Area business leaders, along with state and local officials, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, tossed shovelfuls of dirt into the south Bryan County air Friday, symbolically indicating the 1,100-acre Belfast Commerce Centre being developed by TerraPointe, the real estate subsidiary of Rayonier, is ready for development.
No work is taking place on the property off Belfast Keller Road west of Interstate 95, but it is primed and ready to go, according to Rayonier CEO and President Paul Boynton.
“This is ready for the future today,” Boynton said.
Indicating its readiness to potential clients is the CSX Railroad’s Select Site designation bestowed upon the property during the ceremonies, the first such designation in the state of Georgia.
CSX Transportation Assistant Vice President Clark Robertson said the Select Site Certification indicates the site has been examined to ensure it’s ready for rapid development with a reduced risk to potential clients.
“Certification means that these sites, to use an overused term, really are shovel-ready,” he said.
Those elements include a recently approved agreement between the city of Richmond Hill for water and sewer service; natural gas and electric service provided by Atlanta Gas, Coastal EMC and Georgia Power; approximately 8,800 feet of frontage on the Riceboro Southern Railroad and CSX and what is currently a four-mile trip to I-95.
However, plans are under way to reduce the trip to I-95 to virtually zero miles as the Federal Highway Administration has approved construction of an interstate interchange adjacent to the Belfast property.
“This is a groundbreaking for the Belfast Commerce Centre, but we have also had another victory in that we have gotten approval for the interstate interchange to go at Belfast Keller Road and Interstate 95, which will be right next to this property,” said Bryan County Commission Chairman Jimmy Burnsed. “We have already met with the DOT, and everybody is on board with it. It just waits on funding.”
Burnsed hopes to see new industry and progress on the beginning of the interchange within four or five years.
Meanwhile, the Belfast site, as is, is approved for 10.5 million square feet of industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, office and commercial property. It is large enough to accommodate a single, 3-million-square-foot or more building and is the largest rail-served industrial site in the Savannah market, with direct service to the Port of Savannah 16 miles away.
“With the potential to create more than 7,500 new jobs, Belfast Commerce Centre is an exciting economic development opportunity for the state of Georgia,” Cagle said.
About 75 percent of Bryan County’s working population leaves the county daily to go to work, according to the county’s development authority, and more than 80 percent of purchases made by county residents are made outside the county.
“New industry equates to jobs and a broader tax base, which will help take some of the burden off the residents of Bryan County as well as help pay for the interchange,” Burnsed said.
Now that the site is certified, Boynton said, Bryan County and the state of Georgia will market it to end users that will range from major manufacturing to logistics and distribution.
Until a site has utilities and is certified, it is viewed as timberland, said Bryan County Development Authority Director F.J. “Josh” Fenn.
“But we have come so far with this. We now have the water and sewer agreement, electrical and gas, along with the rail and two miles of frontage on I-95. That sends a signal that we are open for business,” Fenn said.
ABOUT TERRAPOINTE
TerraPointe LLC, Rayonier Inc.’s real estate subsidiary, acquires and entitles properties for residential, commercial and industrial uses, master plans and permits for future communities, and markets higher and better use properties.
ABOUT RAYONIER
Rayonier is an international forest products company with three core businesses: Forest Resources, Real Estate and Performance Fibers. The company owns, leases or manages 2.7 million acres of timber and land in the United States and New Zealand. The company’s holdings include about 200,000 acres with residential and commercial development potential along the Interstate 95 corridor between Savannah and Daytona Beach, Fla. About 45 percent of the company’s sales are outside the U.S. to customers in about 40 countries. Rayonier is structured as a real estate investment trust. Learn more at www.rayonier.com.