Incredible progress on Eastern Wharf construction one year after massive fire

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, will mark one year since a massive fire tore through the construction site of the Eastern Wharf project in Savannah.

Smoke could be seen from miles away, and it took several days to get the flames out.

Over the past year, steady construction has continued as the Eastern Wharf project marches toward completion.

“We were even just talking about it this week with the team. It’s remarkable how far we’ve come in a year. And to drive out there now just a few months away from our first deliveries this summer and it’s really, you go back a year from now, we would never have thought we would get this kind of progress moving forward,” Development Services Principal Andrew Allman, with Regent Partners LLC, said.

With the damage this fire left in its wake, the 2020 goal of leasing property at the Eastern Wharf site wasn’t going to happen. But the grieving time of the progress lost was short.

“Took it in stride, and you know, obviously there was a moment of grieving there for a day or so. But day one, we hit the ground started planning on the rebuild and the recovery,” Allman said.

Recover they did. Enough progress has been made at the site since the fire, that they’ll be looking to get people into the multi-family dwellings as early as May.

“We’ll be signing leases March 1, basically a year after we had the fire incident, which is just unbelievable,” Allman said.

Allman says while those invested in the project don’t want to relive the fire incident, a silver lining is perhaps the new timetable it created.

“What it also allowed us to do is deliver everything kind of together with the park, the hotel and the multi-family. So, it really feels like a much more cohesive development and a finished product out there. So really if there’s a silver lining, that would be it,” he said.

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