Fayetteville | Fayette County: Small & Mighty
Development, Soccer, Film
Fayette County is one of the smallest counties in Georgia, spanning just 199 square miles, but it punches above its weight in terms of economic and infrastructure development, with outsized impact on Metro Atlanta and Middle Georgia.
Successful and Sustainable: Chelle Adams, chief financial officer at the United States Soccer Federation, at the future site of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center and Headquarters. Photo credit: Woodie Williams
And its impact is only growing. New developments are underway for a national soccer center, an award-winning hospital, multimillion-dollar expansions of major companies, and a vibrant, ever-evolving entertainment complex called Trilith, all designed to enhance the lives of those who live, work and play in the county. There’s no denying that the area is on the move and poised for success as it prepares for the future.
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) announced in 2023 that Fayette County would be the site of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center and Headquarters. Since then, plans have been afoot to make the most of the opportunity. The project broke ground in April 2024, and the goal is to be up and running before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Funds for the training center have come from a variety of sources, most notably from Home Depot co-founder Blank, who donated $50 million to the project. Blank owns both the Atlanta United soccer team and the Atlanta Falcons football team.
The facility will be a central hub for the entire soccer community, from coaches to players and referees. “It will allow them to access best-in-class training and will help promote successful and sustainable playing environments throughout the country,” says Chelle Adams, chief financial officer at USSF.
Adams says a centralized training center is a win-win for everyone and a boon for the sport logistically. “In the past, when we got the teams together to train, we had to source fields, hotels and transportation and incur expenses for shipping equipment,” she says.
Soccer was already pretty popular in Fayetteville, says Niki Vanderslice, president and CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority. “We’ve learned that approximately 6,000 [people] out of a population total of over 20,000 have a connection to soccer in some way, whether they’re supporters or actively involved. That’s a lot of business coming to Fayetteville,” she says.
Investing in the Community: Niki Vanderslice, president and CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority, at CertainTeed’s Peachtree City facility, which is undergoing an expansion. Photo credit: Woodie Williams
The USSF recognizes this and is investing in the community. “There are five local fields at McCurry Park South, and the USSF provided more than $500,000 to upgrade the fields, concessions and restrooms and construct a new storage building in the park,” says Adams, adding that the organization will provide $50,000 per year for three years to help maintain the fields.
Adams says the facility will hold camps for all 27 U.S. Soccer national teams and that the USSF will employ approximately 400 staffers. “We expect it to bring millions of dollars into the community, with jobs, tourism and business activity,” says Adams.
Award-Winning Healthcare
VIP Event: First lady Marty Kemp and Gov. Brian Kemp, far left, join Home Depot Co-founder Arthur M. Blank, center, and USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone, on Blank’s right, for the groundbreaking of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center. Photo credit: contributed
While soccer may be getting plenty of buzz in Fayetteville, the region also has bragging rights when it comes to healthcare. In 2024, Piedmont Fayette Hospital was one of nine Atlanta-area hospitals to receive a Specialty Excellence Award, which honors outstanding performance in 16 areas. Healthgrades gave the hospital an award under the category America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Outpatient Prostate Care. And U.S. News & World Report ranked it No. 11 in Georgia and No. 10 in Atlanta in its 2024-2025 Best Hospitals issue, in the category Best Regional Hospitals by State.
Piedmont Fayette is also racking up accolades with state-of-the-art procedures. In 2024, it earned accreditation from the Surgical Review Corporation as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery. “Nine surgeons achieved the designation of Surgeon of Excellence,” says Piedmont Fayette CEO Stephen Porter.
He says the hospital is also in the process of adding services for patients requiring complex care in thoracic surgery and neurosciences, and it is putting money into equipment upgrades.
“We’ve made investments in imaging equipment with a mobile PET scan, portable X-ray machines, a high-resolution, high-speed, low-dose, 128-slice CT that has the capability of doing cardiac procedures, interventional procedures and helping the emergency department with a very demanding CT volume,” Porter says.
World-Class Facility: Rendering of the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center. Photo contributed
The hospital has come a long way since 1997, growing from a mere 54 beds to 310 beds. Porter says the hospital now has a staff of more than 2,300 employees and over 900 physicians and is growing alongside Fayette County. “We welcome patients seeking high-quality care all the way to the Atlanta city limits, which isn’t much more than a half-hour drive away,” he says.
Adding Services: Aerial view of Piedmont Fayette Hospital.
Fayetteville Mayor Edward Johnson says the hospital has stepped up to the plate in recent years to accommodate an influx of patients after two trauma centers closed in South Metro Atlanta in 2022. “Those patients are going to Piedmont Fayette, which has resulted in a significant increase in emergency cases, so we are working with them when it comes to mental health and healthcare by collaborating with agencies in the area and their wellness clinic. We also just established a mental health council to evaluate the status of mental wellness in our community and collaborate to address concerns like drug addiction and suicide prevention,” he says.
With the influx of new patients, more parking was needed, so in 2024 the hospital added an additional 488 spaces and has connected the new parking lot to Veterans Parkway to help traffic flow. A separate parking lot near the pedestrian bridge over state route 54 is now paved and accessible.
Landing a New Data Center
Addressing Concerns: Fayetteville Mayor Edward Johnson. Photo credit: contributed
Another ambitious project underway in Fayetteville is Quality Technology Services (QTS) Atlanta 2 data center campus. According to QTS, the center will be built on 615 acres of land and will have 958 megawatts of critical power capacity.
Vanderslice says the development authority brokered the deal and netted $75 million in doing so. “We had marketed that property as a data center site since 2017 so when we landed QTS, we were excited because they are such a phenomenal partner. Our commitment now is to reinvest that money back into the community, and we have done that in a number of ways, from the development authority becoming self-sufficient and no longer receiving taxpayer funding, to funding economic development-related projects,” she says.
The Fayetteville data center campus underway is currently anticipated for completion in 2030.
Expansions and Improvements
About 10 miles away in Peachtree City, three major companies are undergoing expansions. Saint-Gobain is investing $100 million to double production capacity at its CertainTeed Roofing facility. The expansion is adding 65,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity and warehouse space. The improvements allow for a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions as well as reductions in water and energy consumption. The company estimates at least 27 full-time jobs will be created as a result of the expansion.
Coming Soon: Rendering of Trilith LIVE, a live entertainment complex that’s expected to open this year. Photo credit: contributed
Hoshizaki America, Inc., an innovator in commercial kitchen equipment, is adding a 120,000-square-foot facility to optimize the assembly of its commercial ice machines, with completion slated for this June.
And Gerresheimer, a supplier in the pharmaceutical, biotech and cosmetics industries, is expanding the production area at its Peachtree City site by 194,000 square feet. The company is investing approximately $180 million in the construction and equipping of two new buildings, where it will produce medical supplies like inhalers and autoinjectors, creating more than 400 new jobs. Production is expected to begin toward the end of 2025.
The expansions are adding some international flair to the county. “That’s a French company, a Japanese company and a German company, all of which choose to grow here. They could take these expansions anywhere in the country, but they choose to invest in our area,” Vanderslice says,
Meanwhile, Fayetteville is undergoing a long-awaited downtown revitalization with the Alleyway Improvement on the Courthouse Square. Planned for nearly a decade, the project involves reworking the driveway that runs behind the Courthouse Square businesses to allow for the construction of a walkable courtyard plaza. Power poles are being removed and powerlines being put underground. Park amenities like benches and bicycle racks will improve both the look and the functionality of the area. Construction began in September and is slated for completion this summer.
The Jewel of the County
High-Quality Design: Trilith is a 235-acre town with award-winning homes, built around the film and creative industries. Photo credit: contributed
Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap of Fayette County is Trilith, a walkable community comprised of residences, retail, restaurants and a film studio. Its latest project is a live entertainment complex, Trilith LIVE, which is expected to open later this year. It’ll include a 1,800-seat auditorium, two live audience television stages, an eight-screen movie theater and space for offices. Trilith already has 32 soundstages, including one public facing one where live shows like Family Feud are filmed. And a virtual production volume (LED screens used to create photorealistic digital environments for shooting) known as Prysm Stage, opened in early 2022. Even before construction started on the latest complex, Trilith was already the largest production campus in Georgia.
Described as a European-style village, the master-planned community contains hundreds of single-family homes and multifamily lots. The neighborhood has won several awards since 2020, including three in 2023 from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), for its high-quality innovation and design.
