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus mi, ut is ad maio. Nequam us. We have some big interstates that we’re part of. There’s lots of access. facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate We’re an easy ride to the airport. We’re close to a lot, but we don’t have the nestiorio omnit omniae verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas Frank Auman downside of horrendous traffic. Our challenge is going to be to balance that, dolupta spelecatur. Mayor develop it and not let it get out of hand. Name Surname Bearci toratem poritem pedisincil ea dolore nimillia qui occulligenis aris exeria City of Tucker Job Title sint, ullant aut litio officatquia nobis cum anit erovidel eicidit iatemod et volupta Company Name que excernatis et hitatquo quiaepe llendunderia simaio te nonsequias aut dolesed quidest, eatquun temporios ra prem non reium sum rati re, volor. I’m a huge believer that technology and advancements in transportation are going to be what help us, along with encouraging alternate modes of transportation, like our trail system. The one thing about traffic is it’s a sign of good economic times. I remember during the recession when gas was expensive and nobody seemed to have a job; you could get around all over town. There were some depressing years there, but it was easy to get around. Eric Clarkson
Mayor Animi, custrum sit ipsae preperiores inventempera secae et ideliqu City of Chamblee iasperumque ventibus dolorat prat apitas porehendam, utatemos dolorrum aruptam ium fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus mi, ut is ad maio. Nequam facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate nestiorio omnit omniae verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas In other cities, governments have spent about $20 million on their dolupta spelecatur. Name Surname downtown, and then $80 in private Bearci toratem poritem pedisincil ea dolore nimillia quimillion occulligenis aris money exeria followed. We want a new Job Title city hall cum builtanit witherovidel privateeicidit investment, the city as the complex’s anchor sint, ullant aut litio officatquia nobis iatemodwith et volupta Company Name In Clarkston, wesimaio consider engagement que excernatis et hitatquotenant. quiaepe llendunderia te civic nonsequias aut to be paramount to the future of ra our community. The more investors in Clarkston are to listen dolesed quidest, eatquun temporios prem non reium sum rati willing re, volor. to the needs of our community, the more successful the investment will be. I Ted Terry think we’ll end up with projects that everyone will be happy with. Mayor City of Clarkston
Animi, custrum sit ipsae preperiores inventempera secae et ideliqu iasperumque ventibus dolorat prat apitas porehendam, utatemos dolorrum Our biggest recent accomplishment is Assembly, the former General aruptam fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus mi, ut is ad maio. Nequam Motors (GM) plant. For years, GMium was non-responsive in dealing with the facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate abandoned space. We finally had a chance to share our vision with GM’s real omnit verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas estate department, and itnestiorio embraced our omniae livable communities initiative, which dolupta spelecatur. is what our citizens were hoping for the future of Doraville. We had interest Name Surname Bearci from toratem pedisincil dolorebut nimillia the poritem Atlanta Falcons to ea casinos, whenqui occulligenis aris exeria Jobfrom Title all kinds of organizations, Donna Pittman sint, ullant aut litio officatquia nobis cum anit erovidel et volupta the Integral Group came along, it really embraced our vision. We knew that was eicidit iatemod Company Name Mayor que Integral excernatis hitatquothe quiaepe who we wanted to work with. haset embraced history llendunderia of the site andsimaio te nonsequias aut City of Doraville dolesed quidest, eatquun temporios ra prem non reium sum rati re, volor. is aware of its regional importance.
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James Tsismanakis Executive Director & CEO – DeKalb Conventions & Visitors Bureau Discover DeKalb We are focusing on branding DeKalb as a destination. Not only do we have five cities, each with its unique offerings, but the county as a whole is an amazing attraction. We have everything from farmers’ markets and festivals to one of only two National Heritage Areas in the state, incredible international food off Buford Highway, museums and, of course, the most visited attraction in the state: Stone Mountain. There is also the economic impact of organizations like Dekalb-Peachtree Airport.
( ) to go much higher in the near future as DeKalb jockeys for a bigger piece of the entertainment pie. One way DeKalb is attracting more film production is by making it easy with a one-stop-shop FilmApp. In the past, production crews had to navigate the permitting and utility hookup process alone, seeking various approvals and information across multiple agencies. Today, production managers use the FilmApp portal to manage the permit process and can even reference and interactive map to find a desired filming location. Bright future As the Metro Atlanta region continues to grow, DeKalb is prepared for an influx of businesses and residents. Millions of dollars have been invested in infrastructure projects to improve water and sewer lines, roads,
sidewalks, parks and senior centers. A commitment to transit, miles of bike trails, connectivity with four major interstates and the second-busiest airport in Georgia offers citizens and visitors alternative modes of transportation to travel in, out of and around DeKalb. From life sciences to logistics, universities to technical programs and film to industrial manufacturing, DeKalb offers something for everyone.
Capital Analytics would like to thank DeKalb County for its contribution in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website: www. dekalbcountyga.gov.
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Tourism, Arts, Culture & Film: Atlanta is one of the most visited cities in the U.S., with record numbers of tourists flocking to the region every year to experience its diverse offerings. From a thriving film industry and civil rights landmarks to world-class museums and award-winning festivals, tourists and residents alike are kept entertained year-round. In addition, the city’s hotel market is ranked seventh in the country for revenue per room growth, and the “World’s Busiest Airport” offers unparalelled connectivity.
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Gold standard: Atlanta’s tourism industry continues to break records, with droves of visitors flocking to the area to experience the city’s diverse offerings and attractions Atlanta is important not only as a historic southern city but also as a modern urban metropolis. It has a wide variety of attractions to offer visitors, so it should come as no surprise that tourism numbers are currently 40 percent higher than pre-2008 recession levels. Georgia’s 2017 tourism industry figures were record breaking. These include $63.1 billion in state economic impact — a 3.8 percent increase from 2016 — and $3.3 billion in state and local revenue. According to the Atlanta Conventions and Visitors Bureau (ACVB), Georgia’s tourism industry generated $15 billion solely in domestic visitor expenditures. Atlanta set its own all-time-high records in 2017. The City of Atlanta welcomed 53 million visitors last year, a 3 percent increase from 2016. Hotel occupancy ended 2017 at a healthy 73 percent, which marks the fourth consecutive year that hotel occupancy finished at a level above 70 percent. In 2017, the city was ranked the number two best place to visit in Georgia, following the City of Savannah. It was also ranked number 10 for best nightlife scene in the nation, following close behind cities like Austin and Chicago.
