Trilith Development Launches 935-Acre Studio-Centric Concept

Trilith. Image courtesy of Trilith Development LLC

Trilith Development LLC has introduced Trilith, a 935-acre live-work concept designed to serve the film and creative industries in the Atlanta area. Located in Fayetteville, Ga., the master development encompasses the 235-acre Pinewood Forest new urbanist town, as well as a 700-acre enclave centered on the former Pinewood Atlanta Studios, now renamed Trilith Studios.

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By combining the Trilith Studios ecosystem with the European-inspired Pinewood Forest, Trilith Development has created a destination offering a walkable residential community along with a creative business network. “It is an unprecedented time for content creation and there is a huge appetite and investment in film and television,” Rob Parker, president of Trilith Development LLC, told Commercial Property Executive. “We are now in position to grow and attract industry talent.”

Trilith Studios, which opened its doors in 2014 and expanded in 2015, is one of the largest purpose-built movie studios in North America and presently consists of 1 million square feet of production facilities, including sound stages, workshops, space for onsite vendors and a 400-acre backlot. As part of the evolution of Trilith Studios from a facilities business to a creative industries ecosystem, the developers will add 220,000 square feet of innovative space to the property. The new construction will yield the Creative Office Centre, which will accommodate content and technology companies, and 60,000 square feet of smart stages featuring a range of virtual production technologies.

Living creatively

The Pinewood Forest segment of Trilith got underway in 2018. The master-planned community will ultimately feature 1,500 residences in the form of apartment units, micro-homes, townhouses, custom single-family homes and estate homes. The health and education-focused locale is already the site of the 60,000-square-foot Piedmont Wellness Center and schools from K-12 to the university level, including the Georgia Film Academy. On the amenities front, 11 food concepts will eventually join the recently opened Barleygarden Kitchen & Craft Bar. And with 51 percent of its acreage devoted to green space, Trilith holds the distinction of being the largest geothermal community in the U.S.

While Trilith is far from full build-out, plans are already in place for further expansion. Next year, Trilith Development and partners will commence construction of a 180-key boutique hotel, a 120-key select-service lodging facility, a nine-screen luxury cinema and an 18,000-square-foot sound stage.

Timely pursuit

The film and television industries have taken their knocks due to coronavirus-related shutdowns and sheltering orders, but the business of Hollywood continues, even outside Hollywood. “The film and TV production industry has been modestly impaired by the pandemic because principal photography has been halted and theatrical movie releases have been postponed,” according to a June 2020 report by S&P Global Ratings. “In our view, these delays don’t materially change the nature of content production going forward and we expect a return to normal, if not modestly higher, production levels in 2021.”

Despite the mass of uncertainties currently pervading the U.S. environment, the timing may very well be just right for Trilith’s incarnation as a hub for creative industries with a film studio as its centerpiece. “The demand for new, original film and TV content is likely to grow robustly as newly launched streaming services compete against existing services for new subscribers,” according to the S&P report. “It’s possible the pandemic could have a lasting impact on the film industry because it has caused massive disruption to movie exhibitors.” Trilith Development’s unveiling of its new studio-centric live-work concept places it in prestigious company. In June, global investment firm Blackstone announced that funds affiliated with Blackstone Property Partners would acquire a 49 percent interest in Hudson Pacific’s $1.6 billion Hollywood media portfolio of studio facilities and office buildings.