Economic Development Blog

Executives of financial services marketing company Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) were joined by state and local economic development officials for the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the company’s new global headquarters in Duluth, Gwinnett County, Georgia.  .

Primerica headquarters in Duluth, GA (photo – Primerica)

The consolidation and relocation of their 10 separate facilities in Gwinnett County into a new and single global headquarters was first announced in Sept 2011.

Duke Realty, which built the facility and leased it to Primerica, broke ground on the construction for the “built-to-suit” facility in Nov 2011.

The new 365,000-square-foot complex will be housing 1,600 of the company’s employees in Gwinnett County, and has excess capacity to house another 200 employees.

Gov. Deal said that the company’s decision to select Gwinnett County for its global headquarters speaks volumes about the pro-business environment.

John Addison, chairman of Primerica Distribution and co-CEO, thanked the Governor, Gwinnett County and Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development for their support and assistance during the move.

The county has offered Primerica $2.3 million in property tax abatements over a six-year period that begins next year. As per the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the company is also eligible for state tax credits worth $1,250 for every new job created. Primerica has agreed to create at least 35 new jobs over a five year period.

Nick Masino, senior vice president of Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development and Partnership Gwinnett, said that Primerica was a key partner in helping strengthen the community’s growth and quality of life.

Primerica, Inc. was spun out of Citigroup in 2010 with an IPO. Rick Williams, chairman of the board and co-CEO said that the new global headquarters was a culmination of their successful public offering.

He added that being in a single complex instead of having the workforce scattered around in 10 different buildings would improve efficiency, and allow them to provide better service and support to the sales force and to customers.

Primerica is the fourth largest employer in Gwinnett County, and the largest independent financial services marketing company in the U.S., with 90,000 representatives that generated revenues worth $1.19 billion last year.

ExactTarget (NYSE: ET) will be expanding its operations in Atlanta, Georgia to add 225 jobs and relocate their regional headquarters with an investment of $1.25 million.

ExactTarget (photo – exacttarget.com)

The announcement was made by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal after months of speculation about the true identity of the project that was previously only known as “Project Orange.”

ExactTarget is a digital marketing firm offering SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions to customers that help them plan, automate and optimize data-driven marketing and improve the ROI on marketing campaigns.

This expansion has been in the works ever since the Indianapolis, Indiana-based ExactTarget acquired Atlanta-based B2B marketing automation company Pardot last year. They immediately started negotiating with state and local economic development agencies about a proposed expansion of their offices in Atlanta.

InvestAtlanta and the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) teamed up to secure the project. The City of Atlanta has offered ExactTarget $200,000 in incentives through its Economic Opportunity Fund, and the company is eligible for tax credits from the state worth $2.9 million based on its job creation commitments.

ExactTarget will be moving its expanded operations and regional headquarters into the same Buckhead building as Pardot.

All this doesn’t mean it was a done deal right from the start. The company reportedly considered other sites in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Chicago and other locations.

Brian P. McGowan, President and CEO of Invest Atlanta, said that Atlanta’s success in recruiting these high-paying jobs despite competition from other cities is a testament to Atlanta’s position as a tech hub that continues attracting high-tech jobs.

GDEcD Commissioner Chris Cummiskey said they had a great team working on the project, and Georgia was the right place for companies that thrive on innovation for growth.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed likewise said that the city was a great place for technology growth, and offered a culture of innovation and a diverse talent pool that ExactTarget will need while expanding its operations.

Gov. Deal said that Georgia’s talented workforce and low costs, together with its mature IT infrastructure, provided companies like ExactTarget a competitive edge in the marketplace.

ExactTarget has around 1,800 employees across the world, and posted a loss of almost $21 million last year, taking into account the fact that they spent $95.5 million on acquiring Pardot and another $21 million for iGoDigital.

Calhoun, Georgia-based carpetmaker Engineered Floors, LLC announced that it plans to invest $450 million in northwest Georgia over the next five years.

Engineered Floors, LLC (photo – engineeredfloorsllc.com)

The investment will be used by the company to build new manufacturing facilities and distribution centers in Murray and Whitfield Counties, and is expected to create 2,000 new jobs.

Engineered Floors already employs 1,400 people in the area. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said that this was a story of a locally grown company’s continued commitment and investment to its home in northwest Georgia.

Apart from its headquarters, the company already has two manufacturing plants, a tufting facility and one distribution center in the region. They are now planning to build two new manufacturing plants in the aforementioned counties, and will be siting a distribution center in Whitfield County.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) worked with the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce and the Dalton-Whitfield County Joint Development Authority to secure the expansion project and make sure it stayed in the region.

Robert E. Shaw, chairman and CEO of Engineered Floors, LLC, specifically mentioned the sales tax exemption on manufacturing power consumption that the state approved last year as one of the reasons they were able to make the decision to expand.

The company will be getting sales tax exemptions on energy use and construction materials. As a qualified mega-project, the expansion makes the company eligible for tax credits totaling $69.7 million for the new mills. They will be getting workforce training assistance from Georgia Quick Start.

