Godley Station is a 5,800-acre planned unit development located west of Interstate 95 near the Pooler Parkway and Jimmy Deloach Parkway interchanges across from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. The Branigar Organization, Inc., the land development subsidiary of Union Camp Corporation commenced development of Godley Station in 1995.
Godley Station was the first mixed-use project in West Chatham County with “live, work, learn and play” components. The southern portion of this community features The Village of Godley Station with single-family residences in the $140,000 to $500,000 price range along with three Class A apartment projects: The Merritt, The Preserve and the ALTA Town Lake project.
Within South Godley Station, the Mill Creek retail project is anchored by Home Depot, Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Sam’s Wholesale Club that opened in October of 2006.
The Feiler Company and the Goodman Company have recently joined forces in announcing the development of a 700,000 plus square foot regional retail center on a 117-acre site located at the Northwest corner of the intersection of Pooler Parkway and Benton Boulevard. The Pooler Park of Commerce has experienced intensive development to include professional office buildings, banks, restaurants and assorted retail uses.
The recreational centerpiece of Godley Station is the YMCA campus fronting Pooler Parkway, which features a day care center and is adjacent to a 100-acre municipal park in the initial stages of development. Crosswinds Golf Club, which features an 18-hole championship grade course and lighted par three course, is located across I-95 from Godley Station.
In December of 2002, International Paper Realty, as successor to Union Camp Corporation, sold the 2,200-acre portion of North Godley Station to a local partnership, which included The Foxfield Company and J. C. Wardlaw with Hallmark Homes. The Northern portion of Godley Station was renamed the Highlands Project and is also under intensive development. The residential portion of the project, which is zoned for 4,639 residences, is being developed with multiple communities by D.R. Horton, Genesis Designer Homes, Tidal Construction, Hallmark Homes, etc.
An 83.5-acre area with three sites is approved for 1,184 apartments and the Beach Company has recently acquired a site for development of apartments. A 100-acre site located at the intersection of Benton Boulevard and Highlands Boulevard is in the initial stages of development as Highlands Business Park.
Paradise Development has acquired a 30-acre site located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Benton Boulevard and Jimmy Deloach Parkway for development of a neighborhood shopping center to be anchored by a grocery store soon to be announced. The contiguous 95-acre tract to the east recently sold to an Alabama based development group in anticipation of additional regional retail development.
Godley Station, which is forecast to have approximately 30,000 residents at build-out in another fifteen years, is an ideal location for the Mulberry Office Park in terms of its great visibility from and access to Interstate 95 and it’s location across from a regional airport and within fifteen minuets of Savannah’s deep-water container port (the nation’s fourth busiest container port). Additionally, Godley Station includes hotels, motels, restaurants, neighborhood and regional retail uses to support a premier office park along with all types of housing for office employees from apartments to executive housing, Godley Station is proximate to many of Savannah’s major employers including Gulstream, which just announced the addition of 1,100 jobs, JCB, Savannah International Airport and the many corporations and major distribution centers located within the adjacent 1,873-acre Crossroads Business Center.
Godley Station has immediate access to an extensive educational infrastructure. The Georgia Tech Regional Engineering campus and Savannah Tech Regional campus are both located within Crossroads Business Center. In September of 2006, the voters of Chatham County voted in E-SPLOST, a one percent local option sales tax which contains funding for an elementary school and middle school on sites located on Benton Boulevard within The Highlands Community that have already been dedicated to the Savannah/Chatham County Board of Education.
In view of the preceding factors, the Mulberry Office Park is destined to become Savannah’s premier office address for companies and corporations serving a regional clientele and seeking a central location along Interstate 95, the primary growth corridor for the Southern United States.
