Failed battery plant site in Georgia sold for $50M. What’s next is unclear

In 2022, Freyr Battery — a Norwegian battery startup — struck a deal with state and county leaders to build a $2.6 billion plant on that land, roughly 40 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta. But the project, which included a promise of 723 jobs, was canceled earlier this year. The company had not started construction and decided to shift its focus to a project in Texas, abandoning its Georgia plans.

The site is now owned by Coweta Bethlehem Church 368 LLC, an entity formed in January, according to Georgia Secretary of State business records. A spokesperson for Freyr, which recently rebranded as T1 Energy, confirmed the sale to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution but did not have any further information on the buyer’s identity and plans for the site.

State records show the LLC is registered to Dawn Wilson, an attorney with law firm Dearth Law in Alpharetta, who did not respond to a request for comment. LLCs are common business incorporations and are often established to acquire property. But they can also shroud their parent company or affiliates and make it difficult to identify the land’s true owner.

The Coweta County Development Authority, which helped recruit Freyr, told the Chronicle it has not received any contracts, agreements or memoranda of understanding related to the site since the battery factory plans fell apart.

Sarah Jacobs, the authority’s president, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AJC but told the Chronicle, “This was a private transaction between the two entities.”

The Freyr spokesperson told the AJC the company “will be paying back all of the grants associated with” its abandoned factory plans, a $27 million figure. The company struck a deal with state and local leaders that included more than $358 million in various incentives, but most of those benefits would only have been accrued if Freyr delivered its development promises.