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The tourism industry is the fifth-largest employer in the state of Georgia, accounting for 10.6 percent of the state’s non-farm workforce and the creation of 460,000 jobs in 2017. These significant increases in tourism can be attributed to many factors, including the area’s booming film industry and the increase in meetings and conventions held in the city. A burgeoning attraction is garden tourism, an emerging sector within Atlanta’s southern hospitality industry. Atlanta houses several public gardens, and innovative business owners in the hospitality sector are taking advantage of this to cater to tourists who come to Atlanta in search of hands-on gardening experiences. Heads in beds According to CBRE’s 2018 Southeast U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook report, Atlanta’s strong hotel market performance is expected to hold steady. The influx of both businesses and sporting events like the 2018 NCAA National Championship and the 2019 Super Bowl, coupled with the large number of meetings, conventions and events held in the metro area, are aggregating visitor numbers year-over-year. In ( )
TOURISM, ARTS, CULTURE & FILM INTERVIEW
Driving experience How the Atlanta Conventions & Visitors Bureau is focused on expanding sports tourism, integrating technology and capitalizing on Atlanta’s growing industries
William Pate President & CEO – Atlanta Conventions & Visitors Bureau
What were some of the main achievements of the Atlanta CVB in the last few years? Atlanta secured the College Football Playoff National Championship, Major League Soccer All-Star Game, Super Bowl LIII and NCAA Men’s Final Four. The CVB sees sports as an incremental business because we don’t have to displace convention business to support it. It is highly valuable to our restaurants, attractions and hotels and creates a significant brand for Atlanta. Georgia World Congress Center is adding a new 1,000room convention hotel, as well as expanding Buildings B and C, giving Atlanta over 1 million square feet of contiguous exhibit space. Atlanta will be one of only a few convention centers in the country that can offer that amount of contiguous space, allowing us to compete for the largest conventions in the country. Philips Arena is currently undergoing a renovation that we hope will also drive additional development around the facility. How does the CVB leverage technology? We use technology particularly for securing our convention business. We developed a model that gives us visibility into need periods at the hotel and the convention center, paired with conventions that meet or have met over those dates. This allows us to book business more efficiently and serves as a lead list for our sales managers. Our website uses VR technology to show prospective clients a virtual layout of downtown. The virtual experience is especially valuable for meeting planners, who can “walk through” the convention center, consider different room setups and get a sense of how close the center is to many of our restaurants and attractions. We also use technology to enrich the experience of tourists to Atlanta. These technologies have been great for
us to sell out event spaces and ensure visitors have a wonderful experience in our city. How have local industries been incremental to the business strategy of the Atlanta CVB? We mirror our international strategy with Delta Airlines so when it opens additional markets or adds flights, we increase our marketing efforts in that area. Airlift is important to have a significant impact on the tourism sector. We also look at industry growth within the city. For example, with the widening of the Savannah Port, Atlanta is becoming a significant logistics hub. We were able attract MODEX, the second-largest logistics convention in the country, and secure it on a regular basis. We are looking forward to capitalizing on the booming film industry that has had such a significant impact on the city and state.
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( ) turn, hotel demand and development continues to steadily increase. “We are really excited to see where we end up in 2018; we’re on pace to have our best year yet,” Devin Heath, general manager at Embassy Suites Hilton Atlanta Galleria, told Focus:. “There is so much more happening here in this part of Atlanta — businesses that are coming here and the vibrancy going on in this area. I think we’re just in the right place at the right time.” Atlanta’s hotel market is currently ranked seventh in the U.S. for the best-forecasted revenue per available room growth for 2017 and 2018. Revenue per available room growth figures have steadily increased from 2012 to 2016, rising from $55.38 to $72.39. In 2018, the number is expected to grow by 4.5 percent from 2017 numbers to approximately $78.91. Hotel occupancy levels remained steady at 70 percent during 2017, compared to Atlanta’s long-run average of 62.9 percent occupancy rate since 1995. The top four submarkets in Atlanta with the most hotel development are Downtown, Alpharetta, Atlanta South and the I-85 North corridor. Each of these areas has more than 10 hotels in the works over the next two years. According to CBRE, the Downtown Atlanta
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submarket will be extremely active in the next few years, with over 1,400 new rooms in the planning stages for construction. Atlanta expects $876 million worth of hospitality development over the next two years. A majority of this investment is geared towards hotel construction. Some completed and/or planned 2018 projects include the Clarion Inn & Suites in Downtown, Springhill Suites by Marriott Atlanta Downtown and Canopy by Hilton Atlanta Midtown. The Clarion Inn & Suites in particular is the first hotel to be built in Atlanta’s Westside in years. It offers 104 rooms and 1,000 square feet of event space. The Canopy by Hilton will also have 176 rooms, 4 suites and 3,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. Area hotels are working hard to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market. “We are geared toward millennial travelers and business travelers alike looking for a ‘home away from home’ in a cool setting,” Bharat Lugani, general manager at the ALoft Hotel-Atlanta, told Focus:. “We are pet-friendly and provide a full recreational lobby area; complete with mixed lounge seating, trendy bar, a pool table and an assortment of board games. Our bright, energized
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colors and savvy interior design is really what sets the Aloft Atlanta apart.” “There are always challenges here because Atlanta is a very healthy market — there are always new products and new investments — so you have to stay on top of having a fresh hotel with a great look, making sure your online presence is accurate from a marketing standpoint and that you’re engaging with customers through social media,” Eric Rossena, general manager of the Doubletree by Hilton, Buckhead, told Focus:. Heavy hitters Explore Georgia plays a substantial role in growing Atlanta’s tourism industry. An initiative under the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Explore Georgia serves as the official site where potential visitors can learn about Georgia and what there is to do in its various regions. It offers free travel guides and newsletters. The website also provides interactive maps and flexible schedules, allowing visitors to plan their ideal trip, all while accessing information on all of the hottest attractions. The Atlanta-specific section of Explore Georgia focuses on promoting the retail, dining and entertainment industries in the area. The organization constantly updates its website with new trip ideas, events and must-see attractions. Another key driver of tourism in Atlanta is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). In 2017, the airport had a total of 104 million passengers, an approximate 11 percent increase from 81 million passengers in 2013. Of these, 91.9 million passengers were domestic, while 12.1 million were international. These numbers marked the 20th consecutive year of Hartsfield-Jackson being named the “World’s Busiest Airport.” In terms of domestic travel, the top three destination airports from Atlanta are Orlando, New York and Fort Lauderdale, with 1,390,000, 1,181,000 and 1,165,000 travelers, respectively. As one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson serves millions of international and domestic transfers in addition to those for whom Atlanta is a final destination. In fact, in 2017 Hartsfield-Jackson remained the world’s busiest airport in terms of aircraft movement as well for the second consecutive year. These transfer visitors play an instrumental role in the economic impact tourism has on Atlanta. For that reason, day trips from the airport to nearby attractions are encouraged, and a wide array of retail and dining amenities are currently being improved
Doug Shipman President & CEO The Woodruff Arts Center
What are your plans to capitalize on the tremendous growth of the Atlanta arts scene? We are the third-largest Arts Center in the country behind the Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in D.C. We’re the only one with a Visual Arts Museum as part of the Arts Center. We have a lot of size, and we have 50 years of history. We have an opportunity to reshape ourselves and be relevant for the next 50 years. The notion of how we consume art and culture is changing rapidly. We have seen explosive growth in our educational programs of camps, art classes and educational endeavors that are an input into a young person’s long-term employability. What is the expected impact of this renovations of the Alliance Theater? The 50-year-old Alliance Theater has been completely rebuilt to do a few things: one, to create spaces that accommodate artists and the way art is made in the theater space in the 21st century, and two, to accommodate education and audiences in new ways. When the theater was built originally, you needed a 50-piece orchestra for a musical. Now you need a five-piece orchestra, allowing us to move the audience closer to the stage, creating better acoustics and an overall intimate feeling. The design itself is going to be curved wood, almost Danish in its look. It will attract great work that will launch to Broadway, and it is going to be a destination where people will want to be. What can we look forward to at Woodruff in 2018? We’re going to open up a brand-new Alliance Theater in the fall. We’re celebrating 50 years of the Memorial Arts Building, and the High Museum is going to reinstall and change its permanent exhibition. There will be a lot of new and unseen pieces, more premiers and new artists on the horizon. Everywhere you turn it feels as if Atlanta is turning over to the next step when it comes to arts and culture.
