Officials with the city of Port Wentworth, Ga. and Dermody, a national developer with a regional office in Atlanta, gathered on Oct. 16, 2025, at the site of a proposed business park off Ga. Highway 21/Augusta Road to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new signalized intersection adjacent to the massive complex.
The 10-million-sq.-ft. Port Wentworth commerce center will soon bring jobs and new business to the region, but improving the safety of the major intersection must come first, according to a news report from WTOC-TV in Savannah.
The development is set to become the largest near-port logistics project to begin construction in the Southeastern United States in 2025.
The event marked a significant milestone in supporting Port Wentworth's growth while meeting the needs of residents and businesses. The new intersection and accompanying 2.5-mi. road system will provide critical infrastructure improvements that will allow for safer and enhanced traffic flow in the city.
In addition, the project will strengthen connectivity for nearby residential neighborhoods, including Rice Hope and Rice Creek, while supporting access for local businesses and future employers. These improvements also will provide efficient access to the Port Wentworth commerce center.
"They are the first tangible steps toward bringing the business park to life and meeting the growing demand for modern, port-adjacent logistics space in the Southeast," said Wes Hardy, a Dermody partner with the development firm's Southeast Region.
["Making the intersection safe] is desperately needed and in the next six months we should have a stoplight here. [It's] a life-saving matter because people are taking their lives in their hands by shooting out here," Port Wentworth City Manager Steve Davis told the Savannah CBS affiliate.
He and other local officials have long worried about drivers going 55 mph while heading north and south during rush hour on Ga. 21 with no traffic signals at all along the roadway corridor.
The traffic lights and turn lanes slated for completion in 2026 will be funded by a $6 million private investment.
Gabrielle Nelson, Port Wentworth's mayor pro tem, added that the planned intersection will be a blessing as many people use Ga. 21 to get to work, home or to access nearby Interstate 95.
"While we still have a few years ahead of us on the already approved widening of Highway 21 through [the Georgia Department of Transportation], traffic enhancement will make for much smoother daily travel in the months ahead," she said. "It's a step in the right direction, and one thing that it brings is immediate relief while we continue preparing for long-term solutions."
"This development represents the type of public-partnership that defines Port Wentworth," said Davis. "The improvements at Ga. Highway 21 will not only help alleviate a traffic challenge but also open new doors for smart, sustainable growth. We're excited to work alongside Dermody to bring investment, infrastructure and opportunity to our city."
Site Likely to Be East Coast's Top Port-Centric Park
However, the intersection is just one part of the broader Port Wentworth Commerce Center construction. Two speculative buildings within the park are slated to be ready by the second quarter of 2026; one will encompass 538,775 sq. ft., while the other will be a bit larger at 740,375 sq. ft., Dermody noted.
The site also features exceptional power infrastructure, most notably capacity and availability. It is located adjacent to dual 230KV transmission lines, and a Georgia Power-owned 115KV substation also can be found on-site.
In addition, it has been identified as one of the few locations in Georgia with enough capacity to provide one gigawatt of power service. Its proximity to generation sources, like Georgia Power's Plant McIntosh, a natural gas-powered production facility 8 mi. to the north, reinforces the Port Wentworth site's ability and reliability to support high-capacity power users.
Improvements for the millions of sq. ft. within the business park will include water and sewage management, stormwater maintenance and fiber operations needed to operate the commerce center, located northwest of downtown Savannah.
In total, completing the effort will bring about $1 billion in investments to Port Wentworth, according to Davis, in addition to job creation and opportunities for the area's residents. Those jobs will be available both during the complex's construction and after it opens.
A big factor in selecting the site, according to Dermody officials, is its location so close to the port of Savannah, just 6.5 mi. away.
"An aspiration for this project is to create the single-best business park on the East Coast of the United States, and I believe we're going to do that because we've got [the right] team in place," Hardy said.
The Port Wentworth commerce center promises to offer best-in-class facilities, immediate access to I-95, on-site Class One rail service and a Foreign Trade Zone designation that allows tenants to defer, reduce or eliminate tariffs on imported goods, Dermody noted in its news release.
Utilities, including water, sewer, power, gas and fiber optics, will be fully installed along the roadway, ensuring operability from the project's inception.
"Few sites in the U.S. offer this scale while also providing unmatched access to the fastest-growing port in the country, a major interstate, high-capacity power and rail service," Hardy said. "We focus on building where our customers want to be, and Port Wentworth delivers on all fronts."
Once complete, the Port Wentworth facility will serve as the premier port-centric business park on the eastern seaboard, supporting economic growth and enhancing connectivity for global supply chains.
Dermody's Southeast region spans nine states, with particular focus on the major logistics markets of Atlanta, Savannah, Nashville, Charlotte and central Florida. The region currently has four projects under construction and more than 1.5 million sq. ft. available for lease.
