Fayette County Development Authority : News Releases

Office Space Trends in Fayette County

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

According to a recently released Regional Snapshot report by the Atlanta Regional Commission, Fayette County had an office vacancy rate of 15.9% for the fourth quarter of 2007, placing it slightly higher than the 10 county core metro Atlanta area, which had an office vacancy rate of 14.1%, and slightly higher than the 10 metro Atlanta ring counties, which had an office vacancy rate of 14.0%. The 10 core counties are Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale. The 10 ring counties are Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Coweta, Forsyth, Hall, Newton, Paulding, Spalding and Walton.

Between 2000 and 2007, Fayette’s usable office space has grown from 2,151,761 sf to 2,975,284 sf, an increase of 823,523 sf, or 38.3%. That places Fayette 7th out of 20 counties on the amount of existing office space behind Fulton (243,404,797 sf), DeKalb (135,391,739 sf), Cobb (32,990,282 sf), Gwinnett (25,845,760 sf), Forsyth (3,877,638 sf) and Clayton (3,641,568 sf).

What is also interesting to note in this study is the average size of the office buildings. In 2007, Fayette’s average amount of usable space per building was 10,476 sf, with an average vacant amount of 1,666 sf per building. This ranks Fayette as 9th in the 20 county region for average size of building, well below the regional average of 27,499 sf. This also ranks us 10th for the average size of the available space, also well below the regional average of 3,864 sf. There were also 284 office buildings in Fayette in 2007.

Over the last year, the FCDA worked a number of office projects. One of the issues we identified was a lack of large available office space, often a space that was over 50,000 sf. In many cases, these projects weren’t interested in build-to-suit space and so Fayette didn’t make it past a cursory glance from these high wage producing employment centers.

The data in this study seems to confirm this by identifying a very low average available space size of 1,666 sf, but one problem is that we can’t see the breakdown in the available space. Were there 2 buildings with space available over 50,000 sf and the rest were so small it brought the average down? Or were all the buildings with space available in the 1,000 to 3,000 sf range? Looking at the spaces listed on our website clearly shows that the latter is the more correct assumption.

Based on the demographics of our county, where over 70% of our population is employed in a “white-collar” job, yet over half commute to jobs outside of Fayette County, if we’re going to meet one of our goals of trying to create more jobs within the county that meet the needs of county citizens, we’re going to need an increase in office jobs. That’s going to require more office space. Growth in the office sector also helps offset increases to the residential tax base.

Other counties are growing this sector. In 2000 Forsyth county had 1,922,770 sf of usable office space (at the time, below Fayette), yet by 2007 they had grown their space by 153% to 3,877,638 sf. Henry county is still below us in total usable office square feet at 2,466,511 sf, but they grew by 1,320% between 2000 and 2007 to reach this number.

Based on the report, it appears that, much like logistics and distribution based businesses, transportation is the key. Outside of downtown Atlanta, all of the major growth areas for office have historically been on major transportation arteries like I-75 and Ga 400.

Our challenge, knowing that we want to grow this sector, is to figure out unique was to do that. One of the biggest upcoming needs in office space is the need for a new office park. The current large office space facilities in Fayette County are Westpark, in Peachtree City, and Kedron Office Park, also in Peachtree City.

Westpark has a 50,000 sf building- currently under construction. Kedron recently completed its first office building of 32,000 sf- and has three more building pad sites available-. Additionally there are still a few sites in the Peachtree City Industrial Park that would be great for corporate office sites, but, again, many of these are build to suit.

In Fayetteville, a number of buildings were completed last year near the Piedmont Fayette Hospital. In the Brandywine Office Park there is one building with 18,000 sf of space available- and an adjacent pad ready site. In the Prestige Park development, there is one building with 22,000 sf available-, also with an adjacent pad for a 40,000 sf building.

To keep up with our goals, we will need more corporate office space in the future and we’re working now to see that happen.

Retail Trends in Fayette County

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

In an earlier article, I wrote about trends in office growth, citing a study performed by the Atlanta Regional Commission. In that same study, they also looked at retail trends.

At the FCDA, we don’t normally get involved in retail recruitment. We believe that by creating local employment in office and industrial, we create a need for more retail services. Quite simply, retail follows the office and industrial jobs we help bring to Fayette. But I thought these trends were interesting enough for us to report, since retail development is often in the news.

In 2000, Fayette county had over 5.88 million square feet of usable retail space. With a population of 91,263 people, that equated to 64.4 square feet of retail space per person. During that same year, the 20 county metro area had 204.5 million square feet of retail, 4.2 million people and an average of 48.4 square feet of retail per person. In fact, in 2000 we were 2nd in average retail square feet per person in the entire 20 country metro area. We also were 6th in vacancy rates, meaning there were only 5 counties with higher average vacancy rates than Fayette, which was 4.6%, the same as the overall metro average.

