Business

A publication of The Times-Herald

[Business][Business]

28 Coweta Living 2010-11

Health care and filmindustries bringing new

dollars to CowetaBy Jeff Bishop

This artist rendering shows what the new PiedmontNewnan Hospital will look like. The hospital is expectedto bring 250 new jobs and $222 million in positive annualeconomic impact for Coweta County.

Ethan James of the Georgia Hospital Association speaks at a Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce forum on health reform. At left arepanelists Holly Bates-Snow and Edward Racht, and at right is MichaelBass, CEO of Piedmont Newnan Hospital.

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Coweta Living 2010-11 29

hen steel was erected in the

summer of 2010 at the site for the

new Piedmont Newnan Hospital,

CEO Michael Bass wrote on the first

beam to go up that it was the

“sunrise of a new era.” Coweta

County is “on the cusp of greatness”

agreed Candace Boothby, president

of the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of

Commerce.

“We are setting another gold

standard in our state” with

improvements in our health care

infrastructure, Boothby recently told

the Newnan Rotary Club.

Piedmont Newnan Hospital is

building a new 136-bed, 362,376-

square-foot hospital on Poplar Road

that is expected to bring 250 new

jobs and $222 million in positive

annual economic impact for Coweta

County, but that’s only the tip of the

iceberg.

A new four-story, 110,000-

square-foot medical office building is

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30 Coweta Living 2010-11

“We should be very proud. Our

successes belong to everyone in the

community,” said Boothby.

The film and TV industry is also

going strong in Coweta County.

Movies filmed in Georgia have

grossed more than $415 million at

the box office so far this year,

cementing the state’s position as a

leading location for filming. New

movie studios are popping up all over

the metro area, and Senoia’s

RiverWood Studios is in the thick of

things, recently signing a

management agreement with Raleigh

Studios in Hollywood that RiverWood

President Scott Tigchelaar said

should “have a pretty big impact” on

the regional film industry.

“Raleigh Studios is the largest

owner and manager of stages and

studio facilities in the world,” said

Tigchelaar. “They have locations

throughout the world, in Hollywood,

Baton Rouge, Detroit, Budapest, you

name it.”

RiverWood Studios will now be

called “Raleigh Studios Atlanta at

RiverWood,” Tigchelaar said. The

summer release Killers was filmed at

RiverWood, and Senoia has long

served as a backdrop for the cable TV

show Drop Dead Diva. Get Low, a Bill

Murray/Robert Duvall summer film,

was filmed in Newnan, as was the

recent indie hit Zombieland.

Grantville is getting in on the action,

too, with scenes from the upcoming

Panama City being filmed in town.

There’s so much film and TV-

related action going on in Senoia that

a whole housing development is

going up with the idea that it will

serve as a virtual backlot for TV and

projected to open in late 2011,

adjacent to the new Piedmont

hospital. A new $1.7 million county

health department is also under

construction, and Cancer Treatment

Centers of America is planning a new

regional hospital on Newnan

Crossing Bypass, across from the

thriving Ashley Park retail center,

bringing 500 new jobs to the area.

CTCA expects the new facility to

generate $500 million in economic

activity over the first five years of

operation. The company said it plans

to invest $150 million directly.

With more than two-thirds of its

patients expected to come from

outside the state of Georgia, CTCA

patients and their families will

undoubtedly contribute to the

growth and vitality of the local

economy.

[Business]

Bill Murray and Lucas Black star in this summer's Get Low, which was filmed partially in Newnan a little over ayear ago. (Photo courtesy of Sony Classics)

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Coweta Living 2010-11 31

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“Raleigh Studios

is the largest

owner and

manager of

stages and

studio facilities in

the world. They

have locations

throughout the

world, in

Hollywood,

Baton Rouge,

Detroit,

Budapest, you

name it.”– Scott Tigchelaar,

RiverWood Studios

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32 Coweta Living 2010-11

film productions. The first house to

go up in the new development

became Southern Living magazine’s

new Idea House in downtown Senoia.

The house, called Abercorn Place

by the magazine, is the grandest in a

row of five brownstone-style

townhouses in The Gin Property, a

historically-flavored mixed use

development in downtown Senoia.

“I didn’t want to do normal stuff.

Because normal stuff is boring,” said

developer Paul Lombardi.

That meant some changes to

downtown. “Change, for everyone, is

tough,” Lombardi said. “We talked

about taking charge, moving forward,

and pushing it in a way that’s

positive.”

With development that’s not

related to the health or film

industries lagging, the Coweta

County Development Authority has

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A Sam’s Club is under construction at Fischer Crossing.

Drop Dead Diva series star Brooke Elliott clutches a snazzy greenhandbag as she finishes a scene that had her walking through asection of the Dillard's store at Ashley Park in Newnan.

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Coweta Living 2010-11 33

focused primarily on building up

existing industries and looking for

opportunities for them to expand.

Greg Wright, president of the

Coweta County Development

Authority, said most job creation

comes from working with what

you have.

“I’ve seen different numbers

on this, but about 70 to 80 percent

of your new job growth is going to

come from existing companies

growing and succeeding in your

community,” said Wright.

A big part of what the Coweta

County Development Authority does

involves “going out and making that

connection” with companies that

are already here, he said.

