3PL Firm Signs 983 KSF Savannah Lease

Plastic Express will occupy a 982,800-square-foot building at Central Port Logistics Center. Image courtesy of Capital Development Partners

Plastic Express, a logistics company that specializes in the handling and transport of plastics and resins, has leased all of a 982,800-square-foot building now under construction at Capital Development Partners‘ Central Port Logistics Center in Savannah, Ga.

The facility—dubbed Building 11—and related infrastructure represent an investment of more than $155 million. Scheduled to deliver in June 2024, the building is the first phase of the 1,000-acre industrial park, which will eventually feature 5.5 million square feet of warehouse space.

The site is served by a CSX rail line and will feature a 300-railcar storage capacity. Upon its completion, the facility will provide packaging, warehousing, transloading, and storage capacity for more than 8,000 TEUs, and Plastic Express plans to export more than 150 million tons of U.S.-made resin products from this location.

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Also underway at Central Port Logistics Center is a 1.5 million-square-foot cross-dock building with 40-foot clear heights and 50 acres of adjacent container storage capacity. Considered the largest speculative industrial facility to be developed in the Savannah market, the development is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

In a prepared statement, John Knox Porter, CEO of Capital Development Partners, noted that Plastic Express is “a repeat customer” of his company. In 2019, the City of Industry, Calif.-based tenant—reportedly the largest U.S. logistics company to be veteran-owned and -operated—leased 1.2 million square feet at Savannah Port Logistics Center, another industrial park developed by CDP in Pooler, Ga.

Growth all around for Savannah’s industrial market

Although deliveries have pushed vacancy in Savannah’s industrial market up from its recent record lows, tenant demand drove 2.4 million square feet in deals, more than double the previous quarter, according to a third-quarter report from Lee & Associates. Net absorption was 3.3 million square feet in the third quarter, bringing this year’s total to 9.6 million square feet year-do-date as of September.

In October, Stonemont Financial Group and joint venture partner The Davis Cos. announced the delivery of two industrial buildings totaling 2.7 million square feet at Georgia International Trade Center in Rincon, Ga., just northwest of Savannah. Both buildings are build-to-suits for Lowe’s.

The previous month, Lincoln Property Co. broke ground on its first ground-up project in the Savannah region, a 482,350-square-foot distribution facility. Bloomingdale Trade Center is slated to open late in 2024.