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at the airport in order to boost food and beverage sales. Many attractions surround the airport region — places such as the Porsche Experience Center and the Delta Flight Museum are just minutes away — making it easy for visitors on layovers to enjoy Atlanta for at least a few hours. Conventional attraction In 2017, Atlanta was among the top four destinations for meetings, incentives, conventions and events (MICE) tourism, along with Orlando, Las Vegas and Chicago. MICE tourism accounted for 1.7 million hotel nights during 2017, and Atlanta’s hospitality community will welcome $3 billion in new development by the end of the decade in order to accommodate the increasing number of MICE visitors who come to Atlanta every year. The Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) is the marketing organization for Atlanta’s tourism and conventions industries. Supported by a combination of public and private funds, it partners with a number of organizations across the metro area. The ACVB has won the Meeting & Conventions Gold Service Award for 24 years running. In 2017, it hosted 19 major
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citywide conventions and 12 trade shows for a total of 700 conventions, meetings and events. In September 2017, ACVB hosted the 11th Annual U.S.-China Tourism Leadership Summit in conjunction with Brand USA. The U.S.-China Tourism Leadership Summit attracts multitudes of industry leaders from across the globe, bringing together 250 high-ranking tourism and government officials. This conference helps to strengthen the ties between Atlanta and China. Between 30 and 35 percent of all Atlanta convention attendees are from outside of the U.S. In 2014, Chinese visitors became the secondlargest group of international visitors to the area and are projected to become number one by 2024. Atlanta is also home to Dragon Con, a high-energy pop culture convention held over Labor Day weekend that attracts about 80,000 attendees and has an economic impact of more than $70 million on the city. Georgia’s booming film industry continues to give the event a boost Georgia World Congress Center Authority Georgia World Congress Center Authority includes the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia ( )
Market voices: Hospitality
Bradley Koeneman General Manager Hilton Atlanta
We are a convention- and group-driven hotel. Business drives this location, and Hilton as an organization is very business friendly. Our honors program assists our customers and affords flexibility and options for their travel. Of course food matters, too, and we have several options within this hotel. Just as important are the technology offerings, including free Wifi with strong bandwidth for honors customers, free room choice and the ability to go straight to your room and use your handheld device as your key.
We are one of the ‘big six’ downtown convention hotels and the only Four Diamond property in the Centennial Park District. When large conventions come to town, blocking rooms with us affords their attendees the luxury of traveling between their guestrooms and their meetings at the Georgia World Congress Center without ever stepping foot outdoors. Our 120,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space plays host to a variety of large events for global associations and Fortune 500 companies, but the use is across the board and also serves as the backdrop for intimate weddings and festive holiday gatherings.
Matt Parsons
General Manager AC Hotel Buckhead
Manuel Deisen
General Manager Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center
We don’t want to keep you in the hotel because we are not your staycation hotel. We your enjoy-the-city hotel. We want you to have your drink with us, and we will tell you where to go to dinner and give you a personal experience. Our customers are ordering from Uber Eats or experiencing a great local restaurant. While in the past things like mobile keys and not having to check in might have scared the hotel industry, today we are embracing it. It has taken away the transactional and allows our staff to be conversational because a lot of those initial tasks are no longer needed. Now our staff has the opportunity to walk through the lobby and have organic conversation with our guests.
We continue to be a leader in the Atlanta luxury market. One of the success stories here is the entertainment industry. It clearly has helped us with inbound business specifically geared to this market. In general, there is continuous interest, especially in the luxury segment, from customers coming in for large sporting events. And we, of course, are looking forward to the Super Bowl. Our corporate market is specific. We have ample meeting space, and our business is very specific to a higher-end customer. Our group guests are a lot of smaller corporate meetings and board-meeting-style events. A lot of our business is return business.
Guntram Merl General Manager St. Regis Hotel
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( ) Dome and Centennial Olympic Park. In 2017, these facilities delivered a total economic output increase of $1.8 billion, 17,754 additional jobs and $104.3 million in additional state tax and fee revenue. A majority of this output comes from outof-state visitor spending; in fact, it makes up about 80 percent. The Georgia World Congress Center is the fourthlargest meeting center in the U.S. With millions of visitors each year, the center currently features 1.4 million square feet of exhibition space and has been the home of popular events like the annual International Production and Processing Expo. In order to improve efficiency and satisfy the authority’s 2020 Vision, the center is scheduled to undergo a $55 million project to connect two major halls and an additional $25 million renovation to make the center energy efficient. This expansion will increase the exhibition space by approximately 100,000 square feet, attracting even larger conventions in years to come. Since this larger space will result in more attendees to the center, the Georgia World Congress Authority plans on constructing a new hotel on its
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campus in order to comfortably accommodate the growing number of people and events held there. So far, five large hotel companies are showing interest in the project: Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group and AccorHotels. Georgia International Convention Center The Georgia International Convention Center is another venue that houses many of Atlanta’s major conventions and events. Less than one mile away from ATL, the convention center is perfectly located for event attendees coming from outside of the state. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium has a number of concerts as well. The venue has an approximate economic impact of between $80 million and $100 million per year. For more coverage on the stadium, please refer to our sports chapter. Going global Promoting Atlanta to international visitors remains a challenge in 2018. Over the past few years Atlanta has implemented various efforts to attract
TOURISM, ARTS, CULTURE & FILM OVERVIEW
Founded in 1929, the Atlanta Ballet is one of the premier dance companies in the country and the official State Ballet of Georgia.
interest from abroad and improve international visitors’ experience in the city, such as increasing multilingual staff in retail centers and adding more multilingual directional signs at ATL. By the end of 2017, these efforts, coupled with more international conventions, new international flight routes and a world-renowned film industry, had made a significant mark on Georgia tourism. International visitation to Atlanta increased by 5 percent from 2016 to 2017 and by a whopping 20 percent over the last 5 years. Canada, Europe and Asia are the top three regions with visitors traveling to Atlanta, comprising 29, 25 and 21 percent of international tourist numbers, respectively. Conventions with the most attendance from international visitors in 2017 included Rotary International, American Society of Hematology, International Poultry and Egg Exposition, Academy of Management and the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show. Additionally, new direct flight routes from Hartsfield-Jackson to international destinations established in 2017 include Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; Seoul, South Korea; and coming in 2018, Shanghai, China. The top three countries with more than 60 percent growth in tourist numbers to Atlanta in the last five years are India, South Korea and China. Civil rights tourism The civil rights tourism trend is spreading quickly across the Deep South, as evidenced by the launch of the national U.S. Civil Rights Trail on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in 2018. This trail
encompasses 130 landmarks in 14 U.S. states. 11 of these landmarks are in Georgia and make up the Georgia Civil Rights Trail. These historical markers connect and commemorate the pivotal civil rights events that occurred during the 1950s and ’60s and educate travelers about Georgia’s rich historical involvement in the movement. The trail is expected to spur Atlanta’s growing civil rights tourism industry by attracting visitors who want to experience history on a more intimate level. Sites such as the APEX Museum, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home, the Albany Civil Rights Institute, Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site all contribute to this historic trail. Other civil rights landmarks, while not part of the trail, have long attracted visitors to Atlanta as well. For example, Paschal’s Restaurant serves up creative southern cooking and a slice of history in a place where both white and black prominent figures once met to eat and discuss integration. The King Center attracts approximately 1 million visitors each year and generates revenues of approximately $5.5 million annually. Opened in 2014, the Center for Civil and Human Rights cost an estimated $80 million to build and attracted over 200,000 visitors in 2016. It celebrated its third anniversary on June 23, 2017, and is projected to generate $1.3 billion in economic impact over the course of its first 10 years. While it promotes economic development by attracting visitors, the center also improves the domestic climate through its community outreach programs, specifically its partnership
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Name Surname Job titles, Company
Janet Rodgers
Ryan Millsap
& CEO President & CEO – Alpharetta Convention & Chairman Visitors Bureau Blackhall Studios The Alpharetta CVB is the official destination marketing organization for the city, and we have accumulated lifelong visitors by establishing a strong brand and image for Alpharetta. The city has worked hard to make the city what it is today, and the CVB has worked hard to brand it as such. It’s innovative, it’s upscale, it’s dynamic, it’s safe and clean. And yet the city has still retained its small-town suburban charm, where you feel comfortable bringing your family and orchestrating business. We show a business’s CEO that this is where they want to live and start their business. We are contributors to that economic engine.
