By Cara Aliek
BRUNSWICK, GA. — About a year and a half ago, Lincoln Property Co. (LPC) began looking for a 50-acre piece of land where it could build spec industrial property. Its search soon led the company to the “Coastal Corridor,” a stretch of land situated between Jacksonville, Fla., and Savannah, Ga.
There, Lincoln found a 687-acre site and acquired it from the Glynn County (Ga.) Development Authority for an undisclosed price. LPC is developing a master planned, mixed-use development called Tradewinds on the site. It will feature more than 3 million square feet of industrial space, 1 million square feet of commercial space and more than 2,500 multifamily units.
Tony Bartlett, senior vice president with LPC, says good things are happening in Brunswick and his company wants to be a part of it.
“Brunswick has a progressive government, and it’s in one of the counties on the coast down there that ‘has its lights on,’” says Bartlett. “Sea Island, Jekyll Island and all those coastal islands — there’s already a tourist trade that goes on there and there’s a very strong business community as well. It’s a long-term bet for us that we believe will be very successful.”
The site is situated off Interstate 95 between Exits 38 and 42, and is accessible from Highway 99 and The Golden Isles Parkway.
Denton Shamburger, vice president with LPC and project manager for Tradewinds, says clogged West Coast ports are driving shipments to the East Coast ports, something he believes will continue to spur developments, like Tradewinds, along the Coastal Corridor.
“Eighty percent of all goods coming (to the U.S.) from China come into the West Coast,” says Shamburger. “That trend is not going up, it is going down. In other words, with the congestion in the West Coast ports, more ships are being sent to the East Coast ports. That 80 percent is only going to go down, and for every point it goes down, it’s going to be another point for the East Coast.”
According to Bartlett, three factors have contributed to Brunswick’s ability to attract industrial development.
“Hurricanes have forced a number of folks to migrate north,” says Bartlett. “The second factor is that as our population ages, people are looking for coastal property. Then you’ve got these demographic shifts that are being fueled by East Coast ports continuing to grow. Also, the Panama Canal is being expanded and that will only fuel a mega-trend that has started to occur.”
LPC will break ground this fall on the first 200 acres, which will be an industrial park called Coastal Logistics Park at Tradewinds. The first leg of infrastructure is scheduled for completion by second quarter 2009. LPC is looking at a multi-year build out for the entire Tradewinds project.