International Paper closed its Savannah mill on Lathrop Avenue in September 2025 after 90 years of operation, saying the 1936-built plant would have needed $300 million in upgrades to keep running. That cost 800 jobs between the mill and its box plant.
In July, the Memphis-based company formally listed the site: 400 acres on the south bank plus another 335 acres it owns across the Savannah River, 735 acres total, with 2,500 feet of river frontage on one side and 7,100 feet on the other, plus 20 miles of on-site rail and a 1937 nine-hole golf course.
Broker Stephen Ezelle of Cushman & Wakefield | Gilbert & Ezelle is marketing the property for logistics, manufacturing, distribution and large-scale industrial redevelopment, pointing to direct access to I-516, I-16 and I-95 alongside the port itself. CoStar reports shipbuilders are among the interested parties, citing Bushy Park near Charleston, a former industrial site now split between shipbuilding and medical-device tenants, as the comparable outcome.
The Georgia Ports Authority is exploring a purchase; CEO Griff Lynch noted deep-water river frontage of this scale is scarce. Neighboring petroleum depot Colonial Oil is also doing due diligence. Offers are due late September or early October.
Why it matters
This is the largest block of deep-water industrial riverfront to hit the Savannah market in years, and the buyer pool named so far, shipbuilders, the port authority itself, a neighboring petroleum depot, would each take the site in a very different direction.
Sources and documents4 sources
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