Mercedes-Benz USA on Tuesday said it will build its new headquarters in Sandy Springs on a portion of the city’s largest undeveloped tract.
The company plans to build a 250,000-square-foot office building on a 12-acre slice of the Glenridge Hall property. The campus will be on the on the southern side of Abernathy Road near Ga. 400. The office complex will in essence anchor a planned residential and retail project to be developed by homebuilder Ashton Woods.
Mercedes USA CEO Steve Cannon and Gov. Nathan Deal held a joint briefing for reporters Tuesday. Mercedes has been negotiating with the Development Authority of Fulton County for a lease-purchase deal that will provide tax incentives for the German car brand.
In an interview Tuesday morning with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cannon said the Sandy Springs location will help the company tap into the Millennial talent who want to live in-town, while also being close to executive-level housing in Buckhead and the northern Atlanta suburbs.
“We’ve kind of strategically located in the center,” Cannon said. “It gives us the opportunity to incorporate the needs of a very diverse team.”
The fate of an historic mansion on the northern portion of the 76-acre property isn’t yet known, but there are plans to auction antiques and other furnishings.
Mercedes-Benz USA, which is moving its headquarters from New Jersey, is one of the most notable brands Georgia has recruited in years. The company announced the move in January, saying it plans a $93 million campus and will relocate or create 800 to 1,000 jobs.
Cannon said the company will move in phases, with its first wave of sales, marketing and senior executives moving to temporary offices at Sterling Pointe in Dunwoody near Perimeter Mall. A second wave of workers will join in 2017 when the new complex opens.
The company recently launched a website, www.mbatlantacareers.com, for candidates to apply for local jobs. Cannon said about 40 percent to 50 percent of the existing corporate employees will relocate, but the remaining jobs will be filled with metro Atlanta candidates.
Mercedes will likely have openings in finance, marketing, sales, engineering and other administrative roles.
Mercedes also scouted other sites across the north metro area, including Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven. Real estate services firm JLL has been leading the company’s search.
The state offered an incentives package valued at $23.3 million under an assumption of 950 jobs, and the Development Authority of Fulton County estimated that property tax savings for the company’s headquarters campus could total $4 million over 10 years. That comes to about $28,750 in incentives per job.
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