Rowen: A Bright Spot

Published in the March/April Edition of James Magazine [pages 41-42].

Gwinnett’s future is bright, given the projects that recently opened or are set to open in the coming years. One of them is Rowen, a 2,000-acre development with the lofty goal of becoming a destination for research and innovation in major areas of agriculture, medicine and environmental sciences. More than $100 million has already been spent on land assemblage and infrastructure development to get it started, said Mason Ailstock, CEO of the Rowen Foundation which is helping fund the project along with the county and state. Rowen will include three sections: Rowen Village, which will include mixed-use, multifamily residential, retail and office and lab space; a convergence center, which will be home to the foundation and its higher education partners and industry; and medium- and low-density sites for larger corporate headquarters and research and development facilities, Ailstock said. “It’s a statewide initiative because we are recruiting companies that will build out research facilities and partner with the county and state,” he emphasizes. “[It will produce] hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs, and they’ll be partnering with our state’s university and technical college systems to create the workforce of the future. It’s a 30-plus-year development timeline.” Ailstock added that Gwinnett was chosen for Rowen because it “has visionary leadership that is not afraid of big ideas.” Consider that, when complete, Rowen could total more than 22 million square feet and is projected to bring nearly 100,000 jobs to Georgia— contributing $8 billion to $10 billion annually into the state’s economy.