The 2,000 acres now slated for Rowen, a future development heralded as the region’s next hub for jobs and research, was until 1818 divided from the American frontier by the Apalachee River.

Rowen, the massive development project that seeks to build a “knowledge community” in Gwinnett County, is just getting underway. But less than 20 miles northwest, a microcosm of the project is ...