with the local police sensitivity training program. A growing industry, civil rights tourism will surely prove to be a beneficial economic promoter for Atlanta in the upcoming years. Cultural draws Atlanta’s booming tourism industry would be nothing without the city and surrounding area’s cultural attractions. The metro area is home to a variety of activities that cater to all types of tourism, from educational and family-friendly to adventurous and thrill-seeking. Some of the metro area’s more popular attractions include the World of Coca-Cola, the College Football Hall of Fame Atlanta and the CNN Building. Many of Atlanta’s famous attractions benefitted from investment and upgrades in 2017 and 2018, and there are also a number of exciting new projects in the works. Georgia Aquarium Housing approximately 700 different species and over 100,000 animals within its 10 million gallons of water, the Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere and the biggest tourist destination in Atlanta. The aquarium has approximately 2.5 million admissions every year and is one of the largest economic engines of the tourism industry in Atlanta. Impressively, the economic impact to the state of Georgia totaled $1.9 billion from the aquarium’s grand opening in 2005 to 2015. In 2018, a brand-new $100 million aquarium expansion was announced, with a goal of debuting in 2020. This expansion will add a seventh gallery to the aquarium
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with a 120-foot shark tank that will house about five or six shark species, including hammerhead and tiger sharks. Another tank within the gallery will house rays, as well. This expansion — one of the most expensive in the aquarium’s history — is expected to bring up annual visitation numbers from 2.5 to 2.7 million. Centennial Olympic Park Built for the Summer Olympics in 1996, Centennial Olympic Park is a legacy in Atlanta and continues to be one of the most popular visitor destinations in the city. The park hosts several events every year, such as the Shaky Knees Music Festival and its annual Independence Day fireworks display. Centennial Olympic Park has attracted over $2.4 billion in investment since its grand opening in 1996, causing the attraction to receive the Downtown Economic Impact Award in 2016. Centennial Olympic Park is currently undergoing a $27 million enhancement and expansion project set to be completed in the spring of 2019. Improvements include incorporating Olympic-themed components, increasing acreage at the West Lawn Promenade and the creation of a plaza honoring Paralympians in the northwest corner of the park. Atlanta History Center Opened in 1990, the Atlanta History Center provides interesting exhibitions of American life between the 1860s and 1920s. Throughout the year, the museum promotes the importance of history to Atlanta’s youth through programs, lectures and festivals such as Sheep to Shawl. In addition, the history center
TOURISM, ARTS, CULTURE & FILM OVERVIEW
provides various educational programs such as Characters in the Classroom and Traveling Trunks in partnership with the city. The Atlanta History Center is benefitting from an expansion set to open in the fall of 2018. The $42.5 million raised for this expansion will go towards the creation of the new 23,000-square-foot Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclorama Building, which will house the 42- by 358-foot-long painting “The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama.” “The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama was painted in 1886. It is approximately 50 feet tall and 400 feet around, a little bit longer than a football field,” Sheffield Hale, CEO of the Atlanta History Center, told Focus:. “It’s massive, and it’s so iconic for Atlanta because it was the only tourist attraction here for 100 years. When you came to Atlanta, you came to see that, and then you went to the zoo.” Festivals and events Home to the second-largest film industry in the U.S., Atlanta hosts some of the best art and film festivals in the world. The Atlanta Film Festival, running since 1976, is an Academy Award-winning festival, meaning that the films shown at the festival are eligible for
Oscars. The 2018 festival attracted a record-breaking 27,000 viewers, compared to the 23,000 viewers it welcomed in 2015. The festival solidified its connection with the booming local film industry by showcasing a record 49 Georgia-produced films. Another popular arts festival is the National Black Arts Festival. Founded in 1987, this festival has kept various forms of art — from music to film to dance — alive in Atlanta by promoting it through a wide array of events and educational programs. In the past the festival has featured poet Maya Angelou and the seminal vocal combo The O’Jays. Atlanta is host to a number of music festivals throughout the year as well. Music Midtown is one of the largest music festivals in the state. It has featured artists from various genres, including Ludacris, Sam Smith, Billy Idol and the Arctic Monkeys. Because of its expansive cultural and artistic appeal, Music Midtown has generated an economic impact of nearly $20 million for the Greater Atlanta area, according to a 2014 report by the Research Center at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The Festival Peachtree Latino is the largest multicultural event in Georgia. With more than 80,000 attendees every year, the festival will celebrate its ( )
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Market voices: Culture Corner
Arturo Jacobus President & CEO Name Surname Atlanta Job Title Ballet Company Name
We have an obligation — artistically, socially and financially — to provide a variety of custrum programming so there’s something for everyone, has Animi, sit ipsae preperiores inventempera secaeand et that ideliqu resulted in much more enthusiastic audiences. It’s palpable in the theater, iasperumque ventibus dolorat prat apitas porehendam, utatemos dolorrum and it has resulted in increases in ticket sales. In addition to the balanced aruptam ium fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus mi, ut is ad maio. Nequam programming, Gennadi has focused very sharply on training and developing facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate the ensemble so that it gets better and better. Between the level of dance nestiorio omnit omniae verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas and thespelecatur. repertoire he’s selected, it’s really been a good shot in the arm for dolupta Atlanta Ballet its audiences. Bearci toratem and poritem pedisincil ea dolore nimillia qui occulligenis aris exeria
sint, ullant aut litio officatquia nobis cum anit erovidel eicidit iatemod et volupta que excernatis et hitatquo quiaepe llendunderia simaio te nonsequias aut dolesed quidest, eatquun temporios ra prem non reium sum rati re, volor. We are connecting with the community and diversifying what we do — performing, for example, the works of Prince and music from ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.’ We’re trying to be as creative and innovative as our city, and that’s helping us attract new audiences, but of course, we aren’t moving away from the traditional works we’ve been offering throughout our history. Recent endowments have allowed us to grow the orchestra by 20 percent, which will help us better serve our thriving arts community. The business model Jennifer Barlament of theAnimi, Woodruff Arts Center is also helping us inventempera achieve success, but despite our custrum sit ipsae preperiores secae et ideliqu Executive Director good run andventibus positive outlook, need porehendam, community support. iasperumque dolorat we pratstill apitas utatemos dolorrum Atlanta Symphony aruptam ium fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus mi, ut is ad maio. Nequam Orchestra facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate nestiorio omnit omniae verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas The State of Georgia provides a stable and sustainable infrastructure dolupta spelecatur. Surname for the industry, turn, the aris film exeria industry actsName as a high-quality Bearci toratem poritem pedisincil eafilm dolore nimilliaand qui in occulligenis Job Title tourism service the state. People want to travel to see film sites, and that sint, ullant aut litio officatquia nobis cum anitfor erovidel eicidit iatemod et volupta Company Name makes the state’s investment in the film industry que excernatis et hitatquo quiaepe llendunderia simaio te nonsequias autlong-lasting. Technology is pushing innovation film-making dolesed quidest, eatquun temporios ra prem noninreium sum rati through re, volor.visual effects, virtual reality and also behind-the-scenes developments in pre-production stages. Technology Christopher Escobar can become cost-effective and promote a better economy through a crossExecutive Director section of different sectors. Atlanta Film Society
Animi, custrum sit ipsae preperiores inventempera secae et ideliqu iasperumque ventibus dolorat prat apitas porehendam, utatemos dolorrum We’ve undergone aaruptam significant evolution in the past few years, one thatmi, ut is ad maio. Nequam ium fugit enisquam si dolorisintio es cus has caused us to redefine our business model. While we have always had a facest praessi offic temosan diatus aut alibus aborempos et od que volor reptate strong reputation for delivering extraordinary exhibitions, we wished to move nestiorio omnit omniae verios core, none simperi doluptaest, suntotas voluptas away from providing just dolupta that onespelecatur. primary gateway for people to connect with the museum. Instead, ourBearci focus toratem is on building multiple gateways for people toqui occulligenis aris exeria Name Surname poritem pedisincil ea dolore nimillia Jobconnect. Title In other words,sint, we’ve changed our programming in an intentional ullant aut litio officatquia nobis cum anit erovidel eicidit Rand iatemod et volupta Suffolk Company effort toName become a stronger magnet for every segment of the Atlanta community. que excernatis et hitatquo quiaepe llendunderia simaio te nonsequias aut Director Our efforts have been affirming; more than tripled the level of non-white dolesedwe’ve quidest, eatquun temporios ra prem non reium sumHigh rati re, volor. Museum participation from 15 percent to 50 percent.
