A new complex where the former Ford plant used to stand will create thousands of Atlanta jobs.

The former Ford Motor Company plant in Hapeville is being transformed into Aerotropolis Atlanta, a sort of mini-city. While the Ford plant employed more than 3,000 workers, Aerotropolis is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs, both temporary construction jobs and full-time positions.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aerotropolis will include office space, hotels, retail, restaurants, a light industrial business park and a 4,000-space airport parking facility. The $1.5 billion project, which is expected to take 10 years to complete, is being built by Jacoby Development Inc., the same company that built Atlantic Station.

The city also is looking at plans for three other sites:

• Doraville plant - The old General Motors facility here would be turned into a mixed-use development. Redevelopment of the 165-acre site would make for the largest brownfield project in metro Atlanta. While there have been several proposals for the site, none have panned out yet.
• Fort McPherson - The current Southside Army base will close in 2011. The McPherson Planning Local Redevelopment Authority is looking into transforming half of the 488-acre space into a research park with mixed-use development. The other half would be sold to private developers.
• Fort Gillem - This Army base is slated to close in 2011. The Forest Park/Fort Gillem Redevelopment Authority hopes to redevelop the 1,427-acre base into manufacturing, light industry and office space.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under jobs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.