IKEA is coming to Savannah!

[Lady Celeste]

Well maybe not the store but IKEA plans for a major distribution center in Savannah.

from the article:

Savannah's port is expecting a new shipment of herring and paychecks.

IKEA, the European retailer of housewares and Scandinavian delicacies, will open a 1.7 million-square-foot import center at the Port of Savannah that will create 150 new jobs, state and company officials said Tuesday.

The IKEA project, combined with a similar Target Corp. import facility announced in September, means Savannah's port will be building an unprecedented 3.7 million square feet of new warehouse space over the next two years, said Robert Morris, a spokesman for the Georgia Ports Authority.

Savannah's port has enjoyed a growth spurt in recent years, much of it brought on by a flood of goods coming to the United States from China.

The increase in Asian imports has backed up ports like Los Angeles, forcing importers to steer more business to alternatives like Savannah.

Savannah is now the No. 2 port on the East Coast for goods coming in from and shipping out to Asia, Morris said.

Savannah seems to be getting herself in the news more often of late. Watch out Columbus and Augusta.....here comes your big sister Savannah.

Read the entire article here:

IKEA in Savannah......

[upstate29650]

Yet more low paying warehouse jobs for Savannah. What a disappointment!

[DigitalSky]

That is awesome. IKEA... Come to Charlotte now!

[Designerbee]

That is awesome. IKEA... Come to Charlotte now!

Its not a store. Its just a distribution warehouse.

[Lady Celeste]

Yet more low paying warehouse jobs for Savannah. What a disappointment!

I suppose. It's not like metro Savannah is basking in the plethora of jobs it has to offer its citizens. I'm sure the 150 men or women feeding their families will appreciate it. I understand your drive for higher paying jobs. Really I do....but unfortunately many high tech, corporate or higher paying jobs in general will probably be sucked towards metro Atlanta first because of it's larger and highly educated citizenry. Not to knock the Savannah area but then you have metro Columbus and metro Augusta waiting in the wings after metro Atlanta. I'm just glad that people will have jobs to feed their families. Too bad the state did not persue Diamler-Chrysler. Their jobs would have probably paid double. Then again the tax breaks probably were enormous.

[DigitalSky]

Its not a store. Its just a distribution warehouse.

Whoops! I certainly spoke too soon...

[Topher1]

Yet more low paying warehouse jobs for Savannah. What a disappointment!

I agree with Lady Celeste's diagnosis of this statement... While a high-tech, super high-paying company locating in Savannah will help the city a lot, it's not going to do any good to the unemployed and underemployed people that already live there. Some fancy bio-med company isn't going to hire a bunch of homeless joes from the street... Most likely these companies would be importing workers from elsewhere.

A city that has a severe poverty problem (like Savannah and many other southern locales) benefits enormously by having a large infusion of low-paying jobs such as these. These are jobs that the undereducated can actually be hired for. Congratulations to Savannah.

[Designerbee]

I agree with Lady Celeste's diagnosis of this statement... While a high-tech, super high-paying company locating in Savannah will help the city a lot, it's not going to do any good to the unemployed and underemployed people that already live there. Some fancy bio-med company isn't going to hire a bunch of homeless joes from the street... Most likely these companies would be importing workers from elsewhere.

A city that has a severe poverty problem (like Savannah and many other southern locales) benefits enormously by having a large infusion of low-paying jobs such as these. These are jobs that the undereducated can actually be hired for. Congratulations to Savannah.

What about all the people who are skilled and educated but have to move out of Savannah to get a job? I would have stayed if there was a job there for me.

[upstate29650]

What about all the people who are skilled and educated but have to move out of Savannah to get a job? I would have stayed if there was a job there for me.

Bingo.

I love how non-Savannahians, primarily non-native Atlantans who's only exposure to Savannah is weekend stays at a B&B, can diagnose Savannah's problems. That city's best & brightest end up leaving for lack of opportunity. These are the people that need to be retained in the city. They're the ones who could start up new, high wage businesses. Instead, Savannah continues to rely upon low wage service & warehouse jobs.

Savannah doesn't need any more McJobs.

[Lady Celeste]

What about all the people who are skilled and educated but have to move out of Savannah to get a job? I would have stayed if there was a job there for me.

Designerbee, I understand totally what you are saying. The difference is Bee, you are skilled and educated. You have the ability to move fluidly throughtout the country with your skills. Savannah is not known for it's overwhelmingly skilled market. If we are to be honest and have a serious discourse then my must call a spade a spade. If you are a biotech company of even a F500, where would you decide to land your jobs.....if you had to choose a location in Georgia? Where in Georgia can you get a ton of highky skilled people clamoring for jobs? Answer is Atlanta. Until the skill sets and environment changes in greater Savannah, you will continue to have higher than necessary unemployment.

It would be nice if women waited for the perfect man to marry. If they waited, he would have all his scrupples and be the best man she'd ever met.....perfect in every way. By the time she would have found him, she'd be pushing up daisies. I would really hate for us to wait for the perfect jobs for the Savannah area....meanwhile unemployment rates for workers across the board is high and even higher for unskilled workers.

Bingo.

I love how non-Savannahians, primarily non-native Atlantans who's only exposure to Savannah is weekend stays at a B&B, can diagnose Savannah's problems. That city's best & brightest end up leaving for lack of opportunity. These are the people that need to be retained in the city. They're the ones who could start up new, high wage businesses. Instead, Savannah continues to rely upon low wage service & warehouse jobs.

