Rowen moving closer to construction of first buildings

Originally published on the Gwinnett Daily Post.

More than five years after the 2,000-plus acre Rowen “knowledge community” was first announced, its leaders say they are close to breaking ground on its first facilities.

Rowen Foundation President and CEO Mason Ailstock says the research-oriented mixed-use development is currently in the design phase of a “Convergence Center.” The center will be the foundation’s home at the site and also a place for its partners to use as a base of operations at Rowen.

It will be part of the “Rowen Village,” a centralized area with a mixture of office and laboratory space, retail, multifamily residential and parks and recreation spaces that will compliment the spaces built out by companies that want to build their own facilities at Rowen.

“The Convergence Center is something we have under design over the next quarter or so,” Ailstock said. “Hopefully (there will be) some images and more to share as we head through the year and then we’ll break ground on that in 2026.”

The development of Rowen, which is expected to generate as many as 100,000 jobs in the agriculture, environment and medical industries in eastern Gwinnett over the next several decades, has been a bit of a slow burner.

When Rowen was announced, the land set aside for it was a vast swath of undeveloped land. There was no infrastructure in place to support a development that is intended to someday rival Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and other similar developments around the nation.

Hence Gwinnett County’s eastern infrastructure project, which not only brought roads, trails, water, sewer and electricity to the Rowen site, but also to surrounding areas in eastern Gwinnett. That project is now finished.

“The infrastructure wrapped up in January,” Ailstock said. “Up until that point, there weren’t roads, there was no sewer, there was no water. There wasn’t a system to support 22 million square feet (of developed space) and 100,000 jobs.

“That challenge is now behind us and we’re off to the races.”

One of the big questions that remains about Rowen is which companies will come there to set up research spaces. That question still doesn’t have an answer.

“We’re making great progress,” Ailstock said. “As you can imagine, there’s (non-disclosure agreements) with all of the projects that we work on.

“But, I can say we are encouraged by the response we’ve received from companies (and) the great support from the state and our other partners. We continue to make progress down that shortlist line for several companies today as we continue to compete nationally to win these huge multimillion dollar projects.”

Ailstock added that while the foundation does not have any dates in mind yet for when announcements could be made about companies coming to Rowen, the group is making progress in the areas that the development is intended to focus on.

“Where we’re standing out is these nationally significant things around life science, biotech, ag tech that are critically important, not only to Georgia but to the United States and where we manufacture our drugs, where we source our different systems to feed a global population or national population, how we power our country and our communities,” Ailstock said.

“Those are the types of companies where we’re gaining traction because they see that sustained support for them to do things that are innovative, that are leading into research, that are leading into advanced ways of building and developing things.”

One challenge Rowen is going to face in recruiting companies that it doesn’t have the established reputation that similar sites around the country, such as the Research Triangle Park, have developed over decades.

That is where Rowen’s partnerships with higher education institutions — including the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia Gwinnett College, Spelman College, the university and technical college systems of Georgia — as well as Gwinnett County government, Georgia Power and state and local economic development groups and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce come into play.

“Rowen is a new project,” Ailstock said. “Research Triangle Park was founded in 1959. These are the early years for us. That said, we are very well positioned.

“We already have these institutions around us, the state around us, power partners around us (and) other economic development groups to (not only) help lift up a new project but give it that sturdy foundation and the confidence that these Fortune 500 companies are looking for.”

The Rowen Foundation recently announced the creation of a 15-member executive advisory council. This group will work with the foundation’s Board of Directors and offer guidance on economic development partnerships and long-term growth.

It’s members include:

• Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Bert Brantley
• Google Head of Global Sites Strategy Fabiola Charles Stokes
• Georgia Chamber of Commerce President Chris Clark
• Georgia Research Alliance President and CEO Tim Denning
• Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Greg Dozier
• Georgia Power President and CEO Kim Greene
• Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson
• Augusta University President Russell Keen
• University System of Georgia COO Teresa MacCartney
• Georgia Southern University President Kyle Marrero
• Georgia Department of Economic Development Deputy Commissioner of Global Commerce Misti Martin
• Georgia Ports Authority, Chief Administrative Officer James McCurry
• Atlanta Regional Commission Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach
• Retired ARC CEO Doug Hooker
• Kennesaw State University President Kathy Schwaig

The foundation also went to county commissioners last week to get properties, which have been acquired in recent years to add to the initial Rowen site, included into the Innovation Overlay Zoning District.

The district, which was established about three years ago, outlines the zoning for the Rowen property, allowing the foundation to move forward with bringing in companies without have to go before county commissioners for each individual thing that is built there.

That means the Convergence Center and the Rowen Village can move forward.

“With the zoning in place, that allows us to build what we are talking about,” Ailstock said.