Owner, developer to split disputed $400K in Gwinnett movie studio flap

Jim Jacoby hopes to turn 114 acres of the OFS optic fiber manufacturing site, formerly operated by Lucent, into a massive complex for making movies and TV shows. The Atlanta Media Campus and Studios will include a film school, housing, hotel and other amenities if Jacoby’s dream comes true.

Jim Jacoby hopes to turn 114 acres of the OFS optic fiber manufacturing site, formerly operated by Lucent, into a massive complex for making movies and TV shows. The Atlanta Media Campus and Studios will include a film school, housing, hotel and other amenities if Jacoby’s dream comes true.

The developer who pitched a massive movie studio project near Norcross will split the roughly $400,000 once fought over by it and the owner of the possible studio site.

Both legal matters between Jacoby Development and fiber optic company OFS, which owns the site near I-85 and Jimmy Carter Boulevard, are now resolved —though the role of Jacoby in any future development on the property remains uncertain.

A Gwinnett County Superior Court judge signed last week an order giving Jacoby and OFS each half of the nearly $400,000 in earnest and escrow money they had quarreled over for months. Court documents suggested the settlement was reached voluntarily by the parties.

The money was related to the project Jacoby pitched to include the largest movie and TV studio in the Southeast, plus multifamily housing, a hotel and educational components.

Little has happened on the site, however, and OFS initiated a separate lawsuit in Fulton County earlier this year, claiming Jacoby hadn't paid more than $120,000 in rent for  buildings that it and affiliated studio company MBS3 were allowed to lease on OFS property.

OFS also claimed that its larger purchase-sale agreement with Jacoby had expired in Sept. 2016.

That suit was also settled last week, with both sides voluntarily dropping their claims.

Jacoby and OFS have both remained quietly publicly. The developer has not commented on the litigation and OFS spokeswoman Sherry Salyer has only released the following comment: “OFS self-manages an active television and film production portfolio while continuing to market a portion of the property.”

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