Georgianomics: A data center upside

October is one of my favorite months of the year in Atlanta. The temps are more pleasant, the leaves are changing and there’s candy in the forecast.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Georgianomics! I’m Kelly Yamanouchi, business team lead here at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Here’s some of what you’ll find when you scroll down:

🚢 Data center boom brings dividends to the coast

🛒 The next Costco coming to metro Atlanta

🤖 How AI is changing job candidates’ behavior

Let’s dive in.

1: Who benefits from data centers? Look to Brunswick

If you’ve ever wondered who in Georgia is benefiting from the data center boom, the AJC’s Coastal Georgia bureau chief Adam Van Brimmer found an answer in Brunswick.

He reports that data centers may seem like the scourge of the state, judging by the public blowback of late. But that’s not so at the Port of Brunswick.

📈 The Georgia Ports Authority’s facilities there report a 22% uptick in heavy equipment volumes in recent months.

🚜 The activity is driven by construction trucks and earth-moving gear bound for data center development sites. The surge has offset a slump in volumes of farm tractors and other agricultural equipment.

🚗 Brunswick’s Colonel’s Island terminal last year became the nation’s busiest port for wheeled and tracked vehicles and automobiles, also known as roll-on, roll-off cargo.

🚛 The Ports Authority’s Flavio Batista said the Savannah terminals are also benefiting, as manufacturers ship parts and components — such as buckets or articulating arms for cranes and other machinery — in containers then ship them by truck or train to Brunswick for final assembly at an on-terminal equipment processing center.

“No other port has that,” Batista said. “We’re seeing more and more customers because of it.”

📉 Brunswick needs the construction equipment as a two-year dip in the movement of autos continues to drag on its business. Volumes are off more than 20% since the U.S. government began imposing tariffs on auto imports in March 2025. Brunswick handled 55,892 autos in August, down nearly 15,000 vehicles compared with August 2024, prior to the tariffs.

🔍 MORE ON THE PORTS: Savannah’s bustling riverfront is about to get busier. Here’s why.

2: Data dive: High airfares ✈️

Does it feel like a punch right in the pocketbook every time you try to book a flight? Well, you’re not alone.

🛫 Average domestic airfares reached their highest quarterly level ever recorded, $445, according to the most recent data release from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, for the second quarter of this year.

🛬 But, that’s not adjusted for inflation. If you take into account how much consumer prices have increased (119.5%) over the last 31 years that the feds have been tracking the cost of flying, the airfares increased less (50%). So the inflation-adjusted fares are actually lower than they were back in 2000.

💰 That doesn’t mean it feels any better when you have to pay hundreds of dollars for an upcoming trip. But that’s what the cold, hard data shows.

Not signed up yet? Why wait? Get Georgianomics in your inbox each Wednesday. It’s free, and it’s worth it. Keep scrolling for more news.

3: Meet Kelly Yamanouchi

I’m the AJC’s business team lead, which means I help edit and write articles for the business team.

📰 The news business has taken me around the country. I’ve lived in the metro areas of Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco. I’ve now been in Atlanta for 18 years — but I still feel like a relative newcomer.

⏭️ Next week’s author is Zachary Hansen.

4: Business bites

🔥 Alpharetta-based Pye-Barker Fire & Safety has acquired Union AlarmTronic, a security alarm company based in Springfield, New Jersey.

➕ Atlanta-based accounting firm Aprio has acquired Denver-based TGRP Solutions.

📍 Home organization and outdoor storage company Keter has opened its new U.S. headquarters and showroom in Alpharetta.

⚖️ Law firm Kabat Chapman & Ozmer is relocating its Atlanta headquarters to the 14th & Spring building.

🎤 Live-K Karaoke has signed a lease for more than 10,000 square feet for the former Dantanna’s space at The CTR, the former CNN Center in downtown Atlanta — providing a new nightlife tenant there.

🍾 207 Peachtree in downtown Atlanta has debuted a 10,000-square-foot ballroom as a new event space in a historic 1920s building.

🏠 Atlanta-based Habitat for Humanity International launched the Carter Circle, a community of corporate partners and individual donors. Corporate Carter Circle partners include Lowe’s, State Farm, Wells Fargo and Whirlpool. It’s named in honor of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

Upcoming events

The inaugural Atlanta Climate Week is set for Oct. 10-15 as a series of events bringing together regional leaders, businesses, academia and others.

Avant South and Venture Atlanta are set for Oct. 12-15. Georgia Tech will host a ribbon-cutting for its new $20 million Nexus AI Supercomputer on Monday. Executives from companies including OpenAI, Accenture and BlackRock will speak Tuesday at Avant South. Venture Atlanta will host fireside chats, talks and pitch competitions Wednesday and Thursday at the Woodruff Arts Center. The AJC’s Mirtha Donastorg will be covering the events.

VC Fast Pitch and TriNet will host Atlanta VC Fast Pitch Oct. 12, 6-9 p.m. The event features startup founders presenting their businesses to an audience including venture capitalists, angel investors, family offices, entrepreneurs, executives and others in the startup ecosystem.

5: Relationships matter

🏦 Invesco Chief Financial Officer Allison Dukes got her start in banking through a SunTrust training program right out of college.

🧮 Although her degree was in math, she says, “What I found that I really enjoyed so much about banking wasn’t the analytical side of it, but it was the clients. It was the relationships.”

Dukes sat down with AJC Her+Story to talk about how she moved up the ranks.

🔍 READ MORE: Invesco exec says she once fell into trap of underestimating her abilities

6: News Quiz: Test your knowledge

🛒 Costco Wholesale is a retail behemoth. The company reported a whopping $297.2 billion in net sales for its fiscal year that ended Aug. 30, up about 10% from the prior year.

📍 Here in metro Atlanta, there are 10 Costco locations, according to the company’s website.

Quiz: Where is the next Costco going to open in metro Atlanta?

Click here for the answer.

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7: The Ladder 🪜

• Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging Holding Co. has named Aditya Gandhi as chief accounting officer.
• The Atlanta Community Food Bank has named Jon West as interim CEO.
• Atlanta-based Noble Investment Group announced Nehali Patel has joined the firm as director of asset management.
• The Georgia Historical Society named former Lockheed Martin Aeronautics general manager Shan Cooper and United Distributors CEO Doug Hertz as 2027 Georgia Trustees.
• Alpharetta-based Kawneer Co., which is transitioning to an independent company under ownership of funds managed by Apollo, appointed Kate Anderson as CEO and Timothy Montz as chief financial officer.

8: AI is changing how job candidates act

A new study from the University of Georgia found that artificial intelligence is changing the behavior of people seeking jobs.

🤥 Researchers found “a considerable increase in applicants’ self-reported ‘exaggerations’ or overall overcompensation when candidates knew their videos would be evaluated by an AI agent rather than a human,” according to UGA.

🤖 Humans seemed able to discern the behavior, “but the AI agent didn’t penalize job applicants who stretched the truth,” according to the study.