Vanderlande Industries, a global logistics company, plans to create 500 new jobs and spend $59 million to expand its North American headquarters in Cobb County.
Vanderlande is a leading manufacturer of airport automation equipment like baggage conveyor belts. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands and has offices in dozens of nations, but has called its Cobb location the central hub of its North American operations for the past 23 years.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced Vanderlande’s expansion plans in a press statement Thursday. The increased footprint will grow the company’s workforce to 1,250 employees statewide, according to Kemp’s office.
By February, Vanderlande expects to move into into a newly constructed 152,612-square-foot facility in the three-story Edison Chastain office complex at 3054 Chastain Meadows Parkway Northwest in Marietta. Vanderlande’s current Marietta office sits along West Oak Circle within city limits. That warehouse was built in 2005 and is 61,000 square feet.
Vanderlande has already begun hiring for the new positions. One county official said the average salary for the new jobs is more than $85,000. Margaret Sinclair, a Vanderlande spokeswoman, did not disclose the pay ranges Friday, saying the wages are “competitive within the industry.”
“We are really growing strong and believe that our people help us deliver the innovative solutions our customers expect,” she wrote in an email Friday.
Vanderlande’s automated systems are used in over 600 airports around the world. The company also crafts systems and equipment that companies like Fed-Ex, UPS and Amazon use to sort parcels in their distribution centers.
“I am thrilled a company like Vanderlande is choosing to expand in Cobb County, bringing with them 500 skilled and stable jobs,” County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said Friday. “This is yet another example of how companies of all industries view Cobb as an attractive place for their employees to work.”
Cobb County spokesman Ross Cavitt said the county did not grant Vanderlande any tax incentives for the move into unincorporated Marietta. The Development Authority of Cobb County, a quasi-governmental board independent of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, gave the company a 10-year property tax abatement in the new facility. Vanderlande will go tax-free its first year of operation and the company’s tax bill will incrementally increase 10% of fair market value each year over the 10-year span, according to Nelson Geter, the Development Authority’s executive director.
Geter pointed to two other major projects that have brought hundreds of jobs to the area. In February, Papa John’s pizza restaurant chain got the financial incentives to move its headquarters from Kentucky into a 60,000-square-foot office center at Three Ballpark Center near Truist Park. The move came with 162 new jobs.
The Thyssenkrupp Elevator Company’s 420-foot elevator test tower near The Battery is expected to be completed in 2022. The German firm is expected to generate 900 jobs in Cobb County over 10 years.
“We just have a business-friendly community,” Geter said. “In order to have a strong economic community overall, you’ve got to have a major presence of commercial and residential properties. From a taxpayer’s perspective, it’s adding considerable tax dollars to the county. But most importantly, it’s adding an additional source of tax revenue to the school system.”
“This is definitely helping with the economy and from what I understand, these are high paying jobs. So that’s good for the workforce and the economy as well‚” said Cobb County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the district to which Vanderlande is relocating.
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