Dalton and its surrounding area are known as the “carpet capital of the world.” As per the GDEcD, the state supplies 90 percent of all carpets made in the U.S., and accounts for 54 percent of the U.S. export market for carpets. The carpet and rug mill manufacturing jobs in Georgia account for 71.5 percent of the nationwide total.

Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of GDEcD, said that Georgia had a long history of existing companies going in for expansions, and they were pleased to see Engineered Floors has also chosen to continue their growth in Georgia.

Jennifer Wade, vice president of operations and resource planning at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, announced that they were adding 200 new jobs in Columbus, GA to ensure smooth implementation of federal health care reform policies under the Affordable Care Act.

Blue Cross Blue Shield announcement in Columbus (photo – thevalleypartnership.com)

BCBSGa President Morgan Kendrick said that the new positions are being created specifically to help customers navigate through the changes they will face as the ACA is implemented in Georgia.

Some 40 million people across the U.S. who are currently uninsured will join the ranks of the insured next year. Out of this, 1,592,479 are non-elderly and uninsured people in Georgia who will qualify for tax credits to purchase coverage the health insurance marketplace.

BCBSGa is hoping to get around a million of these new customers, to add to their existing 2.4 million customers.

Kendrick added that the new jobs were important and would provide solid benefits for the hired employees. The jobs were for both managerial and entry level positions in customer service, training, claims and other back-office operational activities.

BCBSGa already has 3,000 associates in eight separate locations in the state, including 1,200 in Columbus not including the 200 new jobs.

Of the existing 1,200 jobs, only around 700 are full-time office jobs, while the rest are telecommute positions. The new hires will have to come to the Blue Cross office complex in Columbus for training, but some of them might be allowed to telecommute afterwards.

The company is hoping to fill some of the initial positions available right now through a job fair planned for April 20 in partnership with the Georgia Department of Labor. The rest of the new positions will be filled in stages over the next few months.

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said the new jobs would give a boost to the local economy, and they were looking forward to working closely with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia as they implemented the expansion.

Mike Gaymon, Columbus Chamber president and CEO, said they believed in and practiced regionalism, so when one company such as Blue Cross of Georgia wins, the whole region wins.

Koch Foods announced that it will be expanding its poultry processing plant in Hamilton, Georgia.

Koch Foods (photo – kochfoods.com)

The company, which produces fresh as well as frozen chicken products and sells them under several different brands, will invest $49 million for the expansion of the former Cagle plant.

The expansion will create 750 new jobs. Koch retained 350 Cagle jobs when it took over the plant last year, and then added another 350 jobs.

This latest expansion to add a couple of additional processing lines will bring the total workforce count at the plant to 1,400.

Tommy Knight, vice president of the Koch Foods Western Division, said they were happy to expand in Harris County and that their commitment towards investing in the community and building on existing relationships was further affirmed by the help they got during this process.

Based on its investment and job creation plans, Koch is eligible for state tax credits and other state incentives to the tune of $13.9 million. Harris County is taking a lot more trouble with local incentives.

Last November, the county approved an “up-front tax abatement” of $250,000 for the planned Koch expansion, to be paid out through the Harris County development Authority.

Secondly, Koch Foods’ main demand for the expansion was that the county should provide a natural gas pipeline for the plant. This requires laying out a 16 mile pipeline at a cost of about $6 million. The county is looking at the Valley Partnership, and has requested the state for $4 million to fund the gas pipeline.

They justified the gas pipeline and tax abatement by noting that the company’s expansion would have a $100 million impact on the region, fuel growth of chicken producers, and provide cheap energy for residents along the length of the 16-mile gas pipeline.

Harris County Commission chairman Harry Lange also claimed that if Koch did not get the natural gas pipeline, they might have moved the entire operation to Montgomery, Alabama.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said in a statement that Koch Foods is one of the reasons Georgia is the top poultry producer in the U.S.

“Our network of supporting resources and experience makes our state ideal for any existing company to expand its operations and remain competitive,” added Gov. Deal.

Medient Studios, Inc. (MDNT:OTC BB) and the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) in Georgia have signed an MOU to develop what is billed to be the largest movie studio yet in America.

Medient’s Manu Kumaran at Effingham IDA meeting (photo – Effingham Chamber)

The company announced that it will invest more than $90 million to develop a 1,500-acre lot along I-16 into a campus that will include the studio and other facilities.

Apart from the movie studios, the site will include capability for video game production. It will also have restaurants, shopping, a hotel, golf course, amphitheater and botanical gardens.

With the help of all this, the company hopes to turn the site into a tourist attraction.

The IDA is helping out with $1.25 million for developing the site, and is also entering into a 20-year capital lease agreement with the company. In return, Medient has agreed to invest $90 million and create at least 1,000 new jobs over the next five years.

The movie studio alone would need 400 employees, with the video game production facility requiring another 200 employees. All told, the company expects to employ more than 1,200 employees by the time they complete the first phase of the development.

