A company believed to be associated with movie director, producer and actor Tyler Perry has acquired 261 acres in Douglas County at a site near more than 1,000 acres the company has purchased in the past year.
The latest land purchase by ETPC Company LLC has further fueled speculation within the community, about 10 miles west of Six Flags Over Georgia, that Perry might be preparing to expand his production facilities in metro Atlanta. Homeowners in the Tributary at New Manchester community just south of I-20 in Douglas County were told Thursday during the community’s annual meeting that Perry plans a television studio on the site.
A publicist for Perry, the creator of the TV shows, including “House of Payne,” and the “Madea” movies, did not immediately return messages left for comment. Steve Osterbur, an executive with Tributary at New Manchester, said he could not discuss the the matter and directed a reporter to Perry’s representatives.
The Clerk of Superior Court website for Douglas County shows two warranty deeds, a quit claim deed and an easement document were filed Wednesday, indicating that property on Riverside Parkway had changed hands from two other companies, Tributary Atlanta ASLI VII LLLP and New Manchester Properties LLC, to ETPC, the company believed to be connected with Perry.
The price of the transaction was not immediately available.
ETPC is listed as the owner of the Riverside Parkway property in the new transaction, according to the Douglas County Board of Assessors website.
A warranty deed guarantees a clear title to the buyer of property. A quit claim deed transfers a property owner’s interest to a another person or entity. Tributary Atlanta and New Manchester each filed warranty deeds, and Tributary Atlanta filed the quit claim deed. New Manchester also filed the easement document.
Jeff Noles of the Douglasville Development Authority said that while his office is aware of the new filings in Superior Court he has heard of no plans for any new development in the area, which is already zoned for mixed use.
“We do not have any plans in our offices that would lead us to believe that there are imminent development plans,” Noles told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday.
ETPC previously acquired about 1,100 acres in the area in multiple transactions last year. The company paid $5.4 million for the first 856 acres of Douglas land it bought in early 2013.
Last November, the Douglasville City Council approved an ETPC request to reconfigure property lines for about 364 acres of undeveloped land in the area. County records show about 285 acres of the land was worth at least $1.3 million. All of the property was once planned for residential and retail development.
Atlanta attorney Larry M. Dingle, who represented ETPC in the plat request before City Council, said at the time there were no plans to develop the acreage mentioned in the request. The 364 acres is adjacent to the larger acreage but is part of the Tributary at New Manchester community, east of Mount Vernon Road and just south of Sweetwater Creek State Park.
When asked about the new acquisition Thursday, Dingle would only confirm that the property listed in filings this week is additional acreage. He referred other questions to Perry’s representatives.
ETPC shares the same principal office address and suite number of Tyler Perry Studios LLC and Tyler Perry Studios Casting on 10th Street in west Midtown, according to documents on the Secretary of State and Georgia Department of Economic Development websites.
Perry opened a studio in southwest Atlanta in 2008 that features sound stages, a 400-seat theater and post-production facilities, according to its website.
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