Renderings: South of Atlanta, movie studio that anchors growing mini-city set to expand

The already massive movie studio anchoring Fayetteville’s burgeoning mixed-use mini-city Pinewood Forest is primed for a growth spurt.

About a half-hour southwest of the Interstate 285 Perimeter, the 700-acre Pinewood Atlanta Studios is set to expand its “production ecosystem,” according to an announcement this week.

Global architecture firm Gensler was tapped to spearhead the 220,000-square-foot expansion, which is slated to kick off in 2022 and deliver new creative workspace for film industry folks.

That means new production workshops and “smarter sound stages,” per officials.

Step one on the expansion docket is building a creative office center, a glassy, modern four-story structure projected to house production and technology companies and other storytellers.

The office center would feature a co-working atrium for collaboration, as well as flexible production suites ranging from 1,800 to 14,600 square feet.

Also, expect an open-air, ground-floor cafe that shifts from restaurant to bar as days turn to night.

Next door, at the 235-acre Pinewood Forest community, crews recently broke ground on a nine-screen cinema that officials think will woo hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Its claim to fame: an open-air rooftop cinema, where folks can watch movies under the stars, starting sometime next year.

Pinewood Forest

Ultimately, the under-construction Pinewood Forest development is expected to comprise 700 new homes, 600 apartments, 300 hotel rooms, and some 270,000 square feet of commercial space with restaurants and retail.

It also houses the new 60,000-square-foot Piedmont Wellness Center, which opened in November.