A rezoning that will make way for a new company and an estimated 200 “high-paying” jobs was approved earlier this month by the Peachtree City Council.
The rezoning will allow Panasonic North America to split off part of its existing 60-acre campus to make room for a supplier that will be investing upwards of $1 million to upgrade the facilities with new equipment.
The site has been rezoned for limited use industrial, which is only the second time the city has used such a designation. The first was several years ago for a site immediately north of Panasonic which will eventually become the research and development arm of Sany North America and include several homes to be used as temporary housing for Sany executives.
The Panasonic and Sany tracts are located on Ga. Highway 74 South near Dividend Drive.
The rezoning allowed different setbacks to be used on the parcel.
Although Panasonic in 2008 moved its manufacturing operations from the Peachtree City site to a factory in Mexico, the facility has “grown by leaps and bounds” in the past two years with the company spending about $5.6 million on the buildings in the last two years alone, said Panasonic attorney Marty Pinover.
The new jobs planned for the facility are “highly technical,” Pinover has said.
When Panasonic halted its manufacturing in 2008 employment at the site went down to about 300 people, but in the meantime the company has grown its local presence to 550 people, Pinover told council Nov. 7.
Panasonic is also expanding its evaluation labs which are huge machines that test equipment, and that shows a long-term commitment to the city, he said. It has been estimated that moving those labs and getting them recertified would cost Panasonic about $6 million alone.
The rezoning was unanimously approved by council Nov. 7.
