So, in the news today they are saying that Porsche is buying the site of the old ford plant in Hapeville, GA for construction of a new headquarters.

I've heard there will be a production facility and test track!

And I work right around the corner!!!

Link to the story here...

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/11/porsche...facility-plans/

Should be awesome living near there! And I'd expect some good jobs will be brought to the area as well...maybe they need a test driver, hmmmm....

or an embalmer...

I might just do any job to work there.

Another article with the site plans, etc. -
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110512/CARNEWS/110519949

I wonder if they'll host Vintage & PCA DE, AX, etc. track events there?

ayup, I am jealous

Hmmmm I may have to dust off the resume. This is cool news.

That area of Town is so Bad, Marta won't even go there

Only Dead People, huh Ripper ?

Right around there isn't nearly as bad as some other areas... it used to be infamous, even growing up I knew about stewart pkwy (they changed the name of it because of the stigma). I've been working around there for six years now and the main Hapeville area is actually a nice little community.

And, it's an easy commute from almost anywhere! I-75 I-85 and I-285 encircle the area so there is very easy access from any direction.

and yes... Marta does go there.

I grew up in Atlanta and have flown into Hartsfield hundreds of times... depending on the approach, you sometimes fly really low over that spot. You'd easily be low enough to identify cars on the track on the way in.

And since when is a Marta station a sign of a GOOD area of town? :

That's a great location, and very visible from I-75. I'm glad Porsche is going in there; it was always depressing to see where that mammoth Ford plant was turned into an empty lot. I imagine it being a huge white building with giant PORSCHE letters across the top, the ultimate billboard!

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "the former Ford Plant is currently Not served by a direct Marta rail stop, although Jacoby Developement ( the Owner of the Site) has been angling to arrange a stop from either a future commuter rail line or the airport's people mover system"

Before Porsche moved to Atlanta, they were in Reno, and had a Cool building and a really neat set-up at the Airport

I'm sure if the MARTA doen't go there now at least the bus line when there in the not so recent past (when it was FORD) and they more then likely have stops at the various Delta facilities int he area. I have heard that more the 50% of the Hapeville city limits is located within the Delta and former Ford properties.

In defense of the area Hapeville is really pretty nice. Its not million dollar homes but for the most part it is decent housing stock that is reasonably well maintained. I live a few mile north of the plant and my only criticizm would be the schools.

John

The marta busses may not stop in front of the site right now, but they're very close to it every day already and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to add a single stop.

If they have some race cars out on the track I'll probably be able to hear them from the parking lot, lol!

Progress!

Rename the road I work on to Ferdinand Porsche Ave. YES!

I hauled ass through Atlanta once. Never stopped...

I am proud of them for not killing another green field site.

No idea why they'd pick Atlanta, but I guess that is ok.

Notice the Marta sign

There have been protests down here about the name change because of Porsche's WWII connections.

You are going to have a hard time finding anyone German who doesn't have a WW2 connection.

Gosh, these folks must spend a lot of time protesting at Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and VW facilities. Are they still demanding that Sears stop selling things made by Krupps, because of their use of slave labor during the war? Have they driven Bosch (!!) out of the local appliance dealers and auto parts stores?

Sigh. I really hope this is a small number of idiots getting attention simply because they're protesting something. If not, I'm sure they'd welcome those jobs in the Carolinas...


Agreed, it's good that they can redevelop an existing site. As for Atlanta, the East Coast makes plenty of sense for any European outfit - easier to sync timezones, Boston-Atlanta axis is still the majority of your market here, logistics support, etc.

Here is the article from Atlanta Journal:

With the upcoming construction of a new $100 million state-of-the-art North American headquarters for Porsche, Atlanta’s City Utilities Committee has authorized the renaming of Henry Ford, II Avenue/South Central Avenue to Porsche Avenue.

The original proposal was to change the name to Ferdinand Porsche Avenue, after the founder of the auto company. But the council decided to allow the name to be changed to the company’s name, instead of the founder to address concerns about Ferdinand Porsche’s personal and political life.

It is widely acknowledged that Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian-German automotive engineer, who also created the Volkswagen Beetle and the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, had close ties to Nazi Party.

As part of the renaming, the committee has required that the auto company reach out the Anti-Defamation League and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

The full council will vote on the change next week.

The sign still says Ferdinand Porsche Ave...
Porsche Ave will be easier to say when giving directions, just might have to pronounce it wrong so people understand.

Porsche has been headquartered out of Atlanta for years, been there many times. This is just a new facility which will house everything under one roof.

It appears that the track layout replicates the Sport Performance School facilities at Barber in Birmingham, so I wonder if they will be moving that operation as well? I haven't heard of any protests over the big Toyota plant here in my hometown of Georgetown KY, so maybe only the Germans are still considered the bad guys! (;-O)

Ripper..I just back back from GA...I was at the Hilton in Marietta conference center..was that a bad area?

I like Marietta, I don't live far from there. Not sure where the Hilton is, but I doubt it's in the few "bad" areas around there.

Huh, I didn't know about all that, this is pretty cool. Glad someone is making use of the old Ford plant and you know Porsche will do it right.

Also, regarding the naming, I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Henry Ford was also a Nazi sympathizer and had close ties as well. I'm a Ford owner, so I guess its okay for me to bring that up. Never seemed to hurt sales in the U.S. though?

That will be really cool with the test track onsite

When I moved to Charleston, SC in 1996 the Porsche POE facility was here and I was able visit that operation a couple of times.....really impressive!!

The old Ford assembly plant holds special significance to me. My father worked there for over 20 years. He was foreman of the chassis line. That was the only brand we drove!

Also, Ford used to have a program for employee's sons. (No daughters allowed back then) It was called Ford Day Camp. We would go to work with our dad and even spend some time with him on the assembly line! Needless to say, we did not have OSHA back then! We got to go to the company cafeteria with him and eat lunch too! The rest of the time we watch cartoons/movies and boarded a bus to go swimming nearby! We got a nice t-shirt with the Ford emblem on the front. Great times!

very cool, I had one at age 28-30, 1982-84 should have never sold it, but now I have one AGAIN