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BANKING & FINANCE OVERVIEW
( ) 17th year in Piedmont Park in 2018. This new venue will accommodate even more festival-goers. The festival expands the local economy by providing exposure to businesses that strive to work with the Latin market. Keeping it reel Governor Nathan Deal declared 2017 the “Year of Film,” and rightfully so. One of Georgia’s biggest business incentive successes has been the growth of its worldrenowned film industry. In 2016, Georgia surpassed the state of California for production numbers of feature films, and the industry had a total economic impact of $9.5 billion statewide in 2017. The Georgia Film Commission was founded in 1973 following the filming of the 1972 hit “Deliverance,” which was set in rural Georgia. In 2005, the state rolled out the first film tax incentive as part of the Georgia Entertainment and Industry Investment Act, offering a 9 percent tax credit on a minimum investment of $500,000 per year, with extra incentives for investing in certain counties and employing locals. In 2008, the tax credit was increased to up to 30 percent, 20 percent of which is slated for production or post production of more than $500,000 undertaken in Georgia. The extra 10 percent is for displaying the state logo. Since 2007, the industry has grown from having an impact of $67.7 million in direct spending to one of $2.7 billion in FY 2017. Georgia offers other benefits to shooting films apart from its generous tax incentives. These include attractive visual and geographical features, ease of travel and developed infrastructure. The state is made up of a multitude of varied landscapes, which makes it possible for filmmakers to shoot in a variety of different locations. Its temperate climate also allows for yearround shooting. In addition, ATL offers unparallelled accessibility from almost anywhere in the world. More than 70 film and TV projects were shot in and around Atlanta in 2017. The city’s film and television industry is responsible for more than 85,300 jobs and $4.2 billion in total wages in Georgia, including indirect jobs and wages. More than 25,700 people are directly employed by the film and TV industry in Georgia, and the industry has either brought or created a total of over 2,700 industry-related businesses in the state. “We are film ready; we have someone whose entire role is to attract and assist film companies,” Vince Evans, mayor of Conyers, told Focus:. “We have about 600,000 square feet of Conyers leased by film companies today, with around 700 full-time employees.”
Ryan Millsap Chairman & CEO Blackhall Studios
What made you choose Atlanta for your studios? My experience in Atlanta consisted of buying apartment complexes, but by 2014 it was becoming harder to do this as an opportunistic value investor, so I was looking for something that could allow me to risk adjust. I met people in the film industry in Atlanta, and that led to circling back to friends in Los Angeles, speaking about soundstages and the demand and what the pipelines looked like in the future. We developed a simple thesis: what if we built a top-tier soundstage facility in the city? People from LA wanted to film in Georgia, but they didn’t want to live in the country or drive out to the country for work. These are urban people. So I looked for somewhere inside the perimeter with easy access to Inman Park. Why has the film industry embraced Georgia? Passing the tax credit was the first step to growing the industry in Atlanta, and it has done that, but we couldn’t solely rely on this credit, as other states had adopted similar credits. What we also needed was infrastructure, and we were lucky to have Dan Cathey build Pinewood, which is a world-class facility, to jumpstart this infrastructure. Now world-class moviemakers can come here and feel at home when they set up shop, causing vendors to set up shop around them. Suddenly you have an ecosystem. I could have never built Blackhall as the first major facility in the city because I couldn’t have put the money together without proof of concept. Productions are responsible for sourcing their own skilled labor for their projects. The unions are growing in Georgia greatly, as we have had a lot of talented people move here. They have made Georgia their base and residence, which in turn helps because they train up new generations of people. 10 years ago, these productions had to bring 100 percent of their own talent and equipment, importing everything needed to make movies. Today, the talent and vendors are here en masse, and you can do everything in Atlanta that you can do in LA.
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considering the state’s pro-business climate and generous tax incentives that arose from the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act. Atlanta is home to a number of Grammy-winning artists in a variety of categories and genres, including Usher, OutKast and Janelle Monáe. It is also home to a significant number of big-name hip-hop and urban labels, including So So Def Recordings (which has managed names like Bow Wow and Usher) and LaFace Records (which has managed artists like Kelis, Pink and Ciara). Overall, Atlanta is home to more than 300 recording studios, supported by a long-established infrastructure of businesses serving the music industry. The city also boasts a thriving live music and performing arts scene with concert venues like the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Alliance Theater, the Woodruff Arts Center, the Rialto Center for Arts and Fox Theatre offering a variety of programs to locals and visitors alike. In addition, the city is home to renowned performance companies like the Atlanta Ballet and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, among others. Hotel occupancy levels remained steady at 70 percent during 2017.
Record-breaking films like “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” among others, were filmed in Atlanta. In particular, “Black Panther” alone generated an $84 million economic impact for the state of Georgia. In April 2018 the film surpassed “Titanic” as the third highest-grossing movie of all time in U.S. box office history. “Avengers: Infinity War” contributed more than $182 million to the Georgia economy and employed more than 3,000 Georgians, who were paid more than $65 million in wages. High note The Atlanta music industry is constantly influencing trends thanks to the amount of talent concentrated in the metro area. Up-and-coming musicians like Donald Glover and hip hop artists such as Migos, Future and 2chainz are making Billboard question whether Atlanta will become the music industry’s next business hub. In response, the city is quickly repositioning itself to support the expansion of its music industry. Atlanta’s music industry provides roughly 20,000 local jobs and generates an economic impact of $3.7 billion annually, according to a 2011 study. Since then, these numbers have no doubt grown in size
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Bright future Atlanta’s tourism sector had a record-breaking year in 2017, and it looks to continue this pattern in 2018 and beyond. The city has many favorable attributes to entice visitors: a good climate, a centralized metropolitan area and a variety of diverse attractions that appeal to all interests. From 2018 to 2022, 117 additional meetings and conventions will be held in Atlanta, 28 of which have never been held there before. These conventions will add to tourism expenditures and hotel bookings. New sporting events such as the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2018, Super Bowl LIII in 2019 and the NCAA Men’s Final Four in 2020 will also bring in an exponential number of visitors — and dollars — to the area. Despite all of these incredible opportunities, there are still challenges facing Atlanta’s tourism sector. In order to take advantage of the large number of international transfers at ATL, more needs to be done to boost international tourism numbers. More and better infrastructure is needed in the Downtown area in order to comfortably accommodate the growing number of people coming to the city. Nevertheless, these challenges are being faced head-on with already-proposed, viable future solutions. Overall, Metro Atlanta is actively addressing concerns and is preparing to embrace with open arms the projected future growth of the industry.
Sports: Since hosting the 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta has been solidifying its place in the sporting world. Home to teams from every major professional sports league except hockey and boasting innovative new stadiums for them to play in, Atlanta has something for every variety of fan. The city is embracing sports as a major economic driver — as evidenced by the booming construction around its stadiums — and the whole metro area is gearing up for the anticipated windfall of Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
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On the world stage: As Atlanta gears up to host Super Bowl LIII in 2019, the city shows its commitment to sports and their enormous economic impact on the region There’s no question that sports in Atlanta are a big deal and have been since the city won the bid for the 1996 Olympic Games. Preparation for that major international sporting event took six years and had an estimated economic impact of at least $5.14 billion. Today, Atlanta boasts every major professional sport — minus a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise since the loss of the Thrashers seven years ago — along with several shiny new stadiums that provide ideal venues for hosting championship games. Combined with less high-profile but equally important events like youth tournaments, Monster truck rallies, road races and other sporting challenges that regularly attract swarms of visitors to the area, the economic importance of sports cannot be overstated, and the wave of influence reverberates across all sectors. With the biggest game in college football history under its belt — in which the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 26-23 at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in January 2018 — Atlanta now has its sights set on the biggest football game in the world. The National Football League (NFL) awarded Super Bowl LIII to Atlanta, with the game
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scheduled to be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in February 2019. The impact of major sporting events coming to Atlanta and Mercedes-Benz will be felt for the next decade; in fact, the city and the stadium both hope to again be on the world stage by winning the bid for the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Economic impact Atlanta is a town built around convergence. The city has always been a logistics hub at its core, and with three major interstates cutting through its heart, it is one of the easiest places to access in the Southeast. This has solidified its position as a fantastic sports destination. Metro Atlanta boasts 92,000 hotel rooms, with 16,000 of those within walking distance of the major stadiums Downtown. Now that all of the major professional sports teams in Atlanta have new or improved venues, Atlanta is ready to reap the benefits. Construction alone around the Braves stadium has already generated a $235 million economic impact on the region. Combined with the annual impact of the major sports organizations, the economy of sports in Atlanta is equivalent to about $1 billion annually — ( )
SPORTS INTERVIEW
Set up for success How the Atlanta Falcons are preparing for the Super Bowl, promoting a sense of community in Atlanta and adapting to the challenges of evolving technology
Rich McKay President & CEO – Atlanta Falcons
How are you preparing for the Super Bowl in 2019? The Super Bowl is an event that’s larger than life. It’s one that, when we bid on it, seemed like a natural progression. Atlanta is a city that has a lot going on. We have one of the best stadiums in the world, the busiest airport in the world and 10,000 hotel rooms that are walkable from the stadium. We have everything set up for big events, so of course we bid on the Super Bowl. We won the bid, and we’re thrilled to have the Super Bowl coming here, but as an organization, it’s a big challenge. It dominates a lot of our time with meetings, planning sessions and making sure we are setting this city up for success. The impact on the city will be immeasurable bringing in millions of people, global attention and a tremendous focus; this will be the biggest event in the state of Georgia for the next 10 years. It will be really good for Atlanta, really good for Mercedes-Benz Stadium and really good for our state. What role do professional sports plays in Atlanta? Professional sports are very impactful to the ecosystem of a big city. The way they impact the city is not just in terms of attendance at games; it is the brand identity of a city, the continuous national focus on teams and fans. It is the ability for the fans to have an escape and a sense of community when they escape. You can go to a movie theater and watch a movie, and it’s a great escape, but there’s no sense of community. The lights are off. You go to a game and there is a sense of community and being a part of something bigger than you. If you come to our Atlanta United matches, you will feel that sense of community. If you come to a Falcons game, you’ll feel that sense of community. If you go see the Braves or the Hawks, the feeling is there. I think professional sports has long played an important role in communities. And in Atlanta, the diversity we have in our sports offerings
is really cool. The crossover in fan bases is not that large, and that’s a really cool thing. What are some of the biggest challenges facing both the Falcons and the NFL today? Digitization of the way we consume everything — and I mean everything. Our consumption patterns, the way we used to operate, have been turned upside down. In many ways this is good, and in many ways it’s not so good. As our team evolves, we have to come to understand these changes. How are people going to consume on mobile phones? How are people going to consume on their tablets? How are people going to consume at home? It’s all different than it was just five years ago. That’s a big challenge for us. We have to continue to be engaged, and we have to continue to make sure that we’re paying attention to the young fan and the way the young fan consumes.
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( ) and that’s not including annual and special occasion championships held in the city. Flying high The Atlanta Falcons have had a year to settle into their new “nest” at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Now, with Super Bowl LIII to take place on their home turf, they find themselves faced with the unique opportunity to play in the NFL championship game in front of a home crowd. The team suffered from what many called a “Super Bowl hangover” in the 2017 season, after blowing a 23-8 Super Bowl lead over the Patriots in what might just qualify as the most heartbreaking comeback in NFL history. Despite this loss, 2017 was still successful; the team went 10-6 and made the playoffs with a wildcard berth. They won their wildcard game against the Rams but went on to lose to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Despite this painful loss and a disappointing season, the City of Atlanta has bet big on the Falcons by co-investing in their future with team owner Arthur Blank in the form of the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The stadium finally achieved completion when kinks in the retractable roof were ironed out over the summer of 2018, 11 months after the venue hosted its first event. In addition to the sports games held at Mercedes-Benz, concerts, large meetings and other special events are responsible for millions of dollars in extra revenue. The Falcons saw their franchise increase in value by 5 percent after the 2016 season, mostly due to the new stadium. The team generated $451 million in revenue in the 2017 season and posted $113 million in operating income. The projected economic impact of this franchise on the city is anywhere from $80 to $100 million annually, with years like 2019 (bolstered by the Super Bowl) projected to bring in $120 million. The impact of the Super Bowl is the kind of thing that changes the sports dynamic for a city. In recent years, the NFL has awarded the Super Bowl to organizations that build new stadiums, which certainly factored into the decision to raze the Georgia Dome in favor of the innovative Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The event has become an almost two-week-long spectacle that brings a huge amount of attention and travelers to the host city. As a point of reference, the 2018 Super Bowl
in Minneapolis had a net $400 million impact and attracted 125,000 visitors. Considering this event is held in February and Atlanta’s climate is much more attractive than the near-Arctic Minnesota at that time of year, the metro area should expect to exceed both of those numbers. Atlanta’s tourism industry in particular is more than ready to capitalize on this influx. Brave world The Braves spent the 2017 season breaking in their new home, SunTrust Park, after playing the previous 20 seasons at Turner Field in Downtown Atlanta. The team was still firmly placed in a rebuilding cycle, ending the season with a record of 72-90, which put them in third place in the National League East Division, 25 games behind the Washington Nationals. The Braves are currently developing young talent at the major-league level and still have what is generally regarded as one of the strongest minor-league systems in professional baseball. The Braves franchise has what might be the biggest impact on Atlanta simply because it hosts a guaranteed 81 home games every season, meaning the team is in front of Atlanta crowds more than any other franchise. As of April 2018, Forbes valued the Braves at $1.65 billion, with the team generating $336 million in revenue and posting $46 million in operating income. The Braves were also recipients of a new stadium in 2017 — SunTrust Park — and while they remain the “Atlanta Braves,” the stadium is firmly planted in Cobb County. The genius of the new location was creating the microcity orbiting the stadium. A 50-50 partnership with the Omni Hotel has proven fruitful so far, allowing for a luxury hotel steps from the stadium doors. “Omni Hotels & Resorts has unique properties throughout the country, but there is nothing else quite like what we have here at the Battery Atlanta,” Ramon Reyes, general manager of the Omni at the Battery Atlanta, told Focus:. “The development has attracted attention from professional teams across the country. These sports organizations, often in the early planning stages for their own stadiums or arenas, visit the Battery Atlanta to get a better understanding of how successful a live, work, stay destination can be and to seek inspiration for their own projects.” The Battery surrounding the area is quickly developing into the live-work-play haven that the
The Falcons generated $451 million in revenue in the 2017 season and posted $113 million in operating income.
