ATLANTA — Thyssenkrupp Elevator, one of the world’s largest elevator companies, has unveiled plans to build a new headquarters complex near The Battery Atlanta in Cobb County.
The German company will develop the facility in collaboration with the Braves Development Co. (BDC). BDC is the owner and operator of The Battery, the 1.5 million-square-foot mixed-use development surrounding SunTrust Park, home ballpark of the Atlanta Braves.
The Thyssenkrupp headquarters, dubbed The Innovation Complex, will feature three buildings anchored by a 420-foot tall elevator qualification and test tower — the tallest of its kind in the country and one of the tallest in the world, according to Thyssenkrupp.
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Development Authority of Cobb County agreed to issue up to $264 million in bonds for the new building last month.
With 18 shafts, the Innovation Complex test tower will be used to evaluate new concepts and product pilots, including high-speed elevators; TWIN, a two-cabins-per-shaft elevator system; and MULTI, the world’s first rope-less and sideways-moving elevator system. In addition, the test tower will conduct tests to ensure compliance with safety requirements on standard elevators.
Atlanta is already home to the first TWIN elevator system in North America. The technology is being installed in the Coda Building at Georgia Tech, with completion scheduled for early 2019.
The Innovation Complex will house more than 900 full-time employees, with average wages of about $100,000, according to local media reports. The Innovation Complex is scheduled for completion in early 2022.
Thyssenkrupp Elevator Americas has more than 20,000 employees across the U.S., Canada, Central America and South America, with 15,000 of those employees based in North America.
— Kristin Hiller and Camren Skelton