This project has been in the works for the last five years and I am glad to finally see it coming to fruition!
Posted: October 10, 2012 - 12:38am | Updated: October 10, 2012 - 7:46am
Reported in the Savannah Morning News by Mary Mayle
The company that built the Mall of Georgia in Gwinnett County and the upscale St. John’s Town Center in Jacksonville, Fla., is planning a 560,000-square-foot luxury outlet mall in Pooler.
The Outlet Mall of Georgia is projected to open in the summer of 2014 in the southwest quadrant of I-95 and Pooler Parkway with four anchor stores, a food court, restaurants and a wide variety of shops.
The proposed $200-million project is set to break ground next spring and would create as many as 2,000 construction jobs, according to Ben Carter of Ben Carter Enterprises. When fully open, the mall would create between 1,700 and 2,000 retail jobs, Carter said Tuesday.
The 170-acre site will accommodate another half-million square feet for peripheral retail and hotel construction.
While financing is not complete and he would not name potential tenants, pre-leasing has begun, with interest from a number of high-end retailers, Carter said.
Abercrombie, Brooks Brothers, Coach and Louis Vuitton are among the tenants in the Jacksonville mall.
“From a visitor’s perspective, one of things that is missing here is really quality retail,” Carter said.
The Savannah engineering and architectural firm Kern-Coleman is working with Carter on the project.
Carter’s unscheduled presentation came at the end of the Savannah Economic Development Authority’s monthly meeting and was greeted with enthusiasm.
“The announcement today that Ben Carter is developing a luxury outlet mall in Chatham County is fantastic news,” said David Paddison, SEDA board chairman. “In addition to the massive construction investment, job creation and additional tax revenues, the Outlet Mall of Georgia will be a significant amenity for our residents, visitors and the millions of travelers passing through the I-95 corridor.
“This will be the signature outlet project on I-95 between Florida and Virginia”
Savannah is the second largest tourism market on the regional coast with 12 million tourists per year compared to Myrtle Beach at 14 million, Charleston at 4 million St. Augustine, Fla., at 3.4 million and Hilton Head Island at 2 million, according to Carter’s research.
“The closest comparable malls along the I-95 corridor are in Virginia and Florida,” he said. “While the Savannah regional trade area alone would not be sufficient to support a mall of this size, the tourist and traffic counts along the interstate more than make up for that.”
Traffic counts on I-95 run approximately 68,000 vehicles a day or 24.7 million annually.
“This is going to be huge for Pooler and all of Chatham County,” said Pooler Mayor Mike Lamb. “This is the shopping piece we’ve been looking for to make us a more complete city.”
Pooler has been in the bulls eye of targeted growth in the area for the last decade, and Lamb credited city council and staff with helping the city make good growth decisions. “We are ready for this,” he said. “Ben Carter Enterprises is the real deal, and we really appreciate them choosing our city.”
Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Hubbard agreed.
“There’s a lot of work still to be done, but this is a great organizaion with tremendous capability,” he said.
“We are eager to help in any way we can.”
A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga
