NCR, the technology giant that moved from Ohio to Gwinnett County in 2009, is in negotiations to build a new corporate campus near Georgia Tech, two individuals with direct knowledge of the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday.
The Duluth-based company wants to put a major campus on the doorstep of the state’s top technology school and tap into the highly skilled engineering and programming talent that graduate each year, the two individuals said.
As part of a possible move, NCR could create as many as 1,000 additional jobs in the metro area, the people told the AJC.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on rumors or speculation,” an NCR spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.
It’s unclear if the possible campus would be NCR’s official headquarters.
NCR, which makes ATMs, kiosks for the retail and travel industries and scores of other technology products, became one of the biggest metro business stories of the Great Recession when the company decided to move its headquarters to metro Atlanta and open manufacturing facilities in Columbus.
The company created or relocated more than 2,000 jobs throughout Georgia and positioned much of its corporate staff in two prominent office buildings along I-85 near Gwinnett Place Mall.
A deal is not final and it is unclear if the company is considering other locations for the campus. The individuals said, however, negotiations for a Midtown location are far along and have stretched over several months.
The company is working with economic development officials, Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Foundation to secure property near Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus, the individuals said. It is unclear if a site has been identified.
Georgia Tech did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Brian McGowan, the president and CEO of Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, also declined to comment.
When NCR moved to metro Atlanta in 2009, NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti cited Georgia Tech as a key reason as a source of future talent.
It’s unclear if NCR’s corporate headquarters would vacate Gwinnett. But, either way, it would be a boon for Atlanta, which views Midtown as a tech hub and recently made headlines when companies such as Coca-Cola and athenahealth announced relocations of workers from outside the city to intown locations last year.
Such a move by NCR would follow the recent corporate consolidation plan of another financial technology giant, Fiserv, which recently announced plans to relocate out of Gwinnett to new digs in the north Fulton city of Alpharetta.
Staff writers Katie Leslie and Janel Davis contributed to this article.
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