McDonough | Henry County: More Than Meets the Eye

“Our four cities make us unique because they all have their niche,” says Henry County Commission Chair Carlotta Harrell. Henry County is comprised of Hampton, Locust Grove, Stockbridge and McDonough, the county seat.

Location is key, and Henry County has it, with quick access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “I think that is a driving force for us when it comes to various industries looking to locate in Georgia,” explains Harrell.

As of 2023, the population of Henry County was 254,613. This is a 20% increase from 2010, when the population was 203,922 – and more than three times bigger than it was 30 years ago. The four cities comprising Henry County have dealt with this population explosion in different ways, but one thing remains clear: While there have been challenges, there also have been rewards.

Booming Market

“We’ve been very blessed over the last few years to see a great mix of business and industry come into our county,” says Josh Fenn, executive director of the Henry County Development Authority. “Since 2019, we’ve been able to track over $2 billion in investments and over 8,000 new jobs in the county.” He explains that historically Henry County had been known as a distribution hub, but over the last five years, most of those investment wins have been in the manufacturing sector.

Andersen Corporation, one of the largest window and door manufacturers in North America, announced in January 2023 that Renewal by Andersen, its full-service window replacement division, will create 900 new jobs and invest more than $420 million in a new manufacturing and logistics facility in Locust Grove. This is the first facility for Andersen in the Southeast.

This past June, Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited McDonough and toured the sprawling NewCold warehouse, a $333 million project that will employ 170 workers. “This project represents the largest foreign direct investment in our community’s history,” Fenn says. NewCold is a global company that specializes in temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution for food companies.

Bringing Jobs: Zinus USA, Inc. developed its first North American advanced manufacturing facility in McDonough. Photo credit: contributed

In 2020, The Home Depot and Ken’s Foods both committed to expansions. The Home Depot hired 600 associates for its new 657,600-square-foot Locust Grove warehouse, for a total investment of $108 million. Ken’s Foods, a family-owned company that has been operating in McDonough for nearly 25 years, spent $103 million and created 70 new jobs to expand its manufacturing and distribution operations.

Two mattress manufacturers, Purple and Zinus, have also brought significant money and jobs to Henry County. Purple came to Henry County in 2020 with a manufacturing facility and created 300 jobs. The following year, it established a call center in McDonough and added 500 more employees for a total investment of $46 million, according to Fenn. Around the same time in 2020, Zinus USA, Inc., an e-commerce mattress and furniture company and subsidiary of Zinus Inc., announced it would develop its first North American advanced manufacturing facility in McDonough. The company committed to invest $108 million and create 804 jobs.

Last summer, while traveling in Paris on an economic development trip, Gov. Brian Kemp announced that EV parts supplier NVH Korea would establish a new facility in Locust Grove, a $72 million in investment creating 160 new jobs.

Henry County is also beginning to dabble in the data center industry. “We’ll have some announcements on that before the end of the year, hopefully,” Fenn says.

McDonough Mayor Sandra Vincent. Photo credit: contributed

Other businesses in Henry County produce well-known brands. Locally made products include Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce, Behr Paint, Curry & Echols Hot & Salty Pickles, Shane’s Rib Shack BBQ Sauce and De Wafelbakkers frozen pancakes.

Sandra Vincent, McDonough mayor, says the city’s economic goals are different from elsewhere in the county. “We haven’t been focusing on a lot of recruitment for big enterprise,” she says.

In contrast, Mayor Anthony Ford of Stockbridge says, “We’ve got a lot of things going on. And we’re being … progressive and aggressive in the entire process here,” referring to the city’s approach to economic and infrastructure development.

Small Businesses, Big Ideas

Joseph Henning has been the president and CEO of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce for the past five years. During that time, he says, “We’re very fortunate with the growth that we’ve seen.”

