Amidst the turmoil of the Dubai World debt crisis, subtle changes are coming to the management of Dubai-based Jafza International’s development of a massive logistics park near Santee, South Carolina.

The moves are not directly related to the current crisis, but rather are an outgrowth of the reported $450 million purchase of London-based Gazeley Ltd., by Jafza’s parent company, Economic Zones World (EZW), last year.

EZW, a subsidiary of Dubai World, has yet to be caught in the undertow related to the ongoing financial crisis in the Emirate. For the sake of clarity, Dubai World is the emirate’s investment vehicle. It owns DP World, one of the largest global port operators, and EZW, which develops and operates economic zones and industrial parks.

Gazeley, with its track record in Europe as Wal-mart’s development arm there, will help Dubai World to build a global logistics development business. Gazeley is also considered to be at the forefront of green industrial development.

In the reshuffling, Chuck Heath, Jafza’s longtime managing director, has been named senior vice president and, among other roles, will serve as an advisor to EZW CEO Salma Hareb, long considered one of the most powerful businesswomen in the Arab world.

“I remain president of Jafza-South Carolina, and will also handle government relations in the U.S.,” Heath said.

Of his new assignment, Heath said he’s been asked to create a new business unit within EZW called “Management and Advisory.”

Through that new unit, Heath will serve as manager for several of the company’s other development projects around the world, and will also “advise other zones on global best practices,” Heath said.

In light of Heath’s new duties, EZW has appointed Nick Redwood, Gazeley’s longtime managing director, to the position of senior vice president and managing director for Europe and the U.S., putting him directly in charge of the Santee project.

Redwood did not respond to requests for comment, but in a profile in Property Week magazine in September, he spoke at length about continuing the company’s core business of large-scale industrial and logistics development, while also becoming more involved in the investment side of the property industry.

But that wasn’t to suggest he expected lavish backing from Dubai. In fact, he told Property Week with unintended prescience, “We haven’t got bucketloads of cash to buy up the market.”

“But we are under no pressure to sell assets so, compared with some of our competitors, we are in a good position,” Redwood said.

Heath said he and Redwood plan to come to South Carolina in January to formally announce what he described as “the handover” and to introduce Redwood to stakeholders in the Santee project.

Jafza International purchased 1,300 acres just outside of the town limits of Santee in the fall of 2007. The company plans to invest $600 to $700 million to build a logistics, light manufacturing, and distribution hub inside a proposed Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) to be located near I-95 Exit 97. Jafza Magna Park is the new name as of August 2009.  The project is expected to attract about $1.2 billion in private investment and generate an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 jobs over a decade.