These were the top business stories in Atlanta and Georgia in 2024

Georgia’s economy and that of the greater Atlanta area held strong in 2024 against inflation and high interest rates. It racked up some wins and suffered a few setbacks, but proved to be resilient.

Seeds planted years earlier in electric vehicles and clean energy bore fruit with the opening of the Hyundai Motor Group EV factory near Savannah and the expansion of Qcells in northwest Georgia. Rivian, the other big EV maker with plans for a Georgia factory, put those plans on ice in March, but a deal with Volkswagen and a pending $6 billion loan from the federal government breathed new life into that project.

But as 2025 dawns, the return of Donald Trump to the presidency has raised concerns about the momentum of EVs and other green manufacturing sectors that have fueled thousands of new Georgia jobs.

Downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Yards project and the South Downtown development each shifted into high gear. But the broader commercial real estate market remains challenged.

From controversial plans for new data centers to companies deploying artificial intelligence into the wild to autonomous cabs crawling across metro Atlanta, AI is here — and metro Atlanta is playing a huge role.

Atlanta’s water system melted down. Speaking of meltdowns, Delta Air Lines suffered a multiday crisis triggered by a faulty security update from a vendor that left travelers stranded across the globe, with litigation still playing out in the courts.

One of Atlanta’s top companies, Norfolk Southern, saw a huge corporate shake-up. And a Conyers chemical fire upended the lives of thousands. Here are some of the top business stories of 2024:

EVs and green jobs

Hyundai Motor Group opened the first phase of its $7.6 billion EV factory in October, a milestone for Georgia. The project — which Hyundai has promised will employ 8,500 and produce 300,000 vehicles per year — is Georgia’s biggest economic development project ever.

The company has started production of the popular Ioniq 5 crossover at the factory and said it will also be home to its three-row SUV, the Ioniq 9. Other Hyundai, Kia and Genesis models are expected to follow, including hybrids, potentially.

Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America

Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America

Rivian, the state’s second-largest business recruitment, went through lows and highs. The company in March put on pause its $5 billion Georgia factory, but promised it would still meet its commitment to build the plant in southern Morgan and Walton counties and hire 7,500 people there. Then in June, Rivian announced a partnership with Volkswagen that it said will help make the Georgia plant possible.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced initial approval of a $6 billion loan to help finance the Georgia plant. Final approval is still needed, and members of the incoming Trump administration have criticized the loan by the outgoing Biden administration.

Credit: AP

Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also owns about a 3% stake in Rivian.

Georgia continues to see a boom in green jobs, with other headliners including the expansion by solar panel maker Qcells.

Autonomous taxis

Motorists started noticing in April that curious looking vehicles with sensors mounted on top were driving on the highway and on roads around town. Self-driving car company Waymo started testing its autonomous driving system in Atlanta in April, and in September said it would begin offering self-driving Uber rides in Atlanta in early 2025.

Credit: TNS

Lyft got in on the action saying last month it will launch service with May Mobility in the new year.

Inflation ebbs

Inflation born out of the pandemic, supply chain snarls and government stimulus ebbed in 2024, but the lingering pain of price increases remained a top story. The Federal Reserve cut rates for the first time in more than two years and optimism about the economy improved, AJC polls showed, but the economic damage was a major factor in the reelection of former President Donald Trump.

Delta’s meltdown

Delta had a big 2024. But the Atlanta-based giant captured the world’s attention for all the wrong reasons in late July, when it had an epic meltdown of its operations in the wake of the CrowdStrike IT outage.

Credit: John Spink/AJC

Delta struggled significantly more than other airlines and companies in its recovery from the outage. The incident left passengers stranded in airports all over the world for days, causing many to question the reputation Delta has built as a premium airline with quality customer service.

The meltdown also made Delta a target of sharp criticism from U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and triggered lawsuits by passengers, shareholders, Delta and CrowdStrike themselves.

Southwest’s retrenchment

Southwest Airlines, the No. 2 carrier at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, announced in September plans to slash flights and reduce the number of crew members based in Atlanta.

The cuts were an about-face for an airline that entered Atlanta more than a decade ago through its merger with AirTran Airways and promised to be a low-cost rival at the world’s busiest airport to top dog, Delta Air Lines. By March, Southwest said it will have 381 Atlanta departures throughout the week, a third less than the 567 it said it had in late September.

