A Cobb County agency on Tuesday approved Home Depot’s request for a tax break on a roughly $140 million project that would expand its Vinings headquarters and renovate two other corporate campuses in the area.
The Development Authority of Cobb County voted 6-0 to give initial approval for the request at a Tuesday meeting but did not disclose the estimated property tax savings that the home improvement retailer is seeking. One board member, Karen Hallacy, abstained from the vote.
Home Depot’s project is expected to create 250 full-time jobs and “enable the company to support growth initiatives and a return-to-work program that will accommodate several thousand people returning to Cobb County facilities,” according to a document from the development authority.
At the meeting, Jim McCarthy, Home Depot’s senior director of real estate, said about 18,000 associates are tied to the Cobb County headquarters and about half will return to “seats in various campuses.”
“This is bringing whole teams back, like our online business had been remote,” he said.
McCarthy said the $140 million project requires “a lot of upfront and ongoing investment” and without the authority’s support, “it makes it much less feasible.” He also spoke about the benefits of bringing workers back to Cobb County, because they would spend money in the area, including at restaurants.
Nelson Geter, the authority’s executive director, earlier this week said in an email that the estimated tax savings “cannot be determined” until after an inducement resolution and fiscal impact analysis are completed and approved. Home Depot is expected to go back before the authority to finalize those documents, officials said at the meeting.
Other agencies such as Invest Atlanta and the Development Authority of Fulton County typically disclose the estimated value of incentive awards to companies before board votes.
The tax breaks, granted under programs called bond for title or lease-purchase bond agreements, are a common tactic by cities and counties to incentivize business activity. In 2022, Lockheed received a $77 million tax break for an expansion of its Marietta factory. But critics contend the incentives are often provided for projects that would happen without the taxpayer largess.
At its main corporate headquarters, Home Depot said it plans to double the size of its child care center called Little Apron Academy and add a parking deck with about 900 spaces. The headquarters is located at 2455 Paces Ferry Rd.
“We have hired a lot of young people post-pandemic, and there’s no shortage of children wanting to be at our facility,” McCarthy said.
The Little Apron expansion will create about 100 jobs, McCarthy said. The other 150 jobs would be across departments and include management positions, he said.
“There isn’t a piece of our company that isn’t growing,” McCarthy said. In total, Home Depot could spend about $84 million at its main campus.
Home Depot also said it plans to remodel other office properties it owns in the area.
That includes the Paces Summit campus at 2410 Paces Ferry Rd., which has one office building. The company plans to house an advertising group there called Orange Apron Media. It expects to pour about $25 million into the property.
At its campus at 2600 Cumberland Pkwy, Home Depot plans to renovate two of the three office buildings. It will move its legal team there, with about 150 attorneys, McCarthy said. A presentation also mentions expanding the Home Depot University, which trains associates from around the country.
The company looks to spend about $30 million on improvements at the Cumberland campus.
Home Depot is designing its workspaces with lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
“We can’t be as dense as we used to be. Our folks want room. We need collaboration space,” McCarthy said. “There’s a lot of different things we’ve learned through the pandemic that make us a better company.”
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the headquarters expansion and other improvements at a June meeting, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
The project comes as earlier this year Home Depot rolled out a new policy that required some employees to come to the office four days a week, a mandate that was expected to start in June, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Home Depot has more than 475,000 employees but previously said only a portion work in an office. Most of its workers are employed at its more than 2,300 stores or other facilities.
Clark Hungerford, board chair of the development authority, at the meeting, acknowledged the long history it’s had with Home Depot.
“It’s been a very successful relationship and we appreciate y’all staying in Cobb County,” he said.
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