Capital Development Partners, Inc., a national industrial real estate and infrastructure development company, will develop the Savannah Port Logistics Center in Pooler, Ga., to help meet the needs of the fastest growing port in the U.S. The new, state-of-the-art industrial campus located on 197 acres will offer more than 2.3 million square feet of space for lease with modern specifications, transload, cross-dock, high cube and trailer storage facilities.
 
The first phase of construction will begin April, 2018 including 537,000 square feet (expandable to 1,075,000 square feet), which will be on the GWRR rail line servicing the port.  It will be ready for occupancy April, 2019.
 
The second phase will include a 1,314,000 square foot build-to-suit facility, which will also be on rail. Construction is expected to begin on Phase II in late 2018.The industrial campus will offer transload capability and over 2,000 trailer storage positions.
 
The Panama Canal expansion, which opened in June 2016, can now accommodate ships carrying triple the number of 20-foot container units, which means more product is steaming toward distribution centers along the Atlantic seaboard.
 
Savannah Port Logistics Center will offer direct connection onsite to dual Class I railroads via CSX and Norfolk Southern, as well as easy access to the Georgia Ports Authority Garden City Terminal, the largest single container site in North America. The Savannah Port Logistic Center will have immediate access to I-95, I-16, Highway 80, Jimmy DeLoach Parkway, SH Morgan Parkway and Pooler Parkway providing multiple points of access for customers.
 
Located less than 10 miles from the Port of Savannah, this landmark site will help feed Atlanta, the second largest inland port in the country, not only by road, but by rail. There is competition among ports up and down the east coast as companies look for one-day access to the Midwest. The Savannah Port Logistics Center will help Georgia in that race for business, which is fueled by the boom in e-commerce.
 
“This is one of the largest and most significant development projects in the Southeast,” said Capital Development Partners, Inc. CEO John Knox Porter, who previously served as Executive Vice President at CBRE, Inc., where he was the industrial top producer and led the logistics and infrastructure specialty practice groups where he completed major industrial projects in every major market in North America.  He has represented major companies in site selection including BMW, Mercedes, General Electric and PepsiCo.
 
Colliers International Savannah and NAI Brannen Goddard Atlanta will co-list the facility, which will offer spaces ranging from 300,000 square feet, or the entire 2.3 million square feet. Distribution center vacancy rates are extremely low in Savannah (1 percent in January of 2018), especially for facilities tied into rail and road.
 
“Industrial land with good development fundamentals is extremely limited near the Port of Savannah,” said Porter, who has more than 30 years of experience in the global industrial real estate and infrastructure industry. “Savannah Port Logistics Center will meet the needs of national and global companies that are interested in import, export and using Savannah as a hub to service their clients.”