Flint Development Breaks Ground on 2.1 MSF Distribution Project Near Savannah

Phase 1 of Dorchester Commerce Park. Image courtesy of Flint Development

Construction has begun on the 2.1 million-square-foot, three-building Dorchester Commerce Park in Midway, Liberty County, Ga., about 30 miles southwest of the Port of Savannah.

Flint Development is the owner of the speculative Class A project and Caddell Construction is the general contractor. The development also engages Davidson Architecture + Engineering, as well as CBRE as leasing broker.

The first building (Building 3) is scheduled for completion in April 2024, with the project fully delivering by spring 2025. All three buildings will feature tilt-up construction, high-bay LED lighting, exterior LED lighting, and ESFR sprinkler systems. The location is adjacent to I-95, at its interchange with U.S. 84.

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Building 1 will total 1.2 million square feet and have 566 trailer spaces and 458 car parking spaces. It will be the final structure completed, in 2025.

Building 2, a cross-dock facility, will total 594,522 square feet of divisible space, with 189 trailer spaces and 300 car parking spaces. It’s expected to be delivered next July.

Building 3 will total 276,062 square feet of divisible space, with 32 trailer spaces and 132 car parking spaces. As mentioned, it will be delivered first, by spring 2024.

Growth drives growth

The Savannah region’s industrial space market remains notably solid, even as the overall vacancy has crept up to 7.6 percent, according to a third-quarter report from CBRE. Absorption so far in 2023 compares well with recent years, and average rents are up, despite very substantial deliveries, which exceeded 6 million square feet in the quarter but are expected to moderate soon.

Much of this is driven by tenants attracted to the Port of Savannah, the nation’s third-busiest and fastest-growing port since the completion of a $1.4 billion expansion in March 2022. On top of that, CBRE notes, the Georgia Ports Authority is underway on further projects intended to boost container capacity from the current 6.0 million TEUs to 9.5 million by 2026.

Deals for distribution space in the Savannah region have been plentiful lately.

• Just last week, Kyungshin America Corp. committed to building a 136,000-square-foot facility at The Broe Group’s Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, in Rincon, Ga.
• In late November, 3PL company Plastic Express leased all of a 982,800-square-foot building that’s under construction at Capital Development Partners‘ Central Port Logistics Center in Savannah.
• In October, joint venture partners Stonemont Financial Group and The Davis Cos. delivered two buildings totaling 2.7 million square at their Georgia International Trade Center, in Rincon.
• And in late September, Lincoln Property Co. announced the imminent groundbreaking on its Bloomingdale Trade Center, a 482,350-square-foot distribution facility in Savannah.