By 2007, we had increased our usable retail space to 6.89 million, an increase of just over 1 million square feet in seven years, or a 17.3% change over 2000. With 105,400 people, that equated to 65.4 square feet of retail space per person, an increase of 1.55%. The overall metro average for 2007 was 49.2 square feet of retail per person, an increase of 1.65%. We stayed in 2nd place for average retail space per person. The national average is 20 square feet per person.

Yet during that same time, we dropped from 6th in average vacancy rates to 19th, meaning there were 18 counties with higher vacancy rates than Fayette and only one with a lower vacancy rate (Coweta). Our vacancy rate had actually risen too to 5.5%.

The report appears to show that, though we have more retail space per person than nearly every other county in metro Atlanta, our spaces are staying occupied at a higher rate than nearly every other county’s. Does this partially explain why commercial developers continue to show interest in developing retail centers in Fayette?

Fayette County Company Named Exporter of the Year by U.S. Export Promotion Magazine

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Label Visions Systems of Peachtree City, Ga., has been awarded a 2008 ThinkGlobal/Commercial News USA Exporter of the Year award from ThinkGlobal Inc., publisher of Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Commercial News USA is a catalog-style magazine distributed to an estimated 400,000 readers in 176 countries worldwide. Awards are given to one U.S. company in each of 15 industry categories. Privately-held Label Visions Systems was named Exporter of the Year in the Business Services category.

Winners were chosen based on the total number of documented export deals completed in 2006, total percentage increase in sales in 2006 compared to 2005, exports as percentage of total sales, the company’s commitment to exporting, the company’s commitment to customer service, and the company’s innovation and originality in marketing products or services.

To be eligible for the award, the company must currently be exporting from the United States.

Label Visions Systems manufactures and sells print quality inspection systems based on electronic imaging technology. The company reported total export sales of $729,668 in 2006, a 223% increase over 2005. Exports now represent 39% of the company’s total sales.

Founded in 1976, Label Visions Systems began exporting in 2004. “LVS is a small company that produces technologically advanced systems for print quality control. The product is unique, fits a specialist market place, and is considered a capital purchase. Exporting offers LVS a wider market place for this specialized product as well as some protection from negative economic cycle fluctuation in one geographic market. Additionally we have more prospects in the world marketplace than in the USA,” said Label Visions CEO Tim Lydell.

Gregory Sandler, publisher of Commercial News USA, said that Label Visions Systems’ success is indicative of how American companies can benefit from exporting. “With 95% of the world’s market outside the U.S., there is significant growth opportunity for American manufactures and service providers. Current economic conditions—particularly the low value of the dollar—have made American products very appealing to foreign buyers. There is no better time than now for U.S. companies to export their goods and services.”

For on-line applications the LVS 7000 inspects print images to report blemishes, missing, filled in or incomplete text, sequential integrity of numeric and alphanumeric sequences, OCR or OCV functions, ISO/IEC verification of 1D and 2D bar codes, check barcode and its associated human readable to be sure they are the same, match data function, and other inspection criteria. The LVS 7000 is capable of inspecting multiple sectors of data on the same inspection pass; inspecting multiple lanes across a web; display inspection progress on a monitor for the operator; and stop the press/inspection equipment if nonconforming conditions are encountered.

LVS sells its product on a worldwide basis with sales in Holland, England, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Serbia, France, Italy, Poland, China, Brazil, Chile, and others. They have a distributor network located in Europe and China.

LVS’s client list includes: Avery Dennison, Bausch & Lomb, Canada Post, DHL, Eli Lilly, FedEx, Pfizer, Texas Instruments and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

LVS has been in business since 1976. The company started as a consumer/industrial electronics repair company located in Detroit, MI. In 1983, the company started repairing bar code equipment. In 1988, the company moved to Peachtree City, GA. The name of the company was changed to Label Vision Systems in 1992 as it was heavily involved in the manufacture and sales of vision systems.

For More Information: Tim Lydell, Label Visions Systems 770-487-6414, timl@lvs-inc.com

World Airways celebrates its 60th Anniversary

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

What do Vietnamese orphans and George Burns have in common? They’re both part of Peachtree City, Georgia based World Airways’ history. Headquartered and operated out of its building on World Drive, World Airways runs a 24 hour operation planning and directing flights all around the world, with both passenger charter and cargo service.

Below is a reprint of the press release announcing their recent kickoff celebration for their diamond anniversary.

WORLD AIRWAYS CELEBRATES 60TH ANNIVERSARY

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. (April 24, 2008) – Sixty years ago last month, World Airways joined the aviation community with a small charter fleet of surplus Boeing 314 Clippers. Today, the Georgia-based company is one of the largest wide-body charter operators in the United States, carrying passengers and cargo in every time zone.

