The city of Atlanta’s economic development arm on Thursday approved a $300,000 grant to Kaiser Permanente to help induce their expansion in Midtown.
The company’s new technology facility is expected to create 900 high-paying jobs — officials said. Additional incentives, including state tax credits for new jobs and a possible state grant, are pending.
The company is expected to locate its new offices in Pershing Point Plaza on Peachtree Street near the Woodruff Arts Center. The project will be the latest in a string of technology announcements in Midtown, including NCR and Worldpay US.
“Welcome to the city of Atlanta Kaiser Permanente,” Mayor Kasim Reed said after the Invest Atlanta board approved the grant.
Metro Atlanta is a hub for the health care information technology sector. There are more than 200 such companies in the state, according to the Institute for Healthcare Information Technology, an industry group allied with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and state economic development department. This includes major players such as athenahealth and McKesson Technology Solutions.
The region is also home to key health care assets, including the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and medical schools at Morehouse College and Emory and Mercer universities.
The project is expected to create jobs with average salaries of $107,000, according to a fact sheet about the project prepared for the Invest Atlanta board. That figure is more than double the city’s median household income, according to U.S. Census data.
The fact sheet states that the prospect plans to invest more than $20 million in the project, with an estimated economic impact to the city of nearly $364 million.
Kaiser officials praised the state’s workforce and research universities. They also highlighted their new office’s location within a few blocks of MARTA rail as a key factor in their decision to pick Midtown.
At a news conference following the vote, Kaiser officials said the jobs will include software development, cyber security positions and management. The company will develop new technologies here — other centers are working on identification systems for smartphones, for instance — and test those developments here. Kaiser’s expansion will increase it’s local workforce to about 4,000. The company has about 280,000 customers in the state.
About the Author
