At different junctures during the last year or so, one massive Gwinnett plot — three miles OTP, alongside Interstate 85 at Jimmy Carter Boulevard — has been billed both as the future home of Georgia's first gambling complex and the dream site for an innovative new school. Now, apparently, it's going to host the Southeast's grandest movie studio! The AJC reported Wednesday that Atlanta-based Jacoby Development, the company that built Atlantic Station, has announced ambitious plans for the current Norcross site of OFS (a fiber optics company). For the 100 acres Jacoby has under contract, they envision at least a dozen soundstages, an "arts and media education center" and a mix of housing, retail, hotel, office and entertainment. Or, you know, pretty much everything. "The dozen sound stages that we build first will be full from the day they open," a confident Jim Jacoby told the newspaper.
As the AJC reports, the movie studio aspect would mark the latest of — count 'em — FIVE major developments or expansions in that field in Georgia this year. Just that part of the complex would total 400,000 square feet, making it the biggest in Southeast. Jacoby — which has the land under contract, but in a transaction not slated to close until the end of the year — said it would use existing buildings to get movie production underway by early 2014. A sale price was not disclosed.
Underground Atlanta's Dan O'Leary had proposed as recently as last year that the site be used for a gambling resort full of "video lottery terminals" benefitting the Georgia Lottery, but he never got approval from the latter. In January, entrepreneur Cliff Oxford proposed a "revolutionary" business school, which, according to the AJC, will still have a presence on the site.
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep
· Southeast's Largest Movie Studio Planned for Gwinnett Site [AJC]
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