Commercial Development Company, a North American commercial real estate and brownfield redevelopment company, has acquired a 58-acre, environmentally distressed waterfront industrial site in Savannah, Georgia from Atlantic Wood Industries.
Environmental Liability Transfer, an affiliate of Commercial Development Company, has assumed responsibility for legacy environmental liabilities associated with the site and its former operators.
For several decades, this property was a wood treatment facility operated by Atlantic Wood Industries until being shuttered in 2007. Since closing its doors, ground contamination and environmental hazards have prohibited redevelopment efforts.
The transaction has enabled Atlantic Wood Industries the ability to sell surplus real estate and transfer legacy environmental liabilities while receiving a cash payment from CDC.
ELT along with EnviroAnalytics Group, another CDC affiliate company, will now work with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to address the environmental concerns at the site. The existing structures on the site will be demolished to clear the way for a new port-related redevelopment that will put this blighted site back into productive use.
The property is located in the Port of Savannah, in close proximity to downtown Savannah. With a deep-water port, direct rail service, and easy access to I-95 and the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, CDC says the former wood treatment plant is an excellent prospective site for a variety of vertical development purposes. Additionally, this property is located next to Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal, the fastest-growing container port in the country.
The cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites can boost the economy, raising property values and stimulating job growth, according to a Pollution Engineering article published earlier this month.