Progressive Approach: Stockbridge Mayor Anthony Ford. Photo credit: contributed

Some of that growth can be credited to the business resource center that the chamber established in 2023. Henning describes its goal as supporting small businesses, especially minority-, women- and veteran-owned, enabling them to grow and reinvest in the community. He says the center offers services that include one-on-one counseling with the Small Business Administration and SCORE. It also offers its own programs in business, certification classes, leadership, business planning and marketing and is looking to add video resources as well as a mentoring program.

“In our first year, we served 435 businesses,” Henning says.

The chamber has seen consistent business growth from 10% to 20% across the past five years depending on the industry, with the biggest areas being logistics, transportation, advanced manufacturing and healthcare. Henning says the chamber is looking at the diverse ways it can support growth in the healthcare sector because as the county’s industrial footprint grows in medical and technology, more fintech companies will want to locate to Henry County.

“I think, as we look at the increase in health partners and technology, we’re seeing that data center interest, and we’re seeing some within that fintech area, the financial and technology area,” he notes.

When asked about business-related challenges, Henning replies, “I’m looking at the diversification of [business]: How do we position Henry County in the Southern Crescent [of Atlanta] to get that higher tech that goes to Gwinnett or Cobb? I think that’s really what we’re trying to figure out. How do we play in that sandbox and how do we get a little bit for us?”

On the Move: Joseph Henning, president and CEO of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce, by the recently launched mobile visitor center. Photo credit: Woodie Williams

Healthcare for the Future

In the fall of 2023, Piedmont Henry Hospital announced a $215 million project to add a new tower to their facility. The expansion is expected to be complete in the fall of 2026, adding a substantial number of staff, according to Piedmont Henry CEO David Kent.

Expanding Services: David Kent, CEO of Piedmont Henry Hospital. Photo credit: contributed

The tower will include 95 new inpatient rooms, increasing the hospital’s census to 355 beds. Three additional operating room suites will bring the hospital a total of 14. The OR expansion will provide more access with shorter wait times for high-end surgical procedures. The extra patient rooms will also help improve wait times in the emergency department.

“The reality is that the hospital’s full much of the time,” Kent says. “And when we fill up and we run out of inpatient beds, what inevitably happens is we start holding patients in our emergency department, which backs up. We’re on track this year to see 93,000 [ED] visits, one of the busiest in the Piedmont system.

“The other thing that is driving our population is we’re now a Level III trauma center. We’re seeing numerous trauma patients come through the Henry emergency room, which then of course leads to the need for more beds as well,” he says. (A Level III trauma center provides prompt care for patients with mild to moderate injuries, including assessment, management, surgery and stabilization. It also provides backup care for rural and community hospitals.)

Piedmont has ambitions in Henry County beyond the hospital expansion. “Piedmont has very specific and aggressive growth plans in Henry County, including [that] within the next two years we plan to have a physical location in every city in Henry County with expanded medical services in Stockbridge, McDonough, Locust Grove and Hampton,” says Kent. He says Piedmont also plans to open physicians’ offices in Hampton.

“We have grown with Henry County, and we will continue to grow to provide world-class, patient-centered care to the communities we serve well into the future,” Kent says.

Transportation Challenges

Myriad transportation issues accompany a quick growth spurt. So Locust Grove City Manager Tim Young says he is thrilled that the city will get a new Bethlehem Road interchange, which will meet a desperate need for a new access point to I-75.

Ambitious Plans: Rendering of Piedmont Henry Hospital. Photo credit: contributed

T-SPLOST funding will also help alleviate some of the immediate transportation burdens, he says. “Our main project is to connect Peeksville to Francis Ford [and] provide a different connection to relieve Bill Gardner Parkway, which is a key congestion bottleneck,” he says. “And we’re adding a lane to Highway 42 between Bill Gardner and the industrial area to the north to help relieve some of that congestion.”

Lane work on a section of Bill Gardner at I-75 has already been completed to help reduce congestion there. “By no means are we going to eliminate congestion, it’s always going to be there,” Young concedes. “But our goal is to try to tame the beast during its peaks as much as possible while realizing that there are going to be a lot of times when people are going to sit in traffic during part of the day.”