New Urbanism: Rob Parker, president and CEO of Trilith Development, is also president of the National Association of Home Builders. Photo credit: Eric Sun
Rob Parker, president & CEO of Trilith Development, says his goal was to make Trilith appealing to those who might otherwise choose to live and work in California, New York or even London. “It was important that we created an environment for people to flourish while subscribing to the concept of new urbanism, which has been around for years,” says Parker. New urbanism embraces walkable streets, housing and shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces. “It harkens back to how our neighbors were in the past, with free-range kids, walking and playing,” says Parker, who is also president of the NAHB.
In addition to walkability, the community also boasts sustainability. Parker says Trilith is the largest geothermal community in the United States, which means that that homes are powered from energy harnessed from underground. “It’s a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to heat and cool your home,” he says.
Alluring Area: Trilith is home to The Forest School, which follows a Socratic method of learning (above, top) and the Trilith Guesthouse, a boutique hotel (above). Photo credit: contributed
Trilith has two schools to attract families to the area. The Forest School serves children from kindergarten to 12th grade and is part of the Acton Academy of schools, which enables children to plan their own school day and manage their own time. “Everything is self-directed and experiential and is based on a Socratic teaching method, where we have guides, not teachers, and children solve problems together. We started with 12 students and will max out at 150,” Parker says. The second school, Utopian Academy for the Arts Trilith, is a public charter school for sixth and seventh grades, which focuses on fostering creativity amid rigorous academics.
The town is also home to the Trilith Guesthouse, a 193-room boutique hotel, and 270,000 square feet of restaurants, retail, office and commercial space.
“We will eventually have restaurants, hotels and shops totaling a half-million square feet,” says Parker, adding that the public is only seeing about half of what’s going to happen. “We anticipate it being a three- to five-year process,” he says.
Oh, and that soccer training center mentioned earlier: That’s in Trilith too – the importance of which is not lost on the development authority’s Vanderslice. She acknowledges that both the soccer center and Trilith at large are helping to shape a positive future for Fayette County. “These are all opportunities for us to show the world what a wonderful community we are.”
Local Flavor
Preserving the Past
Restoring Historic Planes: Col. Randy Hawkins, a maintenance officer at Airbase Georgia, works on planes flown in World War II. Photo credit: Eric Sun
Ever been to a flying museum? That’s how some describe Airbase Georgia in Peachtree City. The museum itself doesn’t fly, but rather displays a collection of World War II era aircraft at numerous air shows throughout the Southeast. Currently, it has nine planes and one replica on display in a large hangar.
The nonprofit is part of a larger volunteer organization called the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), which comprises 81 units – airbases, wings and squadrons – operating in 24 U.S. states and four foreign countries. The CAF is dedicated to teaching WWII history and preserving its aircraft. Anyone over 18 can join the group and help with plane restoration projects. Col. Randy Hawkins is a maintenance officer at Airbase Georgia. The retired Delta Air Lines pilot is currently working on two projects.
“One is a big, old 1941 biplane trainer. We traveled to see an active-duty pilot who had already built one, and since he didn’t have the time or ambition to build another, we hauled it away in a pickup truck. It’s called a Stearman and was used to train thousands of WWII pilots – both men and women,” says Hawkins. “We commemorate WASP [Women Airforce Service Pilots] and Rosie the Riveters during some of the events, and our volunteers dress up in uniform,” Hawkins says.
He and some fellow volunteers are also restoring a P-47 Thunderbolt, which Airbase Georgia received from CAF headquarters in Dallas. “It’s a very rare plane and is one of only 16,000 made. Only 10 fly now,” Hawkins says.
Hawkins says sometimes planes are bought to help restore other aircraft, like a recent purchase in Texas. “We bought it to complement the parts we may need for the rest of our fleet,” he says. “We send all kinds of leftover parts back to headquarters for other wings.”
The restoration projects can be costly – an engine alone can cost up to $250,000. The organization charges national dues, which start at $50, and Airbase Georgia charges an additional $49 a year. The state group currently has about 300 members. To defray expenses, the airbase sells airplane rides in some of its aircraft. The 20- to 30-minute rides range in price from about $300 to $2,400.
“People come from far away to fly in the P-51 Mustang fighter,” says Hawkins. The group also gets money from grants and holds an annual fundraiser, titled the 12 Planes of Christmas. Additional funds come from renting out the hangar for weddings, holiday parties and meetings. “We just paid off the hangar and
the land so that helps a lot,” Hawkins says.
Hawkins says being a volunteer is rewarding. “I enjoy being a part of such a dedicated organization while helping to preserve a very important part of our history.”
