South Fulton is on track to get a massive new logistics neighbor after a hard-fought zoning battle. On Wednesday, Develop Fulton gave preliminary approval to a $220 million industrial complex known as Project MAPCO, clearing the way for a 1.6 million square foot logistics and light manufacturing campus in the city.
The project would span roughly 160 acres at Old Senoia Road and Spence Road and feature three large buildings geared toward warehousing, distribution and cold storage. Developers say the buildout could support as many as 2,000 jobs and generate an estimated $2.5 billion in local economic activity over time.
The Development Authority of Fulton County signed off on a bond inducement resolution in support of the project, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. A release from the authority describes KMT Partners, LLC, the developer behind the deal, as the nation's first African American owned commercial and industrial development platform. Authority documents say the buildings are being designed for warehousing, distribution, cold storage and light manufacturing, with the goal of luring both regional and national tenants.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the board also granted preliminary approval for about $9.3 million in property tax savings over a 10 year period to help support the development. After accounting for that incentive, officials still expect the project to bring in more than $24 million in new tax revenue during the incentive window, the paper notes. KMT managing partner Greg Boler told the outlet that the tax break is intended to offset surprise off-site infrastructure work and the revenue hit from a smaller building footprint designed to protect stream buffers.
By the numbers
According to an authority fact sheet, Project MAPCO is valued at roughly $220 million and would total about 1.6 million square feet across three buildings on about 160 acres. The same materials project as many as 1,500 permanent jobs and roughly 500 construction jobs tied to the development. Those estimates, along with the expected $2.5 billion local economic impact and a target closing in the third quarter of 2026, are laid out in the Development Authority of Fulton County release cited by FOX 5 Atlanta.
Incentives and tenants
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that one planned anchor tenant is described only as a global company with more than $50 billion in annual revenue and is currently bound by a nondisclosure agreement. The paper adds that the first building is slated to come in at about 780,000 square feet and that a cold storage tenant aims to be operating there by early 2028, although specific company names and firm construction timelines have not yet been made public. The DAFC vote this week was preliminary, and a second and final board vote will be required before the incentive package is locked in.
Environmental concessions
Developers say they shrank the overall footprint of the campus by about 15 percent and cut nearly 240,000 square feet of leasable space to preserve stream buffers and respond to neighborhood concerns. Plans call for LEED certified construction and environmental buffers ranging from roughly 150 to 322 yards, measures that the authority says go beyond what local code requires. Company representatives told the board that those changes brought extra costs to the project and were a key part of their case for tax incentives.
Legal backdrop
Project MAPCO has been a flashpoint since KMT first rolled out its vision in 2024. After the South Fulton City Council initially voted against a rezoning request, the developer sued, and a subsequent revote in late March ultimately cleared the way for industrial zoning on the site. Residents and neighborhood groups responded with petitions and calls for stricter limits on project scale and buffer zones, prompting multiple community outreach meetings. City officials in South Fulton now say the zoning question has moved to the development authority as the proposal heads into permitting and financing reviews.
What happens next
The DAFC action this week was a bond inducement rather than a final financing commitment, so another board vote will be needed before incentives are fully approved. Developers say they do not yet have a firm construction start date. They expect to close the deal in the third quarter of 2026, with tenants following once financing is secured and leases are signed. In the meantime, city leaders and local activists are expected to keep a close eye on environmental mitigation and permitting as Project MAPCO inches toward full buildout.
