Garden City multischool project almost complete, ready for new school year

GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WTOC) - The largest project in the Savannah-Chatham County School System history is almost finished.

The new K-12 multi-school project in Garden City will be more than 400,000 square feet and will be the new home for about 2,400 students.

Construction work will wrap up in June and students will be inside for the school year in August and be home to Groves High, Mercer Middle and Gould Elementary students.

Construction started on this project in January of 2021. The project manager says it was not always easy getting supplies in the middle of the pandemic but despite challenges, they are still on time.

Right now, they are just putting on the finishing touches with paving, electrical and cabinetry inside and the project manager says he is proud of the team for tackling this massive project.

“I’ve been in the school business for 35 or so years and this is the largest project I’ve ever worked on, the team has lived this thing for 26 months before that in the planning and design and then even master planning before that so it has been a long initiative for the district,” said Project Executive Dr. Slade Helmly.

The total price tag for the project is just over $135 million fully paid for by ESPLOST funds. It stretches out over 42 acres in the area.

The actual building is just phase one. Phase two to build the stadium and fieldhouse will begin sometime this fall. The good news for drivers in this area is that Priscilla Thomas Way will be back open on April 1.

Not only is this the district’s largest project, it will be the district’s first school where students from kindergarten through 12th grade are all learning in the same building.

“We think big, we think logically for our education to be able to have all of the educators under one roof from K-12 think about how you are transferring that knowledge, you are looking at the end when you come in at the beginning,” said SCCPSS Deputy Superintendent Vanessa Kiagler.

The deputy superintendent says right now they are working internally on a timeline for parents, students and staff and will begin to release those plans for the transition sometime next month.