Trilith is a boomtown. It wants to be much more

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - You could be forgiven if you had never heard of Trilith.

For those who know of it, it’s usually through film and TV. Trilith Studios is the largest TV & film studio in Georgia. The town was also recently named as the location of the headquarters for USA Soccer.

It’s a big deal for a town of about 1,500 people that actually is part of Fayetteville.

Shelly Brown co-owns Scholar & Scribe, a bookstore in the heart of Trilith.

“The beauty of books is you always get a more personal side,” she said.

And she’s the story of the land long before Trilith was here.

“I actually grew up in this area,” she said. “So, this property that everything is on was my 4th grade teacher’s farm.”

Trilith sprang out of the ground like a gold rush mining town, drawing in creatives and people looking to replicate their childhoods, like Anna Giovingo.

“You really can’t replicate the feeling of a small town where everybody knows each other,” said Giovingo, who grew up in a small town.

But getting from farm to boomtown to long-term development takes a lot of work and a lot of strategy. That’s where Rob Parker comes into play.

“When we started this, this was a wheat field,” said Parker, the president & CEO of The Town at Trilith. “There’s a sense of trying to do something nobody else has done.”

Entire neighborhoods seemingly popping up overnight, a legit “Main Street” with a grocery store, movie theater and a wide variety of restaurants – it’s not a gold rush, per se, but the movie and music “rush” might as well be.

Trilith even expanded during the pandemic when building materials weren’t available. The city built a 10,000-square-foot event center out of shipping containers.

So, as the industry grows and everyone moves in, Trilith has a strategy.

“The movie industry is a piece of the town, but it’s not the main part you feel when you’re here,” Brown said.