“If they’re looking at an

expansion project, then maybe we

can help them put their resources

together,” said Wright.

“If Coweta County is

competing with another state, and

a company is thinking about

relocating its facility out of the

county, we can help the plant

manager sell Coweta County as the

best location,” he said.

There may be community

resources available to companies

“that they’re just otherwise

unaware of,” Wright said.

One company recently

wondered if it could qualify for

stimulus funding. “And we were

able through Georgia Tech to

connect them with the

Procurement Assistance Center to

see if they would qualify,” said

Wright. “We want to build

relationships and help these

companies to grow and prosper. We

want to bring in resources to fix

those problems and provide

solutions, so that we’re not faced

with a situation where a company

just suddenly announces, ‘Okay,

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[Business]

34 Coweta Living 2010-11

The new Kia plant inWest Point, above,opened in Februaryand has attractedworkers from CowetaCounty. At left,Newnan-CowetaChamber ofCommerce PresidentCandace Boothbyinspects a fresh-off-the-line Kia Sorrento duringa tour of the plant.

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Coweta Living 2010-11 35

we’re closing.’ We want to help

prevent them from relocating to

another county; we want to give

them resources to help them improve

their operations so they can continue

to work here. We want to assist them

with expansion projects as they look

to grow jobs.”

His assistant, Brenda Washington,

works with existing companies to help

them do that, he added.

“We don’t want the local plant

manager to feel like he or she does

not have a local contact when an

issue comes up,” Wright said.

Washington “wants to learn

about their operations, their work

force, their customers. She wants to

identify industry trends and specific

problems they may be having,”

Wright said. It’s also “an opportunity

to educate the community about the

company.”

Sometimes, companies are

“changing so quickly, they often lose

the local connection,” Wright said.

“By going in and visiting regularly …

we can maintain that close

relationship we have, and also make

them aware of resources available in

Coweta County.”

That happened a few years ago,

when Yamaha was looking to expand,

Wright said. Local plant officials

didn’t know about all the courses

offered at the Central Educational

Center in Newnan.

And existing companies are

“already contributing to the

community,” Wright said.

Anybody who works in sales

“knows it is easier to keep an existing

customer than it is to go out and find

another one. And it’s less expensive,”

Wright said. “It also helps our

community image to show we are a

growing community,” he said.

The development authority can

also help prospects find out “what it’s

like to do business in Coweta

County,” Wright said.

“It’s important that we have that

line of communication ahead of

time, with existing business and

industry.”

The county’s location is still a

major selling point, both for

expansions of existing companies

and for luring new companies, he

said.

“We’re right on I-85, and we’re

going to soon have a new technical

college and two new hospitals,” he

said. “The synergy of all of that is

going to help everyone in this

community.”

Wright said there’s no secret

formula for enticing companies to

come invest in a community.

“You never know where a

prospect is going to come from,” he

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36 Coweta Living 2010-11

Alabama. They saw that piece of

property on I-85, and the rest is

history,” he said.

“You just never know where

prospects are going to come from,”

he said, “or even what’s going to

attract them to your area.”

Existing development does drive

future development, however. The

announcement of the two new

hospitals and medical office building

is already drawing interest from the

medical community, said Wright,

“and that’s something that’s going to

said. He used the new Kia plant in

West Point as a prime example of

how the whole process can be

serendipitous.

“Kia located there because they

had executives driving from

Hartsfield to the Hyundai plant in

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Serving as officers for the 2010 Newnan-Coweta Chamber ofCommerce Board of Directors are, front from left, Vicki Kaiser,Steve Mader, Jan Alligood, and at back, Chamber PresidentCandace Boothby, Judi Alvey, Randy Cardoza and TonyaWhitlock. Not pictured is Dennis McEntire.

The chamber’s annual Big Expo features the newest products and services in the Coweta and metro Atlantabusiness market. Last year’s event was held at the Summit Family YMCA.

Kathleen Nowak, left, development associatewith Cancer Treatment Centers of America,said CTCA thought it was important toparticipate in last year’s Big Expo to show"we're committed to this community."

28-37_business 7/21/10 6:57 PM Page 36

Coweta Living 2010-11 37

be an important part of our

economy.”

He often heard his predecessor,

Bill Harrison, say that he liked to

“shoot at everything and see what

falls” when it comes to economic

development. Wright said he

appreciates that philosophy, but he

brings a slightly different approach.

“We’re putting together our new

marketing materials right now,” he

said. “And while I tend to agree

somewhat with what Bill said, I’m a

little more in the middle. There are

ways to promote the assets that we

have to particular industries, and

build on those specifically, and at the

same time to ensure that we grow

into a diverse economy, so that we’re

not tied to any one industry or

sector.”

Failure to diversify can have

devastating consequences for any

community, he said. “We want to do

what’s good for Coweta County.”

Prospect activity seems to be

picking up lately, Wright said, noting,

“We’re seeing a lot of interest and a

lot of activity, both from new

companies wanting to locate here

and from existing companies

wanting to expand.”

Even when the community isn’t

trying to dig its way out of a

recession, “there’s always pressure to

bring in more jobs,” said Wright.

“I’m talking to people all the

time who need jobs, so I always feel

that pressure,” he said. “And that’s

what we’re here for – to grow jobs in

this community.”

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