SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Safavieh has laid the groundwork to triple its warehouse capacity in Savannah, announcing plans to build a $60 million, 1.1 million square foot Chatham County distribution facility, Darius Yaraghi, principal of Safavieh, told RugNews.com.
"The new facility will triple our Savannah warehouse capacity by the end of 2018 and will be customized for rugs and furniture," he stated. "We are pleased that the State of Georgia and the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) continue to invest in infrastructure, which enables our expansion and allows us to create even more quality jobs in the region. Safavieh will continue to increase our facilities across the U.S. to provide better and faster service to the customer."
In addition, the distribution center, located in the Savannah River International Trade Park, is expected to create 200 jobs.
"Georgia's robust infrastructure network is among the best in the country and continues to cultivate an economic environment ideal for manufacturing and distribution companies like Safavieh," said Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. "By choosing Chatham County, Safavieh will have access to the Port of Savannah and a skilled workforce ready to serve its broad customer base quickly and efficiently. We are pleased to see this significant investment in the Savannah area and look forward to Safavieh's continued growth in Georgia."
Safavieh, which has broadened its product reach well beyond area rugs to all corners of the home, has been rapidly growing its U.S, distribution network in the past few years. It has conducted business in the Savannah area since 2012 and cited the Port of Savannah as a key factor in choosing to expand Southeastern operations.
"In 2015, Safavieh announced Savannah as its location for a facility that would create 100 jobs and $28 million in investment and their announcement of an additional 200 jobs in the next three years and $60 million in capital investment is a true testament to the growth that businesses in Savannah are experiencing," added Savannah Economic Development Authority president and CEO Trip Tollison.
Safavieh has grown from a showroom on Madison Avenue in New York to become an international player with warehouse space and manufacturing facilities on three continents. The company drop ships thousands of packages each day to end-use customers on behalf of retailers in all 50 states, plus Canada, South America, Europe and Asia.