GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Belgian biopharmaceutical manufacturer UCB announced plans this week to build a new $2 billion North American campus in Gwinnett County. The project marks the largest investment in the county’s history.
The 80-acre campus will be located within the 2,000-acre Rowen site east of Lawrenceville along Highway 316. This development is part of a mission launched in 2020 to transform forest land into a state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical hub aimed at attracting global technology and life science companies.
UCB plans to use the brand-new facility to produce life-saving drugs and therapies. Mason Ailstock, president and CEO of the Rowen Foundation, said the manufacturer’s work aligns with the foundation’s core objectives.
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“The drugs, the therapies that UCB makes, I mean, it changes and saves people’s lives, which is what Rowan, that’s what we want to be known for,” Ailstock said.
To prepare the once-wooded area for development, Gwinnett County officials invested millions of dollars into site infrastructure.
Nicole Hendrickson, chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, said the county focused on essential services to attract such projects.
“Oh, we’ve made intentional investments in water and sewer main upgrades,” Hendrickson said. She noted that the UCB announcement confirms the success of the county’s strategy.
“It just makes me very proud. We’ve been doing something right,” Hendrickson said.
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Ailstock described the $2 billion investment as a major milestone for the Rowen site, which has been in development for several years.
“Mean, it’s transformative. It’s validation for the Rowan mission,” Ailstock said.
Local leaders hope the campus will serve as a catalyst for further high-tech development and job growth across Georgia.
The long-term vision for the 2,000-acre site involves significantly more density and employment than the initial UCB campus. Ailstock noted that the project is designed for massive future expansion.
“Ultimately, we can build out more than 22 million square feet and have more than 100,000 jobs at Rowan, so this is just the beginning, right?” Ailstock said.
Rowen is scheduled to break ground on a convergence center later this year. The center is intended to operate as the hub for the entire 2,000-acre campus.
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