The Port Wentworth City Council on Thursday night voted unanimously to approve the rezoning of a parcel of land just south of the Crossgate Road site that already is home to Dynacraft. The move will allow the Stravinski Development Group, LLC to move forward with Phase 2 of a three-phase project that, eventually, will encompass about 200 acres. The groundbreaking on Dynacraft – a supplier of bikes, scooters, electric and battery powered ride-ons – in early September marked the beginning of the project’s first phase.

Although the Stravinski Development Group, LLC has not yet identified the company that likely will fill the Phase 2 space, Port Wentworth officials are confident the operation will prove lucrative for the community and its residents. Port Wentworth Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Trisha Growe was pleased that the council expressed support for the project through its vote.

“One of the chamber’s goals is to initiate, develop, and coordinate industrial and economic development efforts in order to achieve and sustain the optimum quality of life for all Port Wentworth citizens. This project fits perfectly in line with that objective,” Growe said. “Welcoming new industry and businesses to our community will create jobs, grow our economy, contribute to the diversification of our markets, and make Port Wentworth more attractive to future companies interested in locating here.”

Steve Brock, director of sales for the California-based Stravinski Development Group, oversaw the development of Phase 1 and is happy to see the project will be able to move forward as planned. His company was first drawn to the site years ago thanks to its location and geography.

“We couldn’t find any place in America where we could replicate that property. It’s within a mile of the port, the land is flat, the buyer gets good use out of the land purchased because there’s a good yield on the square footage of land bought vs the square footage of building you could put on it. It’s all those little intangibles,” Brock said.

Because his employer was fortunate to strike a deal on the property, Brock said they’ve planned very carefully to be good community stewards and add to the aesthetic value of the area.

“We truly believe we will enhance property values, not detract from them. We want to be polite, kind, and exercise basic human collegiality. Our goal is to be good corporate citizens, to participate in the community, to make it a better place for people to live,” Brock added. “Our actions demonstrate what we’re about. We’re not some huge company. We’re a family-owned business and we try to listen. We take what we’re doing seriously, so we try to listen to people and address truly legitimate concerns.”

Port Wentworth City Council Member Shari Dyal was glad to see her colleagues give the project a vote of confidence. She’s eager to see this development and others like it call Port Wentworth home.

"We are excited that Phase 2 of the Crossgate project will commence shortly, and we commend the Stravinski Development Group for its commitment to communicating clearly and honestly with city leaders and residents. Further development of this property will bring more prosperity and economic diversity to our burgeoning city, and we're eager to celebrate successful developments and draw more to the community."

Now that the second phase of the project has been granted the go-ahead, Brock doesn’t think it’ll take long before his crews are firing on all cylinders.

“Hopefully, we’ll start getting walls up next week. We’re waiting on a permit to take the trees out, and we’ve just about got all the infrastructure in – sewer, water, gas, and so on,” he said. “We estimate the end date for the second phase will take 15 months, but everything is subject to weather. We’ve had a difficult climb the last four or five months because of rain and hurricanes.”