Rushmark Properties closed on a $48.3 million construction loan with United Bank to develop Berkeley Commerce Center, a multi-building, Class-A industrial campus in Summerville, South Carolina. With site work now underway, Rushmark will commence work this fall on the first two structures’ building pads, which span 775,000 square feet. JLL’s Lee Allen, Kevin Coats and Tyler Smith will lead leasing and marketing efforts. JLL also assisted Rushmark in securing the construction loan with United Bank. 

Berkeley Commerce Center fronts I-26 and connects to the Port of Charleston via I-95. At 505,440 square feet, the first building will include 2,500 square feet of office space, cross-dock configuration and 36-foot clear heights. At 267,840 square feet, the second building features 1,200 square feet of office space, rear-load configuration and 32-foot clear heights. Rushmark expects to deliver the first two buildings in Q4 2025. More is expected in future phases. The project was designed by architects LS3P Associates with civil engineers Thomas & Hutton, and HITT Contracting is the general contractor. 

Branch Properties has acquired 9.7 acres of land in Hinesville, Georgia in partnership with Sofran Partners for the Flemington Village development, an upcoming Publix Super Markets-anchored shopping center. The 57,851-square-foot center broke ground this month, and is slated for completion in Q3 2025.

The grocery-anchored development will be located at the intersection of East Oglethorpe Highway and Flemington Village Boulevard. Flemington Village will include a 46,791-square-foot Publix Super Market and 11,060 square feet of inline retail space for restaurants, service providers and retailers. The property will also include a 1.07-acre out parcel. 

Flemington Village is located in the Savannah metropolitan area just over one mile from Fort Stewart, the biggest U.S. military base in the eastern United States. Fort Stewart employs 8,800 active-duty military personnel.

In addition to Flemington Village, Branch is also developing six other Publix-anchored shopping centers across the Southeast.

Brightmark plans to develop a 2.5 million-square-foot circularity center in Thomaston, Georgia, an hour NE of Columbus. The facility, which will cost $950 million to build, will have the capacity to repurpose over 400,000 tons of plastic per year. Brightmark’s system takes discarded plastic content and converts it into materials to create new circular plastic products, diverting waste otherwise bound for landfills, incinerators, and waterways.

Brightmark’s Plastics Renewal® solution repurposes existing material on a large scale, including hard-to-recycle plastics from a variety of sources, such as industrial sites, manufacturing facilities, and schools. The company also works with material recovery facilities (MRF) to capture post-consumer plastic. Brightmark then converts these plastics into materials used to create new circular products that can be reused, reducing the need for new plastic.

Brightmark intends to invest $20 million in additive infrastructure projects, including upgrades to utilities, roadway improvements, rail access extensions, and other necessary resources. The facility will create 200 jobs.