PROPERTY MATTERS (CONTINUED)

transformed into a community museum in the late 1950s by the late artist and educator Virginia Jackson Kiah and her husband, Calvin Kiah, a former Dean of Education at Savannah State College.

The sale of the property to HSF came after years of deterioration resulting from a more than two-decade-old Chatham County Probate Case concerning Virginia Kiah’s estate. After obtaining the engineer’s report, HSF intends to start holding public engagement events to determine the future use of the property, Jarles said.

Movie Studio Developer Denies Lawsuit Allegations

The developer of a proposed 30-acre sound stage and movie production space in the western limits of Savannah recently responded to a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by a local commercial real estate firm.

In the Dec. 26 court filing, StudioSavannah LLC denies the allegation in the Oct. 25 complaint that Savannah-based Development Associates Inc (DAI). was cut out of its role as an investor and developer in KAT-5 Studios.

StudioSavannah, a partnership between David Paterson of Arcady Bay Entertainment and Taylor Owenby of ISP Global Capital, claims in its response that DAI’s allegations should be dismissed because there was no binding contract between them. The “Term Sheet” is “illusory and merely constitutes an agreement to agree,” StudioSavannah’s response states. “Under these circumstances, there is no valid contract between the parties.”

In August 2021, StudioSavannah successfully petitioned for a height variance to develop the film production complex and theater on Savannah’s western edge at 2442 Fort Argyle Road. StudioSavannah then purchased the property for $1.8 million last February.

In the complaint, DAI says it expended significant capital and resources toward the purchase and development of the project. The company is seeking damages for the economic harm it says was caused by StudioSavannah’s alleged “fraud” and “false promises’’.

In its response, StudioSavannah filed a counterclaim seeking relief, including the recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs, related to the “unnecessary trouble and expense” the developer claims was caused by DAI’s complaint.

New Hutchinson Island Apartment Development

(Rendering pictured above) Alabamabased real estate company Daniel recently submitted plans for a 288-unit apartment complex Hutchinson Island. The project includes a private parking lot, seven enclosed garage buildings and a clubhouse building with a leasing office, mail kiosk and residential amenities.

The complex is proposed to be developed on a more than 16 acre parcel north of Grand Prize of America Avenue that is adjacent to the golf course.

Liberal Arts College Takes More Steps To Establish Savannah Campus

Ralston College is following through with announced plans to establish a new educational institution “dedicated to human flourishing” in Savannah.

However, the nonprofit college will have to try again this year after being denied a tax exemption for the historic downtown mansion it purchased for $3.5 million. The Chatham County Board of Assessors denied the exemption in December because the college did not take ownership until May. The college needed to own the building at the start of the year in order to qualify for the 2022 exemption.

A similar reason was behind the board’s decision to also deny an exemption for a Baldwin Park home the college purchased for $572,500 in June to house a faculty member.

The college purchased the downtown mansion to use for classrooms, offices and a library, according to public records. Constructed in 1869, the mansion at 3 West Gordon St. on Monterey Square previously housed Alex Raskin Antiques.

The college is now working with local and national preservation experts to carefully restore the “much-loved Savannah landmark in the highest and best manner,” Katie Rook said in December.

The college intends to apply again this year and the decision by the board to deny the exemptions for this year will have no impact on the college’s plans, Rook said.

POOLER’S OGLETHORPE SPEEDWAY TO BE REPLACED BY WAREHOUSE COMPLEX

Semi-trucks and forklifts are set to replace monster trucks and stock cars at the site of the former Oglethorpe Speedway Park in Pooler.

The Pooler City Council recently approved Atlanta-based SDP Acquisitions request to rezone the former Oglethorpe Speedway Park site, along with surrounding properties, from residential to light industrial.

More than 90 parcels were assembled to create the industrial complex, representing an “unusual coalition of property owners who wish to sell their properties for above value pricing to SDP”, according to the developer’s rezoning application.

The Oglethorpe Speedway held its final race in November 2021, following 70 years of hosting stock car races, monster truck shows, demolition derbies, rodeos and more on its dirt track.

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