DEI under attack

This year saw major legal decisions that have had a ripple effect across the diversity, equity and inclusion landscape.

Atlanta-based venture firm Fearless Fund agreed to end a grant program for Black women founders after more than a year of litigation as part of a settlement of a racial discrimination lawsuit from a conservative activist group.

Credit: cjuste@miamiherald.com

In March, a federal judge ruled against the Minority Business and Development Agency, saying essentially that it had to open its services to all entrepreneurs, throwing the agency and the entrepreneurs it serves (including in Georgia) into a moment of uncertainty.

Also this year, some UPS, Coca-Cola and Home Depot shareholders also tried to force the companies to change their approaches to DEI, both for and against the initiatives, but those proposals ultimately failed.

The Fearless lawsuit, and subsequent challenges against other programs around the country, have chilled how companies approach or talk about their DEI initiatives. Some say they are continuing to do the work, but just aren’t as vocal about it, while others, like Walmart, are stepping back from past commitments.

Data centers and AI

Billions flowed to artificial intelligence this year. Multiple AI-focused startups in the metro raised millions in funding, often without having to go out and look for it — investors came to them.

In February, Sema4.ai, a months-old startup that helps companies create AI agents, announced it had raised $30.5 million. Athens-based Lockchain.ai raised $4 million in the spring. In October, construction AI software company Document Crunch closed on its second investment in less than a year, bringing its total raised in 2024 to more than $30 million.

Atlanta also played a prominent role in a new council co-chaired by the face of the current AI boom, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (his company raised $6.6 billion this year). The council’s first initiative was announced in December — a partnership between Georgia State University and financial literacy nonprofit Operation HOPE on a new AI training program for students from underserved communities, primarily those on the Southside of Atlanta.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Data center development in Georgia, meanwhile, has broken records with the Atlanta market leading the country in new construction. Some areas have pushed back, fearing the wave of data centers will strain utilities, gobble up land and provide few jobs in return.

AI in entertainment

Several companies with footprints in Atlanta took firmer stances on one of the thorniest issues in the industry — the use of artificial intelligence software in generating content.

Generative AI can automate time-consuming or labor-intensive tasks involved in creating content. But there are concerns it has the potential to limit the need for human workers involved in the craft.

Lionsgate Studios, which has been a major player in Atlanta’s film industry for more than a decade, struck a deal with a startup to train a new generative artificial intelligence model on its library of film and TV shows. Universal Music Group announced it was working with a company to create a “commercial ethical foundational model” for AI-generated music. And Coca-Cola made its largest push into using AI in advertising by partnering with generative AI companies to make new iterations of one of its classic holiday ads from the ‘90s.

Plant Vogtle and power demand

Years late and billions over budget, Georgia Power and its partners completed Unit 4 at Plant Vogtle, finishing the only ground-up nuclear expansion in the U.S. in three decades.

Credit: TNS

But Georgia Power also won approval to build additional power resources, including new fossil fuel-burning plants, to keep up with what it says is staggering demand for power coming in the years ahead. That includes a huge pipeline of power-hungry data centers.

Okefenokee mine

An Alabama company’s controversial plans to mine a fragile sand dune complex on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp appeared to be on the cusp of state approval in late December.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has raised objections to the plan, saying it could deplete water for the swamp and the 407,000-acre refuge the federal agency runs. FWS is also floating a plan to expand the boundaries of the refuge, though that would not derail plans for the proposed mine.

Debby and Helene

The remnants of Hurricane Debby drenched South Georgia in August, causing flooding and damaging the harvests of many Georgia crops.

Then in September, Hurricane Helene walloped the Southeast and left a trail of death and destruction across southern and eastern Georgia before devastating western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Cities like Valdosta, Augusta and rural towns across a broad swath of the state suffered extensive damage. And Georgia’s powerful agricultural and timber industries suffered billions in damages.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Metro Atlanta was hard-hit too, with flooding, downed trees and other property damage.

State leaders have stepped up with relief funding and a bipartisan coalition of state and federal officeholders have pushed Washington for more federal assistance.

