Marietta To Bring Biotech Firm To Former Flea Market Property

MARIETTA, GA — The city of Marietta is poised to sell the 6.7-acre former Marietta Flea Market property on Franklin Gateway to a biotech firm, MiRus, LLC, for $5.4 million, the city announced Wednesday night.

MiRus is already headquartered in Marietta, but on West Oak Parkway off Sandy Plains Road. Marietta City Council members voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve the contract between the city and MiRus, which the biotech research and development firm signed Tuesday.

MiRus, founded in 2016, develops medical devices and procedural solutions for the treatment of spine, orthopaedic and structural heart diseases, according to a news release. The company started with 10 employees in 2016, and it's grown to 115 employees in 2021.

The new headquarters will span 70,000 square feet over three stories.

“A lot of really high skilled manufacturing and development of medical devices that go inside the human body,” City Manager Bill Bruton said of MiRus, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. “And really is on the cutting edge of that, has a lot of patents on different materials, even, that they use in creating those devices, and has a lot more coming.”

The city purchased the 6.72-acre flea market site — which was torn down in March 2020 — in October 2017 for $5.8 million, using money from the $68 million 2013 redevelopment bond, according to a news release. A total of $64 million of that money was allocated to the Franklin Gateway corridor.

MiRus will pay $5.4 million for the property. It will join other brands including Atlanta United FC training ground and HQ, The Home Depot Technology Center and Wellstar.

Marietta city officials plan to close the deal by Dec. 31, and city council still has to approve a site plan for the property. The contract calls for construction to begin within 18 months of closing the deal, and a construction timeline is still to be determined.