By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Effingham studio sets groundbreaking
Placeholder Image

The groundbreaking has been set for Medient Studios’ massive development planned in Effingham County.
Effingham Industrial Development Authority members approved a revised memorandum of understanding with the filmmaker, pushing the closing date back to Aug. 19, and set an Aug. 29 ground breaking for the project. The studio will invest $90 million in the county and is expected to have at least 1,000 employees within five years.
According to the memorandum of understanding agreed to in March, the studio and the IDA were scheduled to have their closing Wednesday on the more than 1,500 acres at the IDA’s Interstate 16 north tract. That date is 120 days from the MOU signing.
“The closing was contingent on a couple of things,” IDA CEO John Henry said.
The IDA received a revised master plan and a revised development schedule for Medient, and the studio asked to have the closing pushed back a month as the IDA reviews the documents. Several studio executives also are Hindu, and Hindus are on the verge of entering the holy month known as Shavran Maas, when no property transactions can take place.
The IDA’s property committee of Charles Hinely, Dick Knowlton and Jimmy Wells will meet within the next week to review the master plan and development schedule. The IDA also wants to bring in county staff and county commissioners to be part of the process.
“The county’s got to be on board with this,” IDA member Leon Zipperer said.
“They have to be on it 110 percent. If it grows, it’s going to be a benefit to the county,” IDA member Charles Hinely said.
As part of the MOU, the IDA has to extend water-and-sewer service to the project’s first phase. IDA member Chap Bennett questioned if the authority could deliver the water and sewer service needed, and Henry said they could for the first phase of the project.
The IDA has a 500,000-gallon tank on the tract and has 150,000 gallons per day in water capacity from which to draw. It also has plans to build a package wastewater-treatment plant that will treat sewage to reuse levels.
“The big issue is going to be the disposal at the wastewater-treatment facility and how quickly they can build facilities that can use tertiary-treated wastewater,” Henry said.
How much capacity the wastewater treatment plant will have also has to be determined, which will determine its final cost.
“Anything above and beyond our capabilities with water and wastewater treatment are contingent upon an intergovernmental agreement with the county, and the company being a part of it, too,” Henry said. “We need to make sure the county understands what their needs are and what our limitations are.”
Under previous agreements, the IDA will build the wastewater treatment plant, which then will be turned over to the county operate.
“We’re still not going to be a water-and-sewer provider,” Henry said.
“We are not in the water-and-sewer business,” Zipperer said.
“And don’t want to be,” said IDA chairman Dennis Webb.

Sign up for our E-Newsletters
Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port
GardenCityTerminal
The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.  

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

 Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

Latest Obituaries