Norfolk Southern shake-up

A year after Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern’s catastrophic derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, it struggled in 2024 through an attempted takeover by an activist shareholder and a massive shake-up in its executive suite.

The railroad in September fired CEO Alan Shaw for an alleged inappropriate relationship with company’s chief legal officer. CFO Mark George took Shaw’s place at the helm of the company, and the chief legal officer was also replaced. That came after the chief operating officer was replaced earlier in the year.

George said shortly after being named CEO that he saw the change as a way to move forward from “all the distractions that our organization has been dealing with for the past 18 months.”

Hollywood’s rocky year

Georgia’s film industry swore by one mantra this year: “survive ‘til ‘25.” After last year’s dual Hollywood strikes, production in Georgia lagged into 2024 with the number of projects far below its most recent peak. Hundreds, if not thousands, of industry professionals went without steady work, and soundstages across the state, many of them brand new, sat empty.

Studios and streamers slashed spending and started sending productions overseas to save money. Competition between states to land projects is growing. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a proposal to expand the cap on his state’s film tax credit program, taking aim at Georgia’s own while doing so, and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) signaled interest in a labor-based federal incentive for domestic production.

Commercial real estate

Coming out of the pandemic, metro Atlanta remains swamped with vacant and unwanted office space, but leasing activity began to rebound during 2024. The number of large lease signings — tenants committing to at least 100,000 square feet — sharply increased during the year, leading to the most active leasing year for Atlanta’s office market since 2019.

Some companies, like UPS and NCR Voyix, implemented five-day-a-week office policies to get workers back into their offices. But data shows that hybrid work schedules are here to stay for many employers.

Many office towers are facing loan distress. Still, developers optimistic about an office rebound have purchased buildings at steep discounts, aiming to renovate them and reintroduce them to the market. Others have snapped up outdated offices to convert into housing or raze for mixed-use development.

Downtown development

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Downtown Atlanta’s revitalization made strides during 2024 with several potentially transformative projects gaining traction — some even moving dirt.

Centennial Yards, the $5 billion redevelopment of downtown’s Gulch, broke ground on an 8-acre entertainment district and multiple new buildings, including two high-rises. The proposed “mini-city” between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Five Points MARTA station is starting to take form and expects to deliver most of those buildings and entertainment structures by 2026, when Atlanta hosts several World Cup matches.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Under new ownership, the vision for South Downtown’s sprawling portfolio of century-old buildings is also coming into focus.

Downtown also welcomed the Signia by Hilton Atlanta hotel, the tallest hotel built in the city in 40 years. A development team was selected to convert the former government office building at 2 Peachtree St. into affordable housing. The Home Depot Backyard is also slated for potential mixed-use development as the Georgia World Congress Center evaluates ways to improve its massive campus.

Housing gains traction

Coming into 2024, the metro Atlanta housing market was struggling with mortgage rates that were higher than they had been for two decades. Rates, which peaked in late 2023 at nearly 8% for a 30-year mortgage, were a brake in two ways. They “locked in” potential sellers and they priced out potential buyers.

Wannabe sellers were virtually all in homes with either low mortgage rates or none at all and they didn’t want to trade that for a high rate on their next home. Wannabe buyers — especially first-timers — found their purchasing power badly crimped by the rates. The result was both a shortage of homes listed for sale and fewer buyers out there looking — a recipe for higher prices.

Credit: J. Scott Trubey

But several factors in 2024 gave the market a bit of a shove. Rates came down, new construction continued, income growth was generally higher than inflation and so by year’s end, the number of listings was dramatically up and experts were hoping for a strong 2025.

BioLab fire

It’s hard to forget the images of a multicolored plume of smoke billowing in the sky in Rockdale County.

The Sept. 29 chemical fire at BioLab’s facility in Conyers triggered an initial evacuation of 17,000, nightly shelter-in-place orders and weeks of school closures. The fire at the facility, which produces chemicals for spa and pool treatments, left residents coughing and battling irritated eyes.

The incident — BioLab’s fourth in 20 years — sparked widespread community backlash and prompted county and state leaders to pursue criminal investigations and additional regulations. The company also faces several lawsuits, which could become a class-action suit.

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