MELDRIM, Ga. (AP) - A coastal Georgia location once planned for a movie studio that collapsed in scandal will now host a warehouse aimed at distributing goods moving through the Port of Savannah.
WTOC-TV reports that Panattoni Development Co. is buying part of the land near Meldrim and will build a 518,000 square-foot (48,000 square-meter) building that will be expandable to 1.2 million square feet (111483.7 square meter).
Effingham County Industrial Development Authority CEO Brandt Herndon said the development will bring tax revenue and potentially 200 to 300 jobs to the location just off Interstate 16 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Savannah. The building is supposed to be complete in July, although Panattoni, a private company based near Los Angeles, has yet to secure a tenant.
The land had been planned as the site of Moon River Studios. But the company, also known as Medient Studios, failed in its attempt to develop a 1,560-acre (630-hectare) site once billed as the nation’s largest movie studio. In 2018, the company agreed to pay $1.8 million after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Medient and executives alleging security fraud.
Herndon said infrastructure work done for the studio was reused to market the land as an industrial park.
“Not to say it wouldn’t have been great to have a movie studio but I think the highest and best use for this property is warehouse distribution,” Herndon said.
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