By Eric Curl
Sept. 19, 2020 – Three developers recently submitted proposals to develop the former fairgrounds site, following a request by the city.
The developers include Knott Development, out of Bethesda, Md. The company describes itself on its website as a “comprehensive facility and infrastructure development firm serving the higher education, municipal, state and corporate markets.”
Milwaukee-based Summit Smith Development has also teamed up with Savannah’s The Polote Corporation to submit a proposal. Summit Smith is a “full service commercial real estate development company that has successfully executed and delivered a wide range of projects including medical office, outpatient healthcare, senior housing, student housing, co rporate office and other special use facilities,” according to the company’s website.
In addition, P3 Joint Venture Group submitted a proposal. The development group lists its address as 102 Oglethorpe Professional Court, Suite 5. This also the address of Statewide Health Care Inc., where state Rep. Craig Gordon, D-Savannah, works as the CFO, according to the latest state business license. Gordon, whose district office is in the same building, submitted a proposal in 2017 to develop a film and television production studio on the site. That proposal was rejected by the previous city council, as described in this Savannah Morning News article I wrote back in my reporting days.
The city does not make the proposals public until after a recommendation by an evaluation committee is presented to the city council for consideration or all of the proposals are rejected.
The city council voted to purchase the site at 4701 Meding Street for about $2.9 million in 2016. Portions of the 67-acre site were used as an unpermitted landfill in the 1980s and could be cost-prohibitive to develop due to the environmental remediation that would be required, as outlined in this report.
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