A veteran entertainment executive has been named to oversee a planned $700 million live-work-play mini-city in Fayette County, developers announced Tuesday.
Rob Parker was named president of Pinewood Forrest, a 234-acre project near film production complex Pinewood Studios.
Parker has 30 years of experience working with companies, government agencies and sports and entertainment figures. In his new role, he will work closely with Chick-fil-A Chief Executive Dan Cathy, the lead developer of Pinewood Forrest, to pursue Cathy's vision for the project.
Plans call for hotels, restaurants, shops, office space, walking trails and about 1,300 residences on more than 230 acres in the center of Fayette County. The project is aimed at families, millennials and empty-nesters as well as people connected with Pinewood Studios, perhaps the most tangible example of the state’s recent boom in film production.
Parker arrives as developers prepare to announce on Friday retailers and hotels that will take space in Pinewood Forrest.
“Rob is a seasoned CEO with the perfect blend of experience in project management, entertainment, philanthropy, organization and leadership to take the helm of this vitally important development,” said Cathy, who lives in Fayette.
Cathy owns the Pinewood Forrest project separate from his role at Chick-fil-A. Cathy also is involved in the real estate venture that helped create the Pinewood Studios campus.
Parker will be in charge of naming other key managers as the project gets underway.
At the July launch of Pinewood Forrest, Cathy said the project will usher in a new era of urbanist design in the southern Atlanta suburbs.
The concept has echoes of both Alpharetta’s Avalon, though it will cover more space and be less dense, and the more pastoral Serenbe in south Fulton County. In addition to having high-end homes, developers said the community should be affordable to production crew members as well as firefighters and teachers.
Parker previously was chief executive of Southern Ground, overseeing the business and philanthropic efforts of country artist Zac Brown and his band. He has also held CEO posts at Kiwanis International, Ronald McDonald House Charities and Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
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