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14 FORECAST 2021
dynamic companies in the world. Marvin Boakye,
chief people and diversity officer for Papa John’s,
told the MDJ last year that the area’s proximity
to Atlanta, its excellent schools, and the unique
appeal of the Battery were all deciding factors in its
relocation.
“We want to do our part to make this a place
where other companies want to come, other people
want to come,” Papa John’s CEO Rob Lynch told the
Cobb Chamber of Commerce in January.
Papa John’s is just one slice of the larger economic
picture in Cobb. Nelson Geter, executive director
of the Development Authority of Cobb County,
announced the organization brought in $130
million in new investment last year. As much as $1.3
billion more in new business currently sits “in the
hopper,” Geter said, including a speculative project
for a warehouse and distribution facility in South
Cobb financed by Oakmont Industrial Group.
Cobb stepped up to the plate in big ways to help
out its struggling business members both large and
small throughout the pandemic. The Cobb County
Board of Commissioners distributed nearly $50
million in federal relief funds to small businesses,
helping keep workers who might otherwise have
been laid off on their payrolls.
The business community also welcomed new
members to its family, like Lidl Supermarket and
Red Hare Brewing’s Still on the Square in Marietta.
Local restaurants provided meals for frontline
healthcare workers, while businesses like Innovation
Compounding in Kennesaw worked to accelerate
COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
The Cobb Chamber, meanwhile, partnered with
community banks to help hundreds of business
owners obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Not all businesses, however, have emerged
unscathed. At the end of January, many residents
were dismayed to learn that the Town Center at
Cobb mall was facing foreclosure, its fate uncertain.