On August 28, 2018, Old Weed and Ready Plantation, LLC retained Equity Partners HG, Heritage Global Partners, and Zetabid, collectively, as the exclusive financial advisor for a sealed bid auction of the former Durango Mill/Gilman Paper Company Site in St. Marys, Georgia.
The waterfront property consists of 719 gross acres and has been through a long bankruptcy process, demolished, and is ready for resale. The minimum bid amount and reserve price $8,000,000.
The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) has provided financing strategies to create a mixed-use wharf on the property. Their Roadmap Report provides financing strategies for the future Wharf St. Mary’s, a redevelopment of the former Gilman Paper Mill. Suggestions are intended to facilitate the development of a mixed-use wharf, including dry dock storage, a boatyard, docking facilities and boat repair facilities, along with commercial and residential components.
Located on the Florida/Georgia line adjacent to Jacksonville, FL, this site is one of the largest industrial zoned parcels for sale on the water in the SE market with major on-site utilities/water rights, transportation (rail, freeway, ocean), and workforce (Jacksonville FL proximity). The site is currently zoned industrial, but a residential development plan with over 1,000 units was approved on the site with a prior residential developer and supported by the City of St Marys. Camden County JDA is under contract to buy 50 acres of the site as a luxury marina development.
The Gilman Paper Company operated a paper mill (the largest privately-owned paper mill in America at the time) on the site from 1939 to 1999, when the company/plant was sold to a Mexican company and renamed Durango Georgia Paper Company which was forced into bankruptcy in 2002. A bankruptcy auction was held in December of 2005 where the site was sold to LandMar for $36.6M (closed end of 2006). LandMar defaulted on the seller financing in the real estate crash of 2007 and the site reverted to the Trustee in 2010.
Fred Cross, a managing director at Equity Partners HG, says that “This is an excellent opportunity to invest in a large tract of waterfront land with unlimited potential. As the real estate market continues to rebound, St. Marys is ideally situated for a good-sized residential development or industrial project.”
Starting Bid: $8,000,000
Auction Start: 10/15/2018 9:00 am
Auction End: 10/22/2018 4:00 pm
Call Fred Cross at 866-969-1115 ext. 2
Email him at FCross@EquityPartnersHG.com
See CDFA report on Financing Strategies for Future Wharf on this property (PDF).