He says he hopes for a team effort in the future to address transportation issues in Henry County. “Hopefully, one of these days, GDOT, Henry County and all the cities will team up to do something about adding some collected lanes to I-75 where they’re not just parallel roads between the exits, so that the exits flow. The local traffic can use those and not have to use the freeway.”

Reducing Traffic: Locust Grove City Manager Tim Young. Photo credit: contributed

Young simplifies the transportation issue into one concise thought: “The problem is you have a quarter of a million people using I-75 as their main road when [travelers are] using the same road at the same time. It just doesn’t work.”

He says there are now 20 transportation projects underway at various stages throughout Henry County, many of them efforts to widen the roads.

Better Explored

Henry County’s tourism tagline is “Better Explored.” And there is quite a bit to explore throughout its roughly 320 square miles.

Martin Luther King, Sr. was born in Stockbridge and preached his first sermon there. Approximately 40 trains pass through Locust Grove each day. The nation’s busiest air traffic control facility, Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center, is in Hampton. And each year McDonough hosts the United States Specialty Sports Association’s Spring Super National Invitation Tournament. It’s described on Visit Henry County’s website as the “largest single weekend amateur baseball tournament in the U.S.,” with between 400 and 500 teams participating.

Laura Luker, director of tourism for Visit Henry County, says each city in the county has a different personality. “Stockbridge, our northernmost city, does a lot in culture and art. They host Bridgefest, concerts and community events.” Locust Grove, the southernmost city, “has a train-watching platform, and it feels just maybe a slightly slower pace. They’ve got a beautiful downtown with restaurants, shops and businesses,” she says.

Fully Booked Venue: Bridge Amphitheater in Stockbridge. Photo credit: contributed

“Our westernmost city, Hampton, is the furthest away from I-75, and it’s got this beautiful quaint downtown that has the awnings and the storefronts that look so historically accurate. They close … [East Main] street [on the first Friday of the month] April through October for a street festival called ‘Eats and Beats’ where it’s music and food and all the vendors,” Luker says.

Then there’s McDonough. Luker says the easternmost city has a traditional square with a park in the middle and a historic courthouse anchoring one side. “Their downtown kind of blends this idea of history and historical places, but with modern twists,” she explains.

Stockbridge Mayor Ford loves to discuss the Bridge Amphitheater. Now in its third season of events, the venue holds 3,600 people and the mayor promises there’s not a bad seat in the house. The amphitheater has hosted performers including Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, En Vogue, Robin Thicke and Babyface, to name a few. Ford says the concert venue stays fully booked.

Economic Driver: Atlanta Motor Speedway. Photo credit: HHP/Garry Eller

The city of Hampton is best known for being the home of Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS). In a single day, it can go from being a typical small town to hosting one of the biggest draws in the state. “We’ll have over 500 event days a year producing about a $250 million economic impact for the region,” says Executive Vice President and General Manager of Atlanta Motor Speedway Brandon Hutchison.

People are familiar with the two NASCAR Cup Series events held annually at AMS, but there is so much more to this venue that employs 50 full-time employees and up to 3,500 staff for a NASCAR event, says Hutchinson.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AMS had to shift gears to keep up its revenue stream, so it launched several non-racing events that complied with the health guidelines at the time. The speedway offered drive-through events where families could stay in their cars and view the action, like the Jurassic Park exhibit. It also began hosting Henry County graduations to accommodate high school seniors who needed a place large enough for commencement ceremonies, with social distancing. (This practice continues today).

The speedway also partners with Henry County to bring a free fireworks show on Independence Day, Atlanta Food Bank drives and blood drives.

“One of our cornerstones in our company values is a heart for helping others,” says Hutchison. “We want to be good partners in our community and if that’s hosting events through COVID, if that’s hosting events today so that families can come out and enjoy time together, that’s something that makes us happy. We want to give people opportunities to have fun and make memories.”