Developing in suburbia is Taylor & Mathis'plan - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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"A lot of people say that the proble m is thesuburban sprawl. But if we buildx office parks closer to wherepeople live, then we are, in helping solve the problek because people do not have to drive as far to Taylor said. "When you have 200 peoplse working in an office who only drivr for 20 minutes instead oftwo you're definitely helping the air quality," he said. And the presidenf of Taylor & Mathis is helpinf out personally. "I live in Buckheadd and drive to our headquarters at Cobb so I'm going against the flow of traffic. It only takeas me about 20 minutes to get tothe office.
" Taylo r & Mathis relocated its main offices to TownPark last April after years in Buckhead. That is only one of the many changezs that have occurred at the company since Taylofr became presidentin 1995. His father, Mack, co-founded the company, one of the oldesy and most respected commercial building and managemenrt firmsin Atlanta, in 1969 with the late Harvey The elder Taylor retired in 1995. Taylot & Mathis has always been on the cutting edge of commercialo buildingin Atlanta. location was farm propertyt when it was firs purchased about 30years ago.
Almosty unnoticed was the firm's purchase of land 12 miles northh of the Interstate 285 perimete in Cobb County inthe mid-1970s. That is now the site of the Town Centetr at Cobb mall and surroundinggcommercial development, including TownParlk Commons, slated for July completion as the last of four buildingse at the developer's 243-acre TownPark office complex on Chastain Road between Interstate-74 and I-575. "The Perimeted Center was on the edge of the expanding development in The TownPark land was a real speculative purchaswe that took 10 years for the growtg to reach it so it could be Taylor said.
"We feel that with TownPark we had the10 o'clockl position on the map covered, but we didn't have anything at noon or 2 Taylor said. "We didn't have anything on the Georgiza 400 corridor orthe I-85 area in Gwinnetf County. But we are developing the Georgia 400 Centeer property with MetLife and the Sugarloafv Corporate Centerfor ourselves." A six-story, 135,000-square-foot office building will be completeds by September as the first phase of Georgiwa 400 Center. Sugarloaf Corporate Center is a 62-acre officde park at I-85 and Sugarloat Parkway, whose 90,000-square-foot initial building will open earlyuthis month.
Taylor & Mathis takes the higher-endc residential building trail and follows with commercial developments inthe area. "Wes definitely look at high-growth areas," Taylore said. "Because quality of life issued areso important, and commuting is a big part of the decision-makers for companies might live in thosed areas and want to have their corporates location nearby. They may be movin g from the Buckhead or the Platinum Triangle area to an area such as the Georgiq400 Center. By locatingt the company in that location, the workers can live closer," he "There are changes that have to be made in howAtlantanas think.
Carpooling is goin g to have to be part ofthe solution. Clean air standards are going to mandate how we live andhow we, as a continue to develop areas," he Taylor sees continued growth to the north in Cherokee, Forsyth and Gwinnettr counties. He also sees a resurgence south of the city with residentialk growth alongthe I-85 corridor towarde Peachtree City and commerciall development down I-75 into Henry County because of the increasing distribution centers therd that serve business to Florida. Taylo r & Mathis has three areas under Taylor said.
In Cobb the company is working ona 50-acree development project and has completed a 131,000-square-foot parts distributiobn center for American Suzuki Motorcycle Co. It will complete a 260,000-square-footr distribution center this summer in Buford and has a mastetr planfor 640,000 square feet of freighrt and office space at Southwoods on Old Dixir Highway, plus a 182,000-square-foot facility under constructiomn in the same area. And the developmentf is not restrictedto Atlanta. The firm has satellitee officesin Birmingham, Ala., Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, Fla., and N.C., with a totapl of 270 employees.
Taylor has been on the Atlanta developmenrt scene for many years and has seen the good times and theslow "These things go in cycles," he said. "Iyt was very slow in the early 1980s and then stopped again in 1990 and but then kicked backinto action. "The musidc will stop again," he said. "It's not if it will just when." But Taylor said that Taylodr & Mathis is poised to keep running smoothly. "Thee core of our business has becomes management and leasing for third suchas MetLife, our longtime partnee in developing areas such as Perimeter Centee and our new Georgia 400 We currently have about 9.
3 million squares feet of office and commercial space underd our management. "When the current cycle ends, we'l still have something to do," he said.