The U.S. Air Force’s decision to cut short the F-22 Raptor fighter jet program stung Cobb County a few years ago, leading Lockheed Martin to relocate hundreds of local jobs.
On Monday, Cobb got a dose of good news when Georgia Tech announced plans to buy four office buildings and 52 acres once tied to the program. The planned purchase could lead to Tech creating or relocating about 500 research-related jobs to Cobb buildings that have been vacant for three years.
The complex will be used by the Georgia Tech Research Institute to relieve overcrowding issues, but a Tech spokesman said no decisions have been made about which operations might be shifted to the site.
Tech has been growing in virtually every direction from its Midtown Atlanta campus lately.
The new operations join an existing Cobb branch of GTRI, a research arm whose mission is to solve complex engineering problems for industry and government.
GTRI has about 360 employees in five research buildings on the Marietta campus, including facilities for weapons, intelligence and aerospace technologies.
“Lockheed Martin and Georgia Tech have worked together in numerous areas over the years,” Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson said in the release. “This is another area in which our collaboration will prove to be mutually beneficial as we both look to serve our nation with our respective capabilities.”
The Georgia Tech spokesman said decisions about what will be located on the site will be made by fall.
The buildings can handle hundreds of workers and there is land for further development, though the spokesman said he was not aware of any immediate plans to build new research space.
The buildings, along Atlanta Road on the Lockheed Martin South Campus near the Dobbins Air Reserve Base runway, were previously home to administrative and engineering operations tied to the F-22 program. Lockheed spokesman Johnny Whitaker said the deal is expected to close in about six months after a normal due diligence period.
Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
“This is a win-win situation as we evolve our business and assist Georgia Tech in expanding their capabilities,” Karmyn Norwood, Lockheed Martin vice president for business integration, said in the release.
Georgia Tech has been active in expanding its footprint since the Great Recession. Earlier this year, Tech kicked off Phase II of Technology Square, the research university’s outpost east of the Downtown Connector.
That project, a tower known as Coda, is being developed by noted Atlanta developer Portman. Coda will have high-tech research and computing capacity. It will be anchored by Georgia Tech, but about half of the office space will be available to the private sector.
Earlier this month, the Georgia Tech Foundation announced its intent to buy Midtown's historic Biltmore building. The Biltmore, already home to high-tech firms, will become a formal part of the popular Technology Square development.
Tech also is studying expansion of its Technology Enterprise Park in Midtown into a health and bio-sciences campus.
Tim Lee, chairman of the Cobb commission, hailed the Tech-Lockheed agreement, saying the deal “strengthens our reputation as a center for research, development and high-tech jobs.”
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