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Idea
of work-live-play community
was from innovations of Paul Duke
By
Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com
DEC. 4, 2001 -- Atlanta newspapers made a big deal the other day
that Charles Brewer, who cashed out after selling the big Mindspring
operation in Atlanta (now called Earthlink), was up to something
new.
Brewer, it seems, wants to develop a community where people can
work, live and play. He's being hailed as a new visionary for this
seemingly relatively innovative concept.
Only problem is, that's what Paul Duke was doing back in the late
1960-70's when he developed Peachtree Corners. His whole idea was
to develop a community where people could "work, live and play."
The results, of course, have been not only successful in Gwinnett
County, but revolutionary in the way it changed Gwinnett. From a
sleepy, almost rural county, the development that incubated from
the mind of Paul Duke gave us not only Peachtree Corners, but also
Technology Park. It was one of the first true office parks in the
nation in its pastoral setting, blossoming in Peachtree Corners,
one of the premier communities in Metro Atlanta today.
The early sign of development of Peachtree Corners was Sturbridge
Square, one of the early apartment complexes in Gwinnett. It's still
operating today on Holcomb Bridge Road.
Right across Holcomb Bridge Road was Duke's initial buildings in
Peachtree Corners. And across Peachtree Parkway from that, and just
up the street, was the cornerstone of the development, Technology
Park/Atlanta.
You may wonder why Technology Park came to be. A little known study
by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, back in 1966, asked this
simple question of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, the international
consulting firm: "Why can't Georgia Tech keep its graduates
in Georgia?" The Tech people paid $100,000 seeking that answer.
Booz, Allen & Hamilton, after research, gave them an answer.
"Because there are no engineering jobs much in Georgia,"
it said. Armed with this revolutionary information, a few Tech grads,
led by Duke, bought 300 acres west of Norcross and started Technology
Park, precisely to attract engineering jobs.
Their first tenant was Electromagnetic Sciences, a new spin-off
of Scientific Atlanta. Subsequently, they have become a major player,
employing some 2,100 persons today, 900 of them at TP/A. Another
early catch for the park was the Institute of Industrial Engineers,
the time and motion people, still tenants at the park.
Subsequently, Technology Park/Atlanta became a big success, growing
by leaps and bounds, eventually employing more than 7, 500 people
in good technical jobs at its location. It expanded northward, straddling
the Fulton-Forsyth Counties line on Highway 141, and today there
are more than 9,000 workers there.
And it's reaching out even more, to develop 700 acres near Canton
and 1,500 more near Covington. Today it, too, is not merely developing
places for work, but for people to live and play, too. (Today Technology
Park/Atlanta is owned by the Peninsula and Orient Steamship Company
out of England.)
All this came after one guy, Paul Duke, did some exploratory and
innovative thinking, and started the major, significant growth in
Gwinnett, attracting a high caliber clientele of residents. It set
Gwinnett on its path that's never wavered since the early 1970s.
That's why we were smirking a little of the new Charles Brewer
initiative of "work, live and play" within the perimeter.
We wish him well, though it's not entirely innovative thinking,
but just Paul Duke's idea re-visited, which worked so beautifully
in Gwinnett.
FEEDBACK
12/4: Will
AirTran be accountable when there are delays?
Editor, the Forum:
AirTran's decision to file suit against the man accused of the
recent security breach at Hartsfield International Airport poses
an interesting question to me. If passengers can be held financially
accountable for the delays they cause airline companies, will the
reverse be true?
Will AirTran now hold itself financially accountable when mechanical
problems, overbookings or other delays cost passengers money for
lost billable hours, missed business meetings, etc.? Here's not
to suggest that anyone responsible for a security violation escape
accountability for his or her actions, but surely what is good for
the goose is good for the gander.
-- John Varner, Atlanta
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."
-- Voltaire
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