James July-August 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 35
ROWEN IS A PROJECT like no other in
Georgia. Built on the foundations of
families that owned its pastoral 2,000
acres for generations, the vision for
Rowen is simple: to uplift the people of
Georgia through education, research and
innovation— and address the global challenges that face us all.
Nestled in a pristine natural environment with access to trails, river
frontage, parks and open space, 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.
Future Rowen tenants will be
research centers, corporate offices and
innovative enterprises of all shapes
and sizes. They will be seeking opportunities to collaborate on challenges
large and small that impact Georgia
and beyond.
The common thread among our
future tenants: they are expected to
be innovators in medicine, agriculture,
the environment and the industries
that converge around and emerge from
those fields. Rowen’s location along
University Parkway between Athens,
Atlanta and Gainesville offers access
to a diverse, highly educated workforce that is an easy drive from many
of the region’s key job, academic and
innovation centers.
Since its launch in 2020, the Rowen Foundation— the 501(c)4 owner of
this visionary project— has been working diligently to build the foundation
for this growth with three focus areas:
1. Leadership The Foundation has established a top-tier board of directors
representing some of Georgia’s leading
education institutions and industries.
These directors, along with Foundation leadership, established the core
principles and values that will drive
Rowen into the future. Our directors
include our board chair, SG Contracting President Sachin Shailendra, along
with Emory University Senior Vice
President for Research Dr. Deborah
Watkins Bruner, Georgia Power CEO
Kim Greene, original Rowen landowner Sam Hinton, University of Georgia
Provost Dr. S. Jack Hu, Georgia Gwinnett College President Dr. Jann Joseph,
Georgia Tech VP for Institute Relations
Bert Reeves, Spelman College Provost
Dr. Pamela Scott-Johnson and former
congressional advisor Arthur Tripp.
ture, medicine and the environment.
Through its collective work, the Rowen
Foundation is serving as a convener
of students and faculty around critical
topics such as energy, sustainability
and artificial intelligence while leveraging its 2,000 acres for learning and
collaboration. The Living Lab initiative
is just the beginning of how Rowen
envisions serving as a neutral convener
for higher education institutions across
the state and a comprehensive point
of connection for diverse industries
attracted to Georgia’s strong business
climate, diverse workforce population
and exceptional research and innovation capabilities.
3. Stewardship The Foundation is finishing work on sustainable complete
streets infrastructure which includes
roadways, native landscaping, stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastruc2. Partnerships The Foundation has
ture as well as smart city technology
also been hard at work forming partand green infrastructure highly sought
nerships across the University System
after by global industry. As Rowen beof Georgia and the Technical College
System of Georgia, as well as the state’s gins to activate its public and private
historically black colleges and universi- spaces, the Foundation sees its role
as a steward of the inherited beauty
ties and other private colleges and universities. Rowen recently established its rather than as a developer who will
innovative Living Lab Platform, creating seek to clear away the aesthetics of
the site. Our covenants and developreal estate and programmatic-driven
partnerships that include the University ment guidelines require that future
development take nature into account,
of Georgia, Emory University, Georgia
and as our site is built out over the
Gwinnett College, Gwinnett Technical
next 30 years, hundreds of acres will
College and a variety of industry partners. These projects represent a diverse be preserved and connected to the
array of institutional and industry
strengths that center around Rowen’s
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three programmatic drivers: agricul-
