FanDuel Moving Forward On Ponce City Market Tech Hub
An international fantasy sports and sports gambling operator has filed its paperwork with the city of Atlanta to begin work on a technology hub at Ponce City Market.
FanDuel Group plans to spend $7M to work on the interiors of its new Ponce City Market office that include new walls, finishes, fixtures, millwork and equipment, according to permits filed with the city of Atlanta.
The project is part of FanDuel's previously announced $15M technology campus that will employ more than 900 workers over the next five years. Officials of FanDuel, a division of British Flutter Entertainment PLC, previously said the campus will focus on product development, tech and IT operations.
FanDuel, along with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, announced in May its intention to open a tech campus in Metro Atlanta. The following month, FanDuel officials announced it had secured a 68K SF lease with Jamestown for Ponce City Market.
The permit that was filed on Sept. 16 lists the application's square footage at 63K SF.
“Ponce City Market is the perfect location for our new technology campus and reflects our commitment to becoming a central part of the Atlanta corporate footprint,” FanDuel Chief Product Officer Sarah Butterfass said in a June press release. “This historic building offers our employees a blend of old-world charm, cutting edge sophistication and modern amenities that will deliver an unmatched working environment. Additionally, its location allows us to build deep ties to Atlanta’s diverse pipeline of talent coming from its many top-flight universities.”
FanDuel operates a mobile sports betting and fantasy sports betting platform. Lawmakers in Georgia pushed, but failed, to legalize sports betting in the state last session. FanDuel operates sports betting in 10 U.S. states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Colorado.
While sports betting platforms are illegal to operate in Georgia, gambling is nothing new in the state. The state's lottery system has been raising money for education — including the vaunted HOPE grant — since the 1990s. The state also allows coin-operated slot machines. Kemp announced earlier this month that across its nearly 30-year history, the HOPE grant has paid out more than $12.6B to more than 2 million Georgia students for college and university state educations. And more recently, a duo opened a poker restaurant that awards cash prizes utilizing a charity raffle loophole with Georgia's anti-gambling laws.
All of this suggests that it may be a matter of time before state lawmakers relent and legalize casino gambling in Georgia, especially to benefit HOPE, said Georgia state Rep. Ron Stephens, a Republican legislator from Savannah who has been one of the most powerful proponents of amending the state constitution for casino gaming.
“The younger voters that are coming along, they're demanding it. They're demanding entertainment. They're demanding entertainment venues and we continue to vote to send our dollars out of state” to other casinos, Stephens said.
