In terms of attracting major employers and convincing local companies to expand, Georgia has started to pull ahead of others in the southeast, Georgia Chamber of Commerce President Chris Clark told the Peachtree City Rotary Club Thursday.

In the last 15 months, Georgia has had about 1,200 corporate locations or expansions, including the Pinewood Atlanta Studios project that is nearing completion in Fayetteville, said Clark, who is a Peachtree City resident and former CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority.

The state last fall was also selected as the number-one state with the best business climate as judged by “Site Selection” magazine, Clark noted.

“It’s a pretty big deal for us to get that,” Clark said, adding that a number of business sectors are growing ranging from heavy equipment, auto and aviation manufacturing to construction and professional services. Even the textile industry, once thought to be lost for good, is making a comeback in the state, he noted.

Pinewood will be a big deal because of the role it will play in Georgia’s $6 billion a year film industry, since the studios’ permanent presence will provide stable jobs, Clark said.

Georgia is already in the top five states in the U.S. in TV and film productions, and the plan is to crack into the top three in the next four or five years, Clark said.

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