Development on a planned office building and underground garage on the southwest corner of Forsyth Park will move forward in January after the property owners won several legal rulings.
The project, which aims to provide new office space to several of Savannah’s oldest white-collar businesses, faced sharp criticism in 2025 from a coalition of historic preservationists, Victorian District neighbors and local lawyers. Their objections varied. Some were displeased over the changing face of a largely residential neighborhood and the city’s role in financing part of the project, while others were critical of the municipal planning commission’s zoning and permitting decisions and what they said was a lack of transparency by developers and supporters of the $35 million project.
Still others had personal grievances with the lead principals behind the project, including David Paddison, the president of Sterling Seacrest Pritchard and Reed Dulany III, the chairman and chief executive officer of Dulany Industries, Inc. (Editor’s note: Paddison is a member of the governing board and a donor of The Current GA.)
This fall, a Chatham County Superior Court judge rejected multiple legal claims by residents who sued to stop the project, arguing in part that zoning procedures had been violated.
More recently, the property owners have succeeded in winning retractions and apologies from one resident, Blake Gilman, who led the legal battle, as well as from one local media outlet that published allegations claiming the developers used improper political pressure, fraud and collusion to get the project approved.
The legal victories mean that excavation of the planned three-story, city-owned underground parking garage will move forward as soon as January, according to Paddison, the registered agent for the project, Forsyth Commons LLC.
“The developers have tried everything they could to work collaboratively with the community until the use of fake news made it impossible to use a civil discourse,” he said.
When completed, the project is slated to include a three-story, 430-space underground garage and an office complex that stretches from Barnard Street to Whitaker along West Park Avenue.
The developers plan to work with the city to update the mandatory archeological survey that in 2025 found no artifacts or intact archaeological resources were on the property and concluded that no further investigation is needed before construction.
While the zoning permits have been issued for the height of the building, final designs for the office complex have not been completed. Savannah municipal staff, along with project consultant Christian Sottile will work together on architectural renderings and will seek input from the Historic Preservation Commission, Paddison said.
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