You assume much, but know little. You must be young.

My association with Savannah goes much deeper than a mere weekend at a nice B&B, which I have done several times by the way. Lovely city I might add. I, however being older than the average UPer, will know people of Savannah on many levels. A long time friend of mine's husband is a pastor of a church in Savannah. Although she and I are of different faiths, we have a close bond. His church is not small and I hear from his mouth the perils of having unskilled workers in the Savannah area. I also know people through my former employer who were highly educated and Savannah natives. While these people love Savannah, they also love their families. Unfortunately the had to leave Savannah because they couldn't even get a McJob as you call them. One is a man with two children. He does not have the leisure to wait on the perfect job if he is to feed his children. He had one of two options. Accept a lower paying job in Savannah or leave for Atlanta. Well he choose to leave for Atlanta where he has been with the same company for over 9 years. I'm sure he would have prefered to wait for Savannah to get these jobs that would have matched his skill set.....but his children would have been mighty hungry.

When I make my assertions, I try not to think about just me. My husband's business is not tied solely to one city. My license says that I can sell property in any place in Georgia. I could live in Savannah. He could do his business from a computer and I could choose not to work and if jobs come or go would not matter to us. Chances are we would be in a gated neighborhood outside of Savannah proper anyway. The rampant crime associated with an unemployed society wouldn't matter to us. That fact is though that my situation is not reality for thousands of out of work Savannah citizens. They don't have the skills necessary to land the perfect non McJobs. What I suggest to you two seemingly intelligent and gung ho young men....go and build your empire elsewhere, when it is large enough to have multiple workers then by all mean PLEASE move your corporate headquarters to Savannah so the wages can slowly but surely increase.

Savannah doesn't need any more McJobs.

You are right..........Savannah needs jobs period.

BTW, Upstate29650, Greer is near Greenville am I right? What is your association with the greater Savannah area?

[upstate29650]

My association is that I am a native Savannahian, born & bred. I too had to leave for greener pastures, and it kills me to this very day. It bothers me more to see that little if anything is being done to attract high paying jobs to Savannah. Apparently, the presence of SCAD isn't helping much.

I do know the real reason for all this, being well versed in Savannah history. I'll address that at a later time.

[Lady Celeste]

My association is that I am a native Savannahian, born & bred. I too had to leave for greener pastures, and it kills me to this very day. It bothers me more to see that little if anything is being done to attract high paying jobs to Savannah. Apparently, the presence of SCAD isn't helping much.

Upstate, you being a native Savannahian, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to have to leave a city you love. I would assume that you have family and friends that you miss because you had to leave. I'm sure that much is attempted to get higherpaying jobs to Savannah but unfortunately from a corporate standpoint, Atlanta with its many colleges and universities, highly skill, younger than average citizens and access to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport probably makes Atlanta a much better deal. Also, in relative terms, Savannah is not that much cheaper than Atlanta in terms of housing.

SCAD will not help unfortunately ebcause SCAD can not be compared to an Emory, GA Tech, Spelman, Morehouse or Georgia State. UGA is only 50 minutes from the northern suburbs of Atlanta. There is also the issue of amenities. Many employers do ask its workforce where they would like to relocated. If you had to choose between Atlanta or Savannah (being impartial of course), who would you choose?

That's why we celebrate these type jobs. Why? Because we see the big picture. It starts with these jobs. The company will continue to expand (we hope) and this will encourage more companies to move to the Savannah area. Over time the wages will increase because if more of the citizens of Savannah are working, we won't have to give incentives to get companies to locate there.

The best way to demand higher paying jobs is to make Savannah an even better deal than Atlanta or Jacksonville. Great schools, low crime, cultural amenities, decent cost for housing, governments run efficiently and an educated workforce will make Savannah an attractive place to relocate jobs making $75,000+. You have to start somewhere though or Atlanta will continue to suck the life away from the rest of Georgia. Other than Atlanta, only Columbus and Augusta are growing jobs greater than the population...they rejoice not because these jobs moving to their cities are high paying....but rather because their citizens will have jobs....and further make their cities attractive alternatives to Atlanta.

I do know the real reason for all this, being well versed in Savannah history. I'll address that at a later time.

I value your opinion. I would love for you to start a thread/discussion about why you feel Savannah is overlooked when it comes to high paying jobs.

[upstate29650]

A lot of it is historic, believe it or not. There's a small group of people who hold most all the power in Savannah. They consist of Irish Catholics who can trace their Savannah roots back to the late 1700's, as well as a select number of black who are "allowed" to have a seat at the table. For these people, the status quo is good...for them. A largely uneducated workforce keeps prices (relatively) low for services & land. No large businesses want to relocate to Savannah, as the workforce & adequate pubic education facilities aren't in place, hence, no real need to build large developments that drive up housing prices & values. The current housing boom there can be more closely tied to retirees & low interest rates, not people moving in for high paying jobs.

That's only one piece of the puzzle.

[waccamatt]

Where is the thread?

[ironchapman]

Wow, -1 posts. What happened? I've seen a couple like this (with 0 or -1 posts), but they were way back in the forums....what happened to the topic?

[Spartan]

Looks fine to me? I am guessing the issue has been resolved.

[Hotlanta]

Sounds great, just open up a location in North Carolina...PLEASE! I hate having to sit in that car in traffic for so long in ATL.