Pattillo Files Plans For 'Project Orchid' Metal Manufacturing Plant Northeast Of Atlanta
An Atlanta-based industrial developer is pursuing a 504K SF development for a metal manufacturing plant in the city of Jefferson.
Pattillo Industrial Real Estate filed a development of regional impact application with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to rezone a site just south of Interstate 85 along the west side of Raford Wilson Road and near the Jackson County Airport to allow for a metal manufacturing facility.
The development, dubbed Project Orchid, is located on 34 acres within Pattillo’s McClure Industrial Park.
The application does not list the identity of the plant's user. Pattillo Vice President Ben Stafford declined to comment on the application.
Pattillo disclosed in the application it is seeking to build a 504K SF, single-story manufacturing facility with distribution and some office space for the mystery manufacturer. The facility can ultimately expand to 980K SF, according to the application.
The value at build-out is listed at $50M to $75M. Pattillo also disclosed the facility would use 6 million gallons of water daily, according to the application.
The state Community Affairs department regularly reviews development projects that will have a regional impact on infrastructure.
The project is the latest in a resurgence of industrial development in Metro Atlanta following a lull in activity in 2024. In Q4 2025, tenants absorbed 5.7M SF of warehouse space, the highest level since 2022. Companies leased a total of 17.3M SF last quarter, according to a recent CBRE report.
Developers, in turn, broke ground on more than 2M SF of new warehouse space in Q4 2025, bringing the total under-construction pipeline to 7.6M SF, according to CBRE.
It also comes as the number of companies taking at least 500K SF distribution space surged 32% in 2025 compared to the previous year, as big-box tenants returned to the market.
While a majority of those deals focused on third-party logistics, there have been signs that a push for onshoring in the U.S. may finally be luring back manufacturing. Last November, global real estate developer Hines projected that $1T worth of manufacturing construction was planned between now and 2030 in the U.S., generating 430M SF in new warehouse and logistics property demand.
Pattillo, which has developed distribution facilities for BMW, Chick-fil-A and Bacardi USA, began the master-planned McClure Industrial Park in the late 1990s. The site, encompassing more than 900 acres in Jackson County, is slated for up to 8M SF of warehouse space, according to Pattillo.
Japanese multinational tractor and equipment maker Kubota operates three facilities at McClure Industrial, including a $73M, 522K SF manufacturing facility that opened in 2013.
In 2024, Pattillo also developed a 200K SF metal fabrication center in McClure Industrial for EMJ Metals Inc.
