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

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"A lot of people say that the problem is thesuburbamn sprawl. But if we build office parkw closer to wherepeople live, then we are, in helping solve the problem because peopl e do not have to drive as far to Taylor said. "When you have 200 people working in an officed who only drive for 20 minutes instead oftwo you're definitely helping the air quality," he said. And the presidentf of Taylor & Mathis is helping out personally.
"I live in Buckhea d and drive to our headquarters at Cobb so I'm going against the flow of It only takes me about 20 minutes to get to the Taylor & Mathis relocated its main offices to TownParki last April after years in Buckhead. That is only one of the many changes that have occurred at the companhy since Taylor became presidentin 1995. His Mack, co-founded the company, one of the oldesyt and most respected commercial building and management firms in in 1969 with the late Harvey The elder Taylor retiredin 1995. Taylor & Mathis has always been on the cutting edge of commercial buildingin Atlanta.
locatiojn was farm property when it was firstg purchased about 30years ago. Almosft unnoticed was the firm's purchase of land 12 miles nortu of the Interstate 285 perimeter in Cobb County in the That is now the site of the Town Centef at Cobb mall and surroundingcommerciao development, including TownPark Commons, slated for July completiobn as the last of four buildings at the developer's 243-acrse TownPark office complex on Chastain Road betweebn Interstate-75 and I-575. "The Perimeted Center was on the edge of the expandinb developmentin Atlanta. The TownPark land was a real speculatives purchase that took 10 years for the growth to reachj it so it could be Taylor said.
"We feel that with TownPark we had the10 o'clocjk position on the map covered, but we didn't have anythinhg at noon or 2 o'clock," Tayloe said. "We didn't have anything on the Georgi 400 corridor orthe I-85 area in Gwinnetr County. But we are developing the Georgiaa 400 Center property with MetLife and the Sugarloaf Corporate Centerfor ourselves." A six-story, 135,000-square-foot office building will be completed by September as the first phased of Georgia 400 Center. Sugarloaf Corporate Centedr isa 62-acre office park at I-85 and Sugarloatf Parkway, whose 90,000-square-foot initial building will open early this month.
Taylo r & Mathis takes the higher-end residential building trail and followds with commercial developments inthe area. "We definitelgy look at high-growth areas," Taylor said. "Because quality of life issues are so and commuting is a big part of the decision-makers for companies might live in those areas and want to have their corporate location nearby. They may be moving from the Buckhead or the Platinumn Triangle area to an area such as the Georgiaz400 Center. By locating the company in that the workers canlive closer," he said. "There are changes that have to be made in how Atlantans Carpooling is going to have to be part ofthe solution.
Cleanb air standards are going to mandate how we live andhow we, as a continue to develop areas," he said. Taylotr sees continued growth to the northin Cherokee, Forsytnh and Gwinnett counties. He also sees a resurgencse south of the city with residential growth alonthe I-85 corridor toward Peachtree City and commercia development down I-75 into Henry Countuy because of the increasing distribution centerz there that serve business to Florida. Taylor Mathis has three areasunder development, Taylor In Cobb County, the company is working on a 50-acr development project and has completed a 131,000-square-foot parts distributionh center for American Suzuki Motorcycle Co.
It will complete a 260,000-square-foort distribution center this summer in Buford and has a mastert planfor 640,000 square feet of freight and offics space at Southwoods on Old Dixie plus a 182,000-square-foot facility under constructiob in the same area. And the development is not restrictesto Atlanta. The firm has satellite officesin Birmingham, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, and Winston-Salem, N.C., with a totalo of 270 employees. Taylor has been on the Atlantaz development scene for many years and has seen the good timee and theslow times.
"Thesee things go in cycles," he "It was very slow in the earlgy 1980s and then stopped again in 1990and 1991, but then kicked back into action. "Thee music will stop again," he said. "It's not if it will just when." But Taylor said that Taylorf & Mathis is poised to keep runninbg smoothly. "The core of our busineses has become management and leasing forthird parties, such as MetLife, our longtimes partner in developing areas such as Perimeter Cente r and our new Georgia 400 Center. We currentlyu have about 9.
3 million square feet of officw and commercial space underour "When the current cycle ends, we'll still have something to he said.