The Pinewood Atlanta Studios may be on the new western border of Fayetteville, but Peachtree City should see a significant financial windfall from the production of movies there.
It’s estimated that the city will see an annual bump of between $400,000 to $500,000 a year in its regular sales tax collections alone.
Fayette County Development Authority President Matt Forshee, in a presentation to the Peachtree City Council Thursday, said the studio will need to purchase raw materials to construct sets, which is where most of the sales tax increase will come from.
“I think it will be a pretty significant impact here for the city,” Forshee said.
A “phase 1B” of the Pinewood project includes a vendor area where much of those materials will be sold, and also where movie-related companies which provide lighting, cameras, and other equipment and services will be located on-site, Forshee said.
Pinewood is actually ahead of its construction schedule that would allow its first movie production to start in January, Forshee indicated.
Two of the soundstage buildings are complete, and another is planned for the first phase of development with a workshop and parking area also part of the first phase. The PAS site is located at Sandy Creek Road and Veterans Parkway, directly across the street from Rivers Elementary School which will eventually house an education program designed to teach movie and TV industry-related trades ranging from construction to cosmetology and special effects, just to name a few.
Peachtree City Councilman Eric Imker said it’s fun to think about the various blockbuster projects Pinewood has hosted in the past including the “Batman” and “Superman” movies along with “Lord of the Rings” series.
And of course, there’s the James Bond series as well which Pinewood may be most famous for.
The big question is: what will Pinewood Atlanta’s first movie production be? For now, we’ll have to settle for the anticipation in the hopes that an official announcement can be made soon.
