Rowen moving full-speed ahead on heels of UCB announcement

Ailstock recounted some of the big developments at Rowen, including landing biopharmaceutical giant UCB as its first tenant, during the event, but he stressed partnerships have been important for Rowen so far.

“Because of those partnerships, the state or Rowen is very strong, it’s vibrant,” Ailstock said. “We’re starting a new chapter, this is just the beginning of building on a strong foundation that so many people have been a part of.”

“I would say we’re delivering on promises that were made in the early years and that vision of what Rowen could become for Gwinnett, for Georgia and really for our country as a place where global challenges are addressed head on.”

Thursday’s State of Rowen presentation to the chamber of commerce came on the heels of news from earlier this year that UCB will spend $2 million over the next five years to build a manufacturing facility at Rowen.

That facility was the first tenant announcement for the knowledge community in eastern Gwinnett and it is expected to bring 330 jobs to the area. UCB expects the 460,000-square-foot facility will have an economic impact of roughly $5 billion.

“It’s more than excitement for Rowen and Gwinnett County and Georgia,” Debuyne said. “It’s a commitment, we feel that, and so we really aim to develop a relationship, a strong relationship with Gwinnett and with Rowen.”

Debuyne said UCB will have about 1,000 employees on the east coast once the new facility at Rowen is up and running.

“So (that’s) a lot of things to manage, a lot of work, but we know we will get there with a strong relationship that we have developed with Rowen,” he said.

There wasn’t much new information that Rowen officials did not already tell the Daily Post earlier this year in the aftermath of the UCB announcement.

For background, Rowen is planned to be a Research Triangle-style development located between Dacula and the Gwinnett-Barrow County line. It will be home to companies doing work in the fields of biomedicine, agriculture and the environment. It will also have a mixed-use Rowen Village that would ideally attract people who would work at businesses located on the Rowen property.

The convergence center that will anchor the Rowen Village north of State Route 316 is still expected to break ground later this year.

“It’s probably going to be a little bit later in the summer,” Ailstock said. “Some of the timber design takes a little bit of time, so say late summer or fall-ish is when we’ll break ground.”

Rowen officials are also still reviewing proposals they received from residential developers and are not ready to announce who will be tasked with developing that part of the Rowen Village.

Additionally, there are no additional tenant announcements that Rowen officials can tease at this time, even though they have been getting interest from several companies.

This year’s State of Rowen was more like an opportunity to stop, take a breather and celebrate the milestones that have been accomplished so far and what it will produce in the future.

When Rowen was first announced six years ago, county officials said they expected it would eventually produce 100,000 new jobs over a span of decades.

“We are planning and preparing the future,” Hendrickson said. “It really is about that next generation and how we create this vibrant destination for our community, for our residents, creating jobs, creating greater connectivity, ensuring that we continue to be economically viable and ensuring economic competitiveness so that we can continue attracting jobs and companies like UCB.”

Rowen does have a big community event coming up in a few weeks, however.

The Rowen Ramble will be held June 6 on the Rowen property. The event will be a 5K walk and run event for the community and a chance for residents to meet officials from Rowen and UCB.

“We really want to use our land as a community asset, as a place that’s about health and wellness,” Ailstock said. “We’ll have a registration link on our website. I think we’re going to have T-shirts. It’s just going to be a lot of fun and just get people out on Rowen’s land, which is community land.”

A race signup site has already popped up at tinyurl.com/2s4ku7t2. The site lists a 5K race and a 1K fun run.