Savannah Chamber

53 Hotel developments continue to bolster Savannah's hospitality industry. Columbia Ventures acquired the Broughton Municipal Building and will invest $19 million to convert the space into a 43-room hotel with a restaurant, bar, and entertainment venue. The first phase of the project will begin in the first quarter of 2020. Gamble Partners, LLC acquired the Thomas Gamble building for a $19 million conversion project into a boutique hotel. Over 715 new hotel rooms were introduced in the Historic District in 2019. Among these are the Aloft Hotel, Cambria Hotel, Drayton Hotel, and JW Marriott. Hotel development is expected to continue in 2020 as other projects planned or in the construction pipeline mature. In Bulloch County, two notable projects are beginning construction or in the planning and engineering stages. Construction of the Tormenta Soccer Stadium and Old Register Tax Allocation District infrastructure are well underway; this will include a multi-use 5,000+ seat stadium for the Tormenta FC professional soccer team, Georgia Southern University soccer, and other events such as concerts and related retail/commercial development. A new Publix grocery store is included in the project. Additionally, The Creek at the Blue Mile, is a linear park along a creek in the Statesboro downtown district and planned for significant retail, commercial, residential development. Real Estate: Logistics and Distribution Perhaps the single most important event for the industrial distribution sector was the 2019 passage of the Freeport Tax Exemption that eliminated the inventory tax in Chatham County and substantially enhanced the attractiveness of the county to ecommerce fulfillment operations. Almost immediately after the tax exemption was approved by county voters, the home goods retailer Wayfair announced the construction of a 1.2 million-square-foot facility which will bring 1,000 jobs to Savannah over the next five years. Ecommerce facilities are much more labor intensive than big box distribution warehouses and pay higher wages to workers. Savannah's industrial and warehousing market extended its multi-year trend of substantial growth in 2019. New inventory of 11 million square feet was completed and delivered in 2019. Even so, continued exceptional growth in port activity and distribution resulted in a vacancy rate at a very healthy 2.1%. This is well below the historical average of 5.6%, thus signaling continued strong demand thereby encouraging additional investment in the sector. Indeed, approximately 7.5 million square feet of new inventory is under construction with delivery expected in 2020, with more than half already committed to users. 2020 is expected to be another very good year. The market continues to attract the attention of large nationwide developers as the current number one market in the country for industrial/distribution development. About 78 million square feet of space is expected to be in the market by the end of 2020, with nearly 30 million square feet added in the past five years. Examples of development include Chesterfield LLC constructing 1.2 million square feet in three buildings in the Savannah River International Trade Park – for JLA Home, Averitt Express and a spec building. Floor and Décor and Shaw moved into new facilities with a combined total of 2.4 million square feet in the fall of 2018. Atlanta-based Capital Development Partners Inc. broke ground on the Savannah Port Logistics Center, a new 2.3-million-square-foot, $125 million project. Industrial announcements in Effingham County last year signaled the kickoff of development in two major industrial parks. With the market booming, an additional 1,100 acres was added in Effingham County with the announcement of the Georgia International Rail Park in November. This dual rail-served park along Georgia Highway 21 will fill an immediate need for rail- served warehousing space adjacent to the Port of Savannah. The park is being developed by the Georgia Exports Company out of Springfield, Georgia. Effingham County continues to see an increase in logistics activity, with the announcement of three new logistics-based companies in 2019. Americold acquired Port Fresh Logistics in early 2019, and began construction on an additional 300,000 square foot cold storage facility on Interstate 16. In July, Shaw Industries announced a $100 million investment in over a million square feet in the newly-developed Georgia International Trade Park. A&R Logistics joins the ranks of Americold and Shaw by announcing a $90 million investment in one million square feet in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Park, kicking off what will be a 2,700 acre dual-rail served industrial park. The facility broke ground in November, 2019 and is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2020. These three announcements alone will create approximately 250 jobs in the area. In Liberty County, growth in logistics and distribution continued in 2019 with two new distribution companies locating in Liberty County. Western Power Sports (WPS) completed a 240,000 square foot distribution center in Tradeport East Business Center. Marine Container South out of Savannah also opened a distribution facility in the Midway Industrial Park. The leader for 2019, however, was Target as its employment increased from 450 to an all-time high of 700 at Tradeport East. With these three companies alone, new employment opportunities sum to about 360 jobs.

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