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Braves were hoping for; in fact, to date the Braves Development Company has more than 80 percent of the retail space leased out. Comcast and Thyssenkrupp are making the Battery home to their brand-new Atlanta offices, and there are several thriving bars and restaurants of all different genres and price points. Rounding out the entertainment center is the rebirth of the Roxy Theater, moving from its former home in Buckhead as the Coca-Cola Roxy. In addition to the construction of many highway flyover ramps, the Braves are avoiding the anticipated traffic nightmare by smartly scheduling games around the notorious Atlanta traffic. With Georgia State inheriting the team’s old stadium downtown and redeveloping the area around it, this seems like a win-win for both the City of Atlanta and Cobb County. The Braves are also deepening their investment in the state with minorleague affiliates in Gwinnett County and Rome, Georgia. Big changes As of February 2018, the Atlanta Hawks franchise was valued at $1.15 billion, making it the 23rd most valuable franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) league. The Hawks reported revenue of $209 million in 2017, with an operating income of $22 million. The Hawks are right in the middle of an enormous transition. In August 2018, the arena was renamed in a 20-year, $175 million deal with State Farm, which makes it one of the most expensive naming rights deals in the NBA. This comes at the perfect time, as the arena is currently undergoing a $192.5 million renovation. With the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium right next door, this will keep State Farm Arena from being overshadowed by its enormous neighbor. Even before these renovations, State Farm Arena was a top-20 venue in the country, and it will continue to attract top-tier concerts and events to the space. The Hawks are also keeping the development focused on Atlanta by building a new arena in College Park for their minor-league franchise. The arena will be called the Gateway Center@College Park. It will have 3,500 seats available for the Hawks D-League games and comes at a price tag of $42 million. The Gateway Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019. In May 2018, the Hawks hired a new head coach, Lloyd Pierce, while at the same time the team lost some of its most recognizable players in a move to change the direction of the franchise. 2017 was a forgettable year for the Hawks, who ended the season at a losing 24-58. However, they are a young team, and in a league that is constantly working to adapt to the way people consume
Dr. Scott Boden Director The Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center
Last year was our first year partnering with the Atlanta Braves as their sports medicine and healthcare provider, and it was our second year partnering with the Atlanta Hawks. On December 4, we opened the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, which is a combined complex that includes the Emory Sports Medicine Center. We basically doubled in size our sports medicine center and our physical therapy operations. We also are partnering with Peak Performance Project (P3), a California-based company that is one of the world’s leaders in sports performance measurement and sport science. They’re making our location their eastern U.S. hub. In addition, we have the practice facility for the Atlanta Hawks — Emory Healthcare Courts — and their basketball operations. That just opened in December 2017 and was 18 months in the planning. We now have much better space to take care of athletes, whether it’s professionals, Olympians, college athletes, high school future stars or weekend warriors. The space is designed specifically for sports medicine patients, and we have physicians of all different subspecialties organized in a way that they can easily consult one another in between patients. This makes it real easy to collaborate and receive quick answers from different subspecialties while a patient is right there. It’s an intentionally designed space and very efficient, with state-ofthe-art imaging equipment. We have a 3T, or 3 Tesla, MRI scanner; there are only a few of those in the city, which is the most sensitive technology for detecting subtle cartilage damage. We have a weight-bearing CAT scanner, and we have a lot of high-quality ultrasound machines for diagnosis of soft tissue problems and specific joint injections. We also have the equipment to do STEM cell injections, which has become quite popular with athletes. Our clinical volume continues to grow and we are driving cutting edge research as well. We are the trusted brand to help take care of professional athletes and almost all of Atlanta’s professional teams.
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sports, attracting and retaining young talent has become extremely important. These periods of transition often include growing pains, but it is important for fans to have faith in what the future holds. United front The Atlanta United have had about as successful a beginning as an organization can possibly hope for, minus winning a championship. In their first year, they were already leading the league in attendance numbers at a staggering 48,200 per game, and being able to call the Mercedes-Benz Stadium home certainly helps with those numbers. 2018 saw a jump to over 50,000 attendees per game, which again led the league. The United have taken a different path from other major Major League Soccer (MLS) teams, choosing not to sign aging talent from European leagues. Instead, they have invested in young talent from Latin American countries, with their three top stars being younger than 23. The team is already wildly popular nationally and was chosen to play in 15 national broadcasts, doubling the league average and tied for the second-most broadcasts of any MLS team. The MLS All-Star game in 2018 was awarded to Atlanta. Much like the Super Bowl, this game is generally awarded to organizations that have a new stadium. Juventus made its way over from Italy and played a combination of MLS All-Stars from around the league. United’s head coach, Tata Martino, was chosen to lead the team, and six United players made the All-Star roster. 2018 brought another successful season for the United that resulted in a playoff berth. Josef Martinez set a single-season MLS scoring record with his 28th goal in a 2-1 victory over Orlando City in August 2018, and he remains one of the most electric players in league history. With the success of the Atlanta United and the construction of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium,
there has been a concerted effort to bring the World Cup 2026 semifinals to Atlanta. The United States, Canada and Mexico won the rights to this World Cup, and now cities in all three countries are presenting bids to host matchups. With Atlanta’s Olympic history and the city undergoing a huge stress test with the 2019 Super Bowl, the case for it to win the semifinals is quite strong. Swarm and Dream In addition to its major franchises, Atlanta is also home to a number of other professional sports organizations. The Georgia Swarm is one of the newer pro teams on the scene. In May 2015, the Swarm began looking for a new place to call home. They found a home in Gwinnett County at the Infinite Energy Arena. The Swarm play box lacrosse, which is a little different from field lacrosse in that it is played indoors on a field very similar to a hockey rink. Luckily for the Swarm, they had tremendous success in their first year in Atlanta in 2016, winning their league championship. This made them a local draw very quickly, and they continue to improve in attendance numbers annually. The 2018 season was up and down, but the Swarm ended up with a winning record of 11-7 and a playoff berth. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round. Lyle Thompson led the team with 46 goals and is a perennial all-star. The league is adding two teams in 2019, and the expansion draft will shake up the roster, but all of this growth is a good thing for the Swarm. The team is enjoying a new TV deal with Bleacher Report, which will pick up all of its games. The Atlanta Dream, the city’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, have called the city home since 2008. The Dream share the State Farm Arena with the Atlanta Hawks; however, they are not affiliated with the Hawks organization. In 2018, the Dream were forced to play out of McCamish Pavilion
Andy Arlotta Co-Owner – Georgia Swarm We have worked closely with the Atlanta Sports Council and Dan Corso to get better integrated with the Atlanta business community. Building relationships and referrals is critical for us. On the media side, we have a great relationship with 680 The Fan, which has been an instrumental partner in getting the word out. We’ve also been very fortunate to collaborate with a handful of professional athletes in the area.