The company celebrated its birthday on March 29 with a kickoff event that began a year of activities to observe World’s diamond anniversary. More than 500 employees and family members gathered for a family day and special events staged at the Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum near Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Former World Airways executives Hollis Harris, John Ellington, Randy Martinez and Jeff MacKinney shared in the activities.

“World Airways has had a rich history, through good times and bad, on the path to becoming the successful airline it is today,” said Larry Montford, World’s chief operating officer. “We currently have a fleet of wide-body MD-11 and DC-10 passenger and cargo aircraft, joined this month by our first Boeing 747-400 freighter, all serving our military and commercial customers around the world.”

World Airways jets now transport U.S. military personnel on international routes every day, continuing the company’s tradition of military service that spans more than 55 years. World is best known for its charter service in Vietnam, making news with the harrowing “last flight from Da Nang” and the heartwarming Operation Babylift from Saigon, which set off a national program that brought more than 3,000 young Vietnamese orphans to the United States in 1975.

Edward J. Daly was the flamboyant, daring CEO who snapped up the infant airline when it was on the verge of failing in 1950, and gave it his special touch until his death in 1984. World conducted numerous humanitarian missions at Daly’s direction, including the Hungarian refugee flights in 1956. Daly was aboard the last flight at Da Nang, pistol in hand, as it made its miraculous takeoff, heavily overloaded and surrounded by a panicked mob of South Vietnamese soldiers and refugees.

Daly led the Oakland, Calif.- based company into low-fare scheduled service in 1979 after federal deregulation, launching transcontinental and international service with his fleet of DC-10s. Valiant efforts and marketing with celebrity spokesperson George Burns were not enough to maintain profitability, and World returned solely to charter service in 1987.

The company moved to Herndon, Va., in 1988, followed by the subsequent move to Peachtree City, Ga., in 2001 under Harris’s direction. The airline’s headquarters remain in the same building Harris built, now shared by its holding company, Global Aero Logistics Inc. World’s sister airline under Global is North American Airlines, based at JFK Airport in New York.

World Airways, a subsidiary of Global Aero Logistics Inc., provides customized transportation services for major international passenger and cargo carriers, the United States military, major freight forwarders and international leisure tour operators. Founded in 1948, World operates a fleet of wide-body aircraft to meet the specialized needs of its customers. For information, visit www.worldairways.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Forsyth – (770) 632-8322

We’re excited to have World Airways, and now its parent company, Global Aero Logistics, Inc., as corporate citizens of Fayette County and Peachtree City.

World Airways truly is Fayette County’s hometown airline!

George Burns appears in a TV ad for World Airways

In April, World Airways officially kicked off a year-long celebration of its 60th anniversary.

Photo montage of 60th Anniversary celebration

Founded in 1948, the company has a long history as a key contractor for military, charter and cargo operations. They currently operate a fleet of planes that fly around the world delivering goods and people to major and minor international destinations. They’ve also been involved in some important humanitarian operations, including the historic “Last Flight from DaNang” and “Operation Babylift”, both revolving around the end of the Vietnam war.

CBS News report on “The Last Flight from DaNang”

Short Video About Peachtree City Golf Carts

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Peachtree City, the largest city in Fayette County, is most famously known for its use of golf carts as an alternative transportation device to get around the city. Considering the cost of gas, people here can save a lot on their daily drives around town. It’s one of the features that makes this a great, and unique, place to live.

Governor Perdue visits Sany facility in China

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue met today in Beijing, China with Chairman Liang Wengen, the head of Sany Heavy Industry Group, parent company of one of Fayette County’s newest corporate citizens, Sany America. The visit was part of Governor Perdue’s trade mission to China which is occurring March 30 through April 5, 2008.

Governor Perdue (far right) is greeted by Chairman Liang Wengen of Sany Heavy Machine Co., Ltd., upon his arrival at company headquarters just outside Beijing.

Following the conclusion of the arrival ceremony, Governor Perdue ceremonially paints the lion’s eye.

For more information on the Governor’s trip, please visit his travelogue.

Free Small Business Workshop on E-Commerce

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Recently, Fayette County surveyed a number of small business owners as a component of the Entrepreneur Friendly Designation.

One of the questions dealt with use of Technology in their business. Of the businesses surveyed,while 93% reported using email for business and 88% had a website, only 34% had an e-commerce component.

We’re excited to see now that the SBA is hosting a free workshop here in Fayette County at the library in Fayetteville.

It’s being held on Tueday April 29 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Though the program is free, pre-registration with SBA is required.

For additional information, contact Sarah Trowbridge at 770-461-8841.

