Media Coverage

Gwinnett County: Creating a Vibrant Future

Published in Georgia Trend

By Philippa Maister

In Gwinnett County, leaders have discovered the recipe for creating a vibrant future: A mindset willing to take risks to stimulate innovation. A pattern of welcoming diversity. A focus on converting dying downtowns into living, walkable hometowns.

That future is growing bigger every day. Gwinnett reached a big population milestone this summer: more than 1 million residents, according to Woods & Poole Economics. (The U.S. Census figures from 2023 are just under 1 million.) And with that number expected to jump even more in the coming years, the county is getting creative to accommodate growth while preserving a sense of community throughout the region and its 16 municipalities.

Rowen:

Yet another hugely ambitious project initiated by Gwinnett County is in the initial stages of a planned 30-year rollout. Rowen is described as a business and innovation hub with a focus on the environment, agriculture and medicine. Established in 2020 and modeled after North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, by 2035 its leaders envision 18,500 jobs generating $1.65 billion in income.

The 2,000-acre campus in a woodland setting in eastern Gwinnett managed by the independent Rowen Foundation is located within easy reach of Georgia’s research universities in Atlanta and Athens, which will be able to use Rowen’s facilities collaboratively for research and education.

Rowen’s primary goal is to create a knowledge-based community focused on attracting companies of all sizes in the medical, agricultural and environmental sciences to pursue research and development. Infrastructure installation is well under way, says Mason Ailstock, the foundation’s president and CEO.

To succeed, Rowen must convince companies in these fields to purchase property to build labs, offices or clean manufacturing spaces. With the state’s assistance, Ailstock is working to secure three or four anchor companies to serve as founders and attract others.

At its heart is Rowen Village, a mixed-use development with multifamily housing, retail, restaurants and office space, Ailstock says.

Ailstock is no stranger to the challenges of university and corporate research. He was previously chief operating officer of Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and president of the Association of University Research Parks. He says what distinguishes Rowen from the rest is its scale, the diversity of institutions involved and its singular focus on agriculture, medicine and the environment. He believes officials in Gwinnett have taken a visionary approach not just to Rowen but to The Water Tower and Curiosity Lab as well.

“These are projects that would not happen on their own but require bold leadership,” Ailstock says. “All of these projects will have to live through economic cycles. That is unique, especially in local government leadership.”

Read the full article on Georgia Trend’s website.