Within the next few months, Forsyth County will become home to ICx Tactical Platforms, a company that designs, develops and builds surveillance and deterrence towers.
Among the company’s customers are the military, border patrol, airports, universities and amusement parks.
The deal, which will bring an anticipated $2 million in capital investment, will move the company from two locations in Forest Park, east of the Atlanta airport, to a Shiloh 400 business center facility in south Forsyth.
Brad Pope, vice president of real estate firm NAI Brannen Goddard, brokered the deal.
“The high-quality image of that building fits well with ICx’s corporate image,” said Pope, adding that the handful of other counties considered “couldn’t replicate the high-quality labor that Forsyth County had.”
Currently, the company has about 45 employees, many of whom are expected to stay despite the move.
“That speaks well for the company,” Pope said. “They have such a good corporate culture that they will probably hang on to most, if not all of their employees.”
Over the years, however, the company expects to have as many as 60 employees operating from the building, said Jed Strange, client relations director for ICx.
Strange said Forsyth “didn’t come to mind immediately, because it was so far away from our current facility.”
“We have people living all over the place, so it’s going to help some and hurt others," he said. "But we didn’t want to make a short-sighted decision for something we were trying to think more longer term on. We really liked the area and it will help on our recruiting.”
The Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce helped facilitate the deal, sharing information between the company and Shiloh 400 facility owners.
The process began this past summer, said Brian Dill, the chamber's vice president of economic development.
“Quality of life played a little bit into [choosing] Forsyth," Dill said. "But for something like this, where it’s technology-based, they are very specific in the things they need to be viable for their market, and the majority of that is work force.”
ICx Technologies Inc. is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and employs more than 600 people.
The company will continue to operate its 37,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the southwest Georgia town of Ellaville.
The Forsyth ICx location will occupy about 50,000 square feet of the 80,000-square-foot Shiloh 400 building for research and development, sales and assembly. Pope said the fact that there’s room for growth was “certainly another consideration for this building.”
ICx didn’t qualify for the county's incentives package offered to growing or new businesses that meet specific criteria. But the fact that company officials chose to come to Forsyth anyway shows they are in it for the long haul, Dill said.
“Those companies, nine times out of 10, are going to be more successful companies,” he said.
“It says, ‘I’m going to make my decision based on criteria that’s going to improve my business model, that’s going to get me to profitability and that’s going to sustain me long term.'"
Among the company’s customers are the military, border patrol, airports, universities and amusement parks.
The deal, which will bring an anticipated $2 million in capital investment, will move the company from two locations in Forest Park, east of the Atlanta airport, to a Shiloh 400 business center facility in south Forsyth.
Brad Pope, vice president of real estate firm NAI Brannen Goddard, brokered the deal.
“The high-quality image of that building fits well with ICx’s corporate image,” said Pope, adding that the handful of other counties considered “couldn’t replicate the high-quality labor that Forsyth County had.”
Currently, the company has about 45 employees, many of whom are expected to stay despite the move.
“That speaks well for the company,” Pope said. “They have such a good corporate culture that they will probably hang on to most, if not all of their employees.”
Over the years, however, the company expects to have as many as 60 employees operating from the building, said Jed Strange, client relations director for ICx.
Strange said Forsyth “didn’t come to mind immediately, because it was so far away from our current facility.”
“We have people living all over the place, so it’s going to help some and hurt others," he said. "But we didn’t want to make a short-sighted decision for something we were trying to think more longer term on. We really liked the area and it will help on our recruiting.”
The Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce helped facilitate the deal, sharing information between the company and Shiloh 400 facility owners.
The process began this past summer, said Brian Dill, the chamber's vice president of economic development.
“Quality of life played a little bit into [choosing] Forsyth," Dill said. "But for something like this, where it’s technology-based, they are very specific in the things they need to be viable for their market, and the majority of that is work force.”
ICx Technologies Inc. is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and employs more than 600 people.
The company will continue to operate its 37,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the southwest Georgia town of Ellaville.
The Forsyth ICx location will occupy about 50,000 square feet of the 80,000-square-foot Shiloh 400 building for research and development, sales and assembly. Pope said the fact that there’s room for growth was “certainly another consideration for this building.”
ICx didn’t qualify for the county's incentives package offered to growing or new businesses that meet specific criteria. But the fact that company officials chose to come to Forsyth anyway shows they are in it for the long haul, Dill said.
“Those companies, nine times out of 10, are going to be more successful companies,” he said.
“It says, ‘I’m going to make my decision based on criteria that’s going to improve my business model, that’s going to get me to profitability and that’s going to sustain me long term.'"