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(Georgia Tech’s basketball arena) while the renovations at State Farm Arena were taking place. In the 2018 offseason, the Dream exercised the third-year option on head coach Nicki Collins’ contract after she was named WNBA Coach of the Year. The franchise has enjoyed much success, making it to the playoffs in seven of the last nine years and to the finals three times. The 2018 season was a successful one for the Dream, as they finished at 23-8 and made it to the playoffs again. The Dream ended up losing in the first round to the Washington Mystics and have not yet been able to bring home a championship. Tee off The Tour Championship remains the final event of the playoff for the Professional Golf Association (PGA). The economic impact has been estimated in the range of $30 to $40 million for the city of Atlanta. This event is special for a number of reasons. Since the beginning of the playoff, the winner of the Tour has also been the eventual points winner for the multi-week playoff system for the PGA, bringing further luster to the contest. It is held at historic East Lake Golf Club, the oldest golf club in the city of Atlanta, and is unique in the PGA world in that it only has the top 30 competitors for the year. It is the final event on the calendar for the PGA before the brief off-season. Luckily for golf’s sake, Tiger Woods earned the 80th victory of his career in the 2018 championship by two strokes. This was his first win in five years on the PGA Tour. Tiger now trails all-time PGA Tour wins leader Sam Snead by two tournaments. This caps one of the greatest comeback stories in golf history and arguably in all of sports. The ratings and exposure for events where Tiger is in the hunt have an impact like no other single athlete in any sport, and East Lake and Atlanta were able to reap the benefits of this signature win. Need for speed Atlanta Motor Speedway is located in Hampton, in Henry County. The major attraction at this venue is the yearly NASCAR race, which is actually a weekend of events. Qualifying is held two days before the race, with minor-league races and truck races running the day before the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. While the race does not hold the same weight as the more famous venues of Talladega and Daytona, the track is strong and a perennial stop for NASCAR. The venue hosts special events throughout the year, including air shows, car shows, conventions and parties. Atlanta Motor Speedway is also nationally known for opening its doors to those fleeing hurricanes
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams take to the track in March 2017 to practice for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
out of Florida and the Carolinas. When there are not races happening at AMS, it is a popular concert venue. Undergrad gridiron College football is a huge part of the sports culture in Atlanta. With the new championship system, the venue of the final game changes annually, and it landed in Atlanta in January 2018. The 2018 College Football National Championship was held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, pitting the University of Georgia against the University of Alabama. This had the unintended consequence of a lessened impact on Atlanta’s economy. Since many fans already lived near Atlanta, some hotels and taxi services did not have the booming weekend they were hoping for. The economic impact was expected to be around $85 million but was downplayed to about $65 million because the teams playing were “local.” Atlanta received this bid because of its new Mercedes-Benz Stadium venue and will continue to be a part of the championship rotation for the foreseeable future. The Southeastern Conference has used Atlanta as its home for the championship game since 1994 and signed on in 2015 to keep the game in Atlanta through 2027. Hosting the championship game of the strongest conference
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Ed Clark President – Atlanta Motor Speedway We have something for people of all ages. We have an airshow, music festivals, Legends Racing and monster trucks for the kids. On some weekends, we’ll have two or three different events going on at the same time. For our Legends Racing program, we build and sell three-quarterscale cars that race with motorcycle engines all around the country. Right now, 97 drivers who have gone on to race in the upper echelon of the top three series of NASCAR raced in our Legends program. . in college football is extremely beneficial to the city of Atlanta, with an economic impact of around $70 million annually. Southeastern Conference championship tickets are among the most sought-after in sports. Chick-fil-A has a major investment in college football in the Southeast — so much so that it sponsors two major events in Atlanta. First, it hosts the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, a season-opening premier matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that marks is the oldest neutralsite opening game in college football. In 2018, Auburn played Washington, with 70,103 fans attending the contest. Auburn ended up victorious, with a final score of 21-26. The company also inherited what was formerly known as the Peach Bowl, now known as the Chickfil-A Peach Bowl. This bowl is one of the top postseason contests where teams that barely missed being selected for the college football playoffs are pitted head-to-head in Atlanta. 2017 saw Auburn lose to Central Florida. Chick-fil-A and Mercedes-Benz Stadium have inked an eight-year extension of their working relationship, meaning eight more Chick-fil-A Peach Bowls and at least 10 more Chick-fil-A Kickoff games. The games have been universally sold out since their inception, so the extension makes financial sense for both parties. The campuses of Georgia Tech and Georgia State are both located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, and their sports impact cannot be understated. Georgia Tech plays football out of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field in a venue that provides incredible views of the city. The school’s basketball arena is across the street from Turner Broadcasting in McCamish Pavilion. Georgia State was lucky enough to inherit the land that was abandoned by the Atlanta Braves when they made their move to Cobb County. What was Turner Field is now home to the Georgia State football team. The area around the stadium is set to be redeveloped into more sportscentric practice facilities and venues for the school.
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Not to be missed The Peachtree Road Race is an Atlanta tradition. It is the world’s largest 10K race, capped at 60,000 runners in 2018, and is always run on the Fourth of July along a route that takes runners from Lennox Mall down to Piedmont Park. It has been held in Atlanta since its humble beginnings of 150 runners in 1970 and will be celebrating its 50th race in 2019. The race has an estimated economic impact of $15 million across the region, with Midtown at the center. Atlanta is often called the capital of the Southeast, so it’s no surprise that traveling sports routinely make their way through the city. Professional bull riding comes annually to Infinite Energy Center in Gwinnett County. Monster Jam monster trucks are returning to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in February 2019, and Monster Energy Supercross — a dirt bike race that comes to Atlanta every year — will be back in March 2019. Professional wrestling has a huge following in the Southeast and makes regular stops in Atlanta, with its next planned visit being SmackDown Live, coming to the freshly opened State Farm Arena in October 2018. Atlanta also hosted the 2018 ICF Dragon Boat World Championship in September on Lake Lanier. Looking ahead This past year has been all about getting settled into new places, with every major franchise in Atlanta moving into a new or updated venue. Atlanta also boasted two playoff teams — the Braves and the United — which always makes the season feel more complete. The city had the eyes of the nation with the College Football National Championship and the MLS All-Star Game. Now the metro area is looking forward to the Super Bowl, which will have an unprecedented economic impact. 2018 was another great year for Atlanta sports, and there’s no doubt 2019 will be an unforgettable one as well.
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