John Henry, CEO of the Effingham IDA, said that the project was potentially a game-changer for the region and its benefits will have an impact over the long term.

The plan also calls for the project to be made environment-friendly and sustainable with the deployment of hydro and solar technologies.

“We are confident that this exciting project will become a prototype of environmentally sustainable construction, management and living while also promoting a public/private partnership for the region and for the state,” said Manu Kumaran, chairman and CEO of Medient.

The IDA has been working on this project for a year, and Effingham not only won out over Atlanta and Savannah, but also out of state sites in Pennsylvania and New York that were under consideration.

Kumaran praised the Effingham IDA for getting the deal done in a “professional and efficient manner.” He also cited the pleasant weather in Effingham as one of the factors that helped them make the decision.

The Los Angeles, California-based Medient has so far produced 14 movies, and the new Georgia facility will be their first own movie studio.

Professional services firm Ernst & Young plans to open a global IT center in Alpharetta, Georgia that will create 400 new jobs.

Ernst & Young (photo – CaribDigita/wikimedia)

GA Gov. Nathan Deal announced that Ernst & Young, one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, will be investing $8.5 million to lease and renovate space on Lakewood Parkway in Sanctuary Park, Alpharetta for the new Global IT Center.

“Georgia’s talent, affordability and willingness to embrace and support cutting-edge innovation have drawn quite a wave of technology-focused investment lately,” said Deal. “When a company with the highly recognizable brand that EY carries chooses Georgia for its expansion, it’s a powerful statement.”

Over the next five years, EY will add 400 high-quality IT positions in Georgia through a combination of new hires and job relocations, including project managers, business analysts, software architects, software developers, system analysts, executives, managers and other support positions.

“Tech and IT services are critical to serving our clients and enable our people in our day to day work,” said Susan Bell, managing partner of Ernst & Young LLP’s Atlanta Office. “EY is thrilled to be establishing a global IT center in the state of Georgia, and we are excited about the positive impacts of these highly skilled jobs in our firm and our community.”

The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) partnered with the City of Alpharetta, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Development Authority of Fulton County to facilitate this expansion project for EY.

“We are excited to welcome EY to Alpharetta, the Technology City of the South,” said Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle. “This decision serves as a continuing reminder that more and more global companies look to Alpharetta as the No. 1 city to locate their technology efforts.”

Maceo Rogers, president of the Development Authority of Fulton County, said that EY’s expansion underlines a vested interest in the metro region and reinforces the company’s long-term strategic position in their economic region.

“The Atlanta region offers a strong technology workforce with high-tech firms that have solidified Fulton County’s sustained economic growth, and this expansion will certainly add to that success,” added Rogers.

The London, United Kingdom-based Ernst & Young has 167,000 employees all over the world and generated revenues worth $24.4 billion last year.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced that mobility technology and security company AirWatch will expand its present headquarters facility in metro Atlanta.

GA Gov. Nathan Deal at Airwatch announcement (photo – Georgia Governor’s Office)

The company expects to invest $4 million in new equipment and add 800 new jobs over the next two years.

Airwatch already has 650 employees in Metro Atlanta, and around 1,000 employees worldwide.

“Georgia has become a hotbed for companies engaged in mobile applications and other advanced technologies,” said Gov. Deal. “Our rapidly accelerating base of knowledge workers not only attracts new industry, but encourages Georgia-grown companies such as AirWatch to commit to staying and expanding here. This decision moves Georgia closer to becoming the No. 1 place in the nation to do business.”

Airwatch was founded in 2003, and designs solutions to simplify mobility, including enterprise-grade mobile device, application and content management.

Their clients include the top four global Fortune companies, nine of the top 10 U.S. retailers, six of the top 10 global airlines, and the top four global energy companies, among others.

“We’ve grown to twice the size of our nearest competitor and expect to double our size this year by combining innovative mobile technology and exceptional talent with the state’s economic development resources,” said chairman of AirWatch, Alan Dabbiere. “AirWatch and other software companies are playing a critical role in attracting new businesses to the region and solidifying Atlanta as a leading technology player.”

Hiring for the expansion has already begun, and is scheduled for completion in 2015.

“This expansion clearly defines the state’s and city’s leadership in innovative mobile technology and its applications,” said Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “The increased amount of R&D activity landing in Georgia is giving our workers more and better chances for the high-paying jobs that in turn lead to a high quality of life.”

The Metro Atlanta Chamber and the North Fulton Chamber also assisted with AirWatch’s expansion. Airwatch received about $7 million in performance-based tax credits for the expansion.

“The expansion of Airwatch gives Atlanta a leading edge in the mobile technology industry and aligns very well with our focus on positioning the region as a global center for this industry,” said Hans Gant, vice president of Economic Development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “We have key assets for both the mobile industry sector and the security industry through our institutions of higher learning, which produce quality talent. Having a company like AirWatch here confirms our leadership position and helps solidify Atlanta as a global mobility hub.”

Both Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Mobility Task Force are collaborating with AirWatch to promote Atlanta as a global hub for mobility at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona next month.