James MagazineJames_July-August_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 37
owen is a development project you’ll
be hearing a lot more
about in coming
years. Located in
Gwinnett County along University
Parkway between Athens, Atlanta
and Gainesville, it is emerging on
the foundations of families that
owned its bucolic 2,000 acres for
over 200 years. Rowen’s master
plan preserves it, while connecting
it to a pristine natural environment
with access to trails, river frontage,
parks and open space.
That relationship between past
and place is central to how the
project’s mission was designed
from the start: build with the land,
not over it. In fact, “Rowen” means
“second harvest.
This is a first-of-its-kind project
in Georgia that aims to bring the
leading minds of innovation and
research together for collaboration
focusing on agriculture, the envi-
ronment and medicine. The land is
marketed as a home for companies
in these three main sectors. And
in March, its first tenant became
UCB, a Belgium-based biopharma
company. It announced that it
is building a $2 billion biologics
manufacturing campus on 90
acres. But more about that exciting
milestone later.
THE ROWEN IDEA
At a Gwinnett Chamber of
Commerce luncheon in May,
Rowen CEO Mason Ailstock took
a trip down memory lane. “All this
wasn’t possible without visionary
leadership, continuing support
and a vision that invites people
in to contribute.” Rowen’s launch,
he noted, occurred in 2020 after
conversations among county
government, state and business
leaders led to arriving on a strategy. A foundation was formed— the
501(c)4 owner of this project— and
since then it has worked to grow
Rowen with a supportive Gwinnett County government (initially
with County Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash and later
with current Chairwoman Nicole
Love Hendrickson), the Gwinnett
Chamber, Gov. Brian Kemp, the
state Department of Economic
Development and other partners.
The Foundation, whose chairman is prominent Atlanta businessman and president of SG
Contracting Sachin Shailendra,
has a top-tier board of directors
representing some of Georgia’s
leading education institutions and
industries. These directors manage
the project development, oversee
budget issues and operate on core
principles that are driving Rowen
into the future.
“Rowen offers acres of opportunity capable of holding over 22 million square feet of offices and labs,
eventually contributing 100,000
new jobs to Georgia over a 30-year
span,” Shailendra says.
“Future Rowen tenants will be
research centers, corporate offices
and innovative enterprises of all
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