Work on a new e-commerce facility in Tradeport East Business Center was marked at a groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 15.

Palatize LLC is having a 33,000-square-foot building constructed in Liberty County’s premiere industrial park east of I-95’s Midway exit. The company, founded in 2017 by brothers Jonathan and Marcus Stewart, is moving operations from Richmond Hill.

Past and anticipated growth is the reason for the move, according to Jonathan Stewart.

“We knew that if we could get more floor space than the 6,000 square feet we’ve been operating in that we could handle a lot more merchandise,” he said. “Now we’re going to have five times that room.”

And the 33,000 SF feet is just the first phase of the project. The plan is to expand to as much as 100,000 SF.

The Stewarts have been working with Liberty County Development Authority since 2020. There are already seven companies operating in six buildings in TPE. An eighth building was completed last fall on speculation and is being marketed. Palatize’s is expected to be the ninth company in the park.

“We were impressed with Marcus and Jonathan’s drive to get their project up and running,” Carmen Cole, LCDA’s director of operations and business development said. “They’ve done a great job pushing it toward completion.”

They’ve shown the same determination in building their business, which Marcus started in his home when he lived in Midway. For the first year in operation they employed family and took no salaries.

“We would work on and grow the business during our weekends and after working our full-time jobs,” Jonathan Stewart said.

Now they employ 20 people – family members have retired – and are investing $6 million in the land and building. Palatize has been listed in the Top 300 Sellers on Amazon for the past 2 years.

The Dewitt Tilton Group is general contractor on the project.

The Small Business Administration and The Claxton Bank are funding the project