By Eric Curl
March 4, 2022 update – StudioSavannah, LLC purchased the property for $1.8 million on Feb. 23, 2022, according to sales records.
Aug. 26, 2021 update – The height variance for the project was approved as recommended by staff, with conditions.
Aug. 21, 2021 –There may be a new contender in the race to get the proper infrastructure in place for Savannah’s burgeoning film production industry.
Kat 5 Studios is requesting a height variance to develop a film production complex and theater on Savannah’s western edge. Studio officials say the requested variance is to accommodate the theater, soundstage space and media related features.
The petition for a 15-foot height variance from the 45-foot height maximum for the project at 2442 Fort Argyle Road is scheduled to go before the Savannah Zoning Board of Appeals on Aug. 26.
The undeveloped 30-acre commercial site is located in New Hampstead, a 4,300-acre planned development that is expected to add thousands of single-family and multi-family housing units to the area.
Staff, which is recommending approval, reported that the size and location of the site, the commercial designation and proposed buffers are all mitigating factors that could support a variance.
Indie filmmaker David Paterson,a partner at Arcady Bay Entertainment, described the project in a July article in Variety, although he declined at the time to say where in Savannah it would be located. Paterson said in the article that he hopes the studio will turn the city into a hub for major studio filmmaking.
The proposal comes as the Savannah College of Art and Design constructs a 10.9-acre film studio complex the university says will include a Hollywood-style film backlot, a next-generation XR stage for virtual productions and new soundstages.
In addition, movie studios were included in two of three development proposals the city is now considering for the former fairgrounds site the city purchased in 2016 for $2.9 million.
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