Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics USA plans to consolidate its Gwinnett office and warehouse operations and add some 200 jobs over the next decade.
The company has signed a long-term lease with Atlanta-based developer Industrial Developments International for a 33-acre site on Satellite Boulevard in Suwanee, according to documents IDI submitted to Gwinnett County. Mitsubishi can terminate the lease if IDI can’t convince Gwinnett to rezone the property by Nov. 1.
Last week the Municipal-Gwinnett County Planning Commission voted unanimously to rezone the property from office to light industrial. The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners is expected to take up the rezoning later this month.
“I think any time you can get a company of that magnitude to expand in your community, that’s huge in this economic environment,” said Planning Commission Chairman Chuck Warbington.
Mitsubishi officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The company has had facilities in Gwinnett for 19 years. The headquarters of its heating and cooling division is in Suwanee. It also has a training facility, research and development operations and a distribution center.
Its Gwinnett operation has grown from 15 to 200 employees, with a 2010 payroll of more than $23 million, according to the IDI documents.
Now Mitsubishi wants to consolidate four facilities totaling 375,000 square feet into a single location with room to grow. According to IDI, Mitsubishi plans to expand to 260 employees when it moves to the new facility next year. In the coming decade it plans to expand to 400 employees with an annual payroll of about $49 million, with an average wage of about $125,000.
The company also will bring some 1,200 vendors to Gwinnett for annual three-day training sessions, resulting in more than 3,600 hotel nights, dining and rental car opportunities for Gwinnett businesses, according to IDI.
The site of the proposed expansion abuts I-85. It is surrounded by other office-warehouse facilities and retail establishments like Home Depot. In its rezoning application, IDI argues the proposed Mitsubishi facility would be compatible with surrounding development, create high-wage jobs and generate property and sales tax revenue for the county.
No one testified against the rezoning at last week’s planning commission meeting.
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