Marietta DJ: Home Depot gets rich "bond for title" ad valorem tax break from Development Authority
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Cobb authority advances tax breaks for $140M Home Depot expansion
- By Isabelle Manders iman...@mdjonline.com
- 13 hrs ago
- 4 min to read
- Isabelle Manders
Senior Director of Real Estate Jim McCarthy of Home Depot speaks to the Development Authority of Cobb County on Tuesday.
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CUMBERLAND — In an effort to bring “thousands of workers” back into the office, The Home Depot is seeking help from the Development Authority of Cobb County to finance a major expansion and improvements across its three Cobb campuses.
The authority signaled its willingness to consider the company’s request for $140 million in bonds by passing an inducement resolution Tuesday. The vote passed 6-0-1, with Karen Hallacy abstaining due to a family member’s employment with the company.
The home improvement giant anticipates the project would create about 250 new jobs, including 100 tied to an expanded on-site child care center, according to Senior Director of Real Estate Jim McCarthy.
McCarthy said the improvements were “based on things that we’ve determined coming out of the pandemic would allow us to bring a large majority of our people back into our buildings and into Cobb County.”
He emphasized that it was easier to share the company’s culture and values in person than virtually.
About 18,000 associates are tied to the company’s Store Support Center, McCarthy said. With the project, he hopes to have roughly half back “in seats in the various campuses.” After the initial return to the office in 2022, only 2,000 worked in-person, he noted.
McCarthy told the authority, without their support, the project would be “much less feasible.”
Tax abatement
Home Depot will receive savings through a bonds-for-title transaction, where the company transfers the land to the development authority, shielding it from property tax. Over a decade, the abatement is gradually reduced in 10% increments, and the company eventually will have to pay the full tax on the land.
Nelson Geter, the authority’s executive director, said the bonds would not impact taxes the county or school system already collects on the property. Rather, it would waive the additional tax the company would owe after renovations boost the property’s valuation. That additional tax would be phased in over a period of 10 years, except for the Paces Summit portion, which would be phased in over seven years.
The Development Authority previously incentivized a refurbishment of the Paces Summit site back in 2020, just before the country shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ken Pollock, an attorney representing Home Depot.
“Home Depot had plans to renovate the building to allow it for additional employees to go back in. That was not available to be done,” Pollock said.
As a result, the company paused the project.
Home Depot is now asking the authority to pause the tax abatement on Paces Summit until the construction is complete.
If the authority moves forward with issuing the $140 million in bonds, the tax abatement schedule for the Paces Summit portion would not be restarted, but rather pick up with a 70% abatement, Geter told the MDJ.
“That way there’s not a duplication of tax savings, and they’re also required by policy, if there’s existing building on the tax rolls, they’ll have to continue to pay in the form of a PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) payment what they’re paying now, so there’s no degradation to the taxing jurisdiction,” Geter said.
The only savings Home Depot would receive, Geter added, is on the new investment.
The company must still undergo a fiscal impact analysis and the county and school system must be formally briefed before a final resolution is issued.
Donna Rowe, Development Authority vice chair, told the company she thought it was “a very smart idea” to bring people back into the office, noting she had seen the “synergy get lost with people functioning on their own.”
“We have people that are disconnected from each other, and I think it’s vitally important that we all step forward and try to get our employees back together, where they have a human element, and they feel like there’s a community they belong to,” Rowe said. “And I commend you for doing that, I commend you, also, for the child care center. I think that’s extremely important in today’s environment.”
Geter told the MDJ he could not provide the full value of the tax savings until the fiscal impact analysis was complete.
Store Support Center
At its 32.7-acre headquarters campus on Paces Ferry Road, Home Depot is planning a 48,000-square-foot expansion of its Little Apron Academy child care center and the construction of a nine-story parking deck with about 900 spaces.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners approved zoning modifications for the expansion in June.
Back in 2011, the company sought a site plan amendment to install the approximately 50,000 square foot center, which provides day care for the company’s employees, and associated play areas.
When it was built, Little Apron was among the largest corporate day care centers in Georgia, McCarthy said.
He said the center, currently at capacity, is a major recruiting tool for younger workers — “the lifeblood of the future of our company.” Doubling its size would nearly eliminate the waitlist. The expansion carries an estimated cost of $35 million, with another $34 million for the new parking deck and $5 to $15 million for other campus improvements.
Cumberland and Paces Summit
Improvements are also planned for the company’s other office properties in Cobb.
At its campus on Cumberland Parkway, Home Depot plans to spend about $30 million to renovate two of its three office buildings. The building that once housed the call center at 2580 Cumberland Parkway will be “totally gutted and reinvested,” McCarthy said.
The company’s legal team — about 150 attorneys — will relocate into the facility, he added.
McCarthy also mentioned an expansion of Home Depot University — a national associate training program.
According to McCarthy, the company takes up about 20,000 hotel rooms a year in Cobb with “more than half” coming in thanks to the university.
An additional $25 million project is planned for the Paces Summit Campus at 2410 Paces Ferry Road, across from the main headquarters.
The 8.5-acre property was zoned more than two decades ago for an office development consisting of two 6.5-story office buildings with two parking decks. One building and one deck were built in 1997, but the remainder was never constructed.
Home Depot acquired the property in 2019 to use as additional office space for its headquarters and plans to install a semi-temporary parking lot in place of that second building.
Additional improvements are planned for the existing office building on site, which would allow the company to occupy Paces Summit for the first time, according to a company presentation. About 600 employees with Orange Apron Media, an outgrowth of Home Depot’s marketing division, will be based there, McCarthy said.
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(2) comments
Pat Berry Sep 17, 2025 8:45am
Why should Cobb taxpayers float a bond to support and expansion of Home Depot. They can support their own expansion.
TRACY STEVENSON Sep 17, 2025 9:00am
Why does a huge multi billion dollar company need any help to ‘bring employees back into the office’? This is a ridiculous pice of pandering to a company that needs to stop letting the tail (employees) wag the dog (HD). Based on the price of 2x4’s these days, HD can afford to pay for its own renovations without tax incentives. SMH