Peachtree City’s Planning Commission got a sneak peak at what the Sany Corporation plans to build on its corporate headquarters campus.

Sany is proposing a first for Peachtree City: a corporate headquarters campus with housing, which is allowed under the city’s limited use industrial zoning. The 44-acre site is located between Wilden Plastics and Panasonic off Ga. Highway 74 South in the city’s industrial park.

Sany is seeking to build six free-standing homes at the rear of the property and three condo units in the rear of the main headquarters building. The units would all be owned and maintained by Sany and would not be deeded to individuals, and they would be used to house both short- and long-term visitors to the campus such as engineers, scientists and executives.

A separate building on the site would house the company’s research and development unit. The front entrance will be gated and staffed by a security guard.

The centerpiece of the plan, however, is the location of a chinese garden near the rear of the property, explained local attorney Rick Lindsey, who represented Sany at the planning commission meeting. The company intends to open the gardens occasionally so the community may visit them.

“They want to do something special to be a good corporate citizen of Peachtree City,” Lindsey said.

Meanwhile, the federal Department of Transportation has approved a route to Shanghai, China, for Delta Air Lines in part to help businesses like Sany and several other Chinese companies that have located recently in Georgia.

Several planning commissioners asked if the company would agree to a restriction on the length of stay at the homes and condos.

Sany representative Guanming Fang noted that the company would likely agree to some sort of restriction on the amount of time someone could stay at one of the homes. The homes would be informally assigned to each one of Sany’s directors, but they would not be living in the homes but rather the homes would host the directors’ guests, Fang said.

The company has identified 400 parking spaces but will only start with 300 in case that might be adequate for its needs, Lindsey said. In addition to leaving a significant amount of trees along Hwy. 74 and to the south along Panasonic, the plan also includes a central garden that will be accessed by a path.

Sany will be requesting a rezoning for the property as the limited use industrial zoning is different than the site’s current general industrial zoning.

The commission took no action on the plan since it was brought up in a workshop format. It will be voted on at a later date.

Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., a major heavy construction equipment manufacturer, is expected to bring 200 jobs and $30 million in investment over five years to its first North American assembly plant in Peachtree City.

Sany, based in Changsha, Hunan Province, is the largest concrete-pumping equipment company in China, with 8,000 employees and 2006 sales of about $594 million.

As sales grow in the U.S. market, the company has the potential to create up to 600 jobs at the new campus in Fayette County. Sales, service, assembly, testing and distribution, as well as research and development, will all take place at the new facilities, which will serve as corporate headquarters for Sany America Inc.

Sany Heavy Industry products include trailer-mounted and truck-mounted concrete pumps, high-grade road construction machinery such as full hydraulic vibratory rollers and asphalt pavers, and shoveling conveyance and grabbing machinery like full hydraulic bulldozers and crawler hydraulic excavators. In all, the company covers eight categories and 50 specifications of construction machinery products.

login to post comments