Here’s the news release from the library:

Following on the success of two highly lauded and well attended business workshops held in January, the Fayette County Public Library continues its collaboration with the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) Georgia District Office to present a free class on Web Design & Development and E-Commerce. The workshop will be held in the community meeting room at the Fayette County Public Library in downtown Fayetteville, on Tuesday, April 29 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration with the SBA is required.

Targeted to business owners who want to establish or increase their online activity, the Web Design & Development and E-Commerce workshop teaches what it takes to create a web presence and what the business owner must know in order to drive online sales. Topics covered include: Best Practices; Purpose of Web Sites; Web Design Software; Site Management; Who Buys Online; E-Commerce Solutions; E-Commerce Marketing; and Advertising.

Leading the workshop are Leland Hicks and Cornelia Hicks of MatterMax Media, a full-service advertising and marketing agency located in Stone Mountain, specializing in web design, HD video, and integrated marketing strategies.

The event is hosted by the Fayette County Public Library and the Friends of the Fayette County Public Library. Admission is free but seating is limited, so all participants must register in advance with the SBA. Register online at www.sba.gov/ga, or send name, telephone and e-mail address to dorothy.fletcher@sba.gov. Flyers containing workshop details are available at the Fayette County Public Library.

The Fayette County Public Library is located behind the Fayette County administrative complex in downtown Fayetteville, at the southwest corner of Highways #85 and #54. For additional information, please contact the library at 770-461-8841.

Buying Local

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Recently, Fayette County received the Entrepreneur Friendly Designation from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

As part of that we surveyed local entrepreneurs on what we could do better in the community to help their business succeed.

One item that came up was a “Buy Local” program.

“Buy Local” programs are great ways to keep your local economy strong, but they can be hard to implement.

In looking at other communities’ similar programs, I came across this great grassroots site in Iowa.

dsmBUZZ

They even have a little homemade video about the program:

| View | Upload your own

I thought this was pretty cool.

Matt

Entrepreneur Survey Results

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

As part of our designation as an Entrepreneur Friendly Community in Georgia, the EFC steering committee set out to interview 100 small business owners in Fayette County.

As the state required us to interview at least 50, our committee was happy when we were able to successfully interview 61 local entrepreneurs.

The slide show below is the same show we presented to the review committee in February, as part of their day in Fayette County. The presentation encompasses all of the interview questions as tabulated from the 61 interviewees.

It’s interesting to note that the common theme seemed to be a need for more education in basic business skills. Virginia Gibbs with the Fayette Chamber and I have already been in talks with the new “Clayton State College – Fayette Campus” on looking at some training sessions for the small business owners.

Here are the results of the survey:

| View | Upload your own

What's it take to be "Entrepreneur Friendly"?

info@fayettega.org (Fayette County Development Authority) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, Fayette County was awarded the designation by the Georgia Department of Economic Development as an Entrepreneur Friendly Community.

What does that mean?

An “Entrepreneur Friendly” community is a community in Georgia which has created a positive environment for citizens who want to start their own business, by building entrepreneur and small business strategies into the community’s overall economic development strategies.

Each community that wishes to obtain this title does so by following a multi-step process.

First, you have to identify the local organization & champion who will lead the community in their entrepreneur and small business development strategy. The Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and the Fayette County Development Authority served that role.

You also have to form a committee that will support and guide the initiative. Our committee was made up of local entrepreneurs and service providers from all areas of Fayette County, including representative of the county, Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone, a high school teacher, the head of Clayton State University’s Fayette campus, Fayetteville’s Downtown Development Authority, general small business owners, minority small business owners, a local bank, the SBDC, the Georgia Department of Labor, Piedmont Fayette Hospital and others.

Next, you have to increase community awareness of and support for strategies, needs and resources, as well as educate the community about the benefits of “homegrown” business development and fast-growth companies. We did this through a number of avenues, including documenting local resources and opportunities, holding an “Entrepreneur Extravaganza” as part of a local job and business fair and through press releases and the Chamber’s Business Spotlight program on local access television.

You then have to identify local entrepreneurs and interview them on their successes and their challenges. We developed a list of over 100 local entrepreneurs and successfully interviewed over 60 of them. The results will be featured in a future news article.

We then presented the results of our work to a committee from the state. This committee was made up of former entrepreneurs, state officials and community development professionals. They toured our community, heard from local entrepreneurs and heard the results of our survey.

finally they presented us with the designation as “Entrepreneur Friendly”.

Now, we move to Phase 2 of the designation where we dig deeper into the data we collected on the local environment for entrepreneurs. What are their challenges? Do the challenges deal with funding? With business skills? With local government, state government or federal government regulations? We then develop solutions to try and solve these issues, making Fayette an even better place for Entrepreneurs.

The Fayette County initiative, lead by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce and the Fayette County