Savannah and Charleston industrial space, where the Southeast's imports land.
Two port markets a hundred miles apart that compete for the same import-distribution tenants. Savannah built a vast speculative pipeline for the port's growth and is now carrying double-digit vacancy. Charleston is smaller, tighter, and absorbing space fast. For a port-dependent operation, the leverage is in Savannah right now.
Where the leverage sits right now.
Savannah vacancy is at or above ten percent on both firms' counts, with roughly 4.4 million square feet still under construction and 91 percent of it speculative. Developers who built for port growth need tenants, and a requirement with a real import volume behind it can draw aggressive proposals. Year-to-date absorption of 7.9 million square feet looks strong until you remove Hyundai's five million square foot battery facility in Q1.
Charleston is the opposite picture: more than a million square feet absorbed in the quarter and vacancy down 121 basis points. Colliers reports flex and small-bay space between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet at under one percent vacancy. For smaller requirements Charleston is tight; for large ones it is still negotiable, especially north along I-26.
Neither firm publishes a Savannah rent level on its public page, which is unusual and worth noting when a landlord quotes you the market rate. Ask what it is based on. We pull the comps.
What the major brokerages report.
Each firm tracks a slightly different building set, and in some markets a different metric, so the figures differ. We show all of them rather than average them, because an average of three different definitions describes nothing. Where the spread matters to a negotiation, we say so above.
| Firm | Quarter | Vacancy | Asking rent | Net absorption | Under construction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colliers Savannah colliers.com | Q2 2026 | 10.01% | n/a | +763,000 sq. ft. | About 4.4M sq. ft., 91% speculative |
| CBRE Savannah cbre.com | Q2 2026 | 10.5% direct | n/a | n/a | 4.4M sq. ft. pipeline |
| Colliers Charleston colliers.com | Q2 2026 | Down 121 bps in the quarter; level not published | n/a | +1,028,888 sq. ft. | n/a |
Reach, infrastructure, and labor.
Share of the US population within 450 road-equivalent miles (one-day ground) and 1,000 miles (two-day ground) of the market center, computed against population-weighted centroids of all 3,125 US counties (2020 Census). Bands approximate FedEx and UPS Ground zone tables within roughly 10 percent and are for comparing markets, not quoting transit times.
Sources: ofis.trade.gov
Where the buildings are.
Pooler, Bloomingdale and the area around the Garden City Terminal. The port-proximate big-box core.
Richmond Hill and Bryan County, including the Hyundai Metaplant. The electric vehicle supply chain and new speculative distribution.
North on I-95 and I-16 toward Rincon. Lower land costs and the next ring of speculative development.
Summerville, Jedburg and Ridgeville. The largest buildings in the Charleston market and most of its recent construction.
North Charleston around the airport, Boeing and the Palmetto Commerce Park. Manufacturing suppliers and mid-size distribution.
The operations that choose Savannah and Charleston.
We represent tenants and buyers only. No landlord listings in Savannah and Charleston, so every building in the market is a candidate and every negotiation is on your side of the table. See the operations we serve.
Evaluating Savannah and Charleston?
Tell us the size, timing, and operation. We will come back with a curated shortlist and a read on where the leverage is in this market right now.