Full speed ahead at Patrick

Randall Goldman is not familiar with the phrase "Leave well enough alone." Goldman, managing director of Patrick Properties LLC, is in the midst of quarterbacking three major redevelopments and is about to host a groundbreaking for a new Mount Pleasant office building.

Apparently, Goldman and his backers, Charles and Celeste Patrick, aren't too familiar with the term "recession," either. Or they are very familiar with the advice, "Buy low."

The company has closed its Fish Restaurant and last week knocked a wall out into the office building it owns next door, space that used to be filled by the Charleston School of Law. The construction, which Goldman hopes to have done by September, will swell Fish to about 150 seats, an increase of almost 70 percent.

At the same time, Patrick Properties is gutting one of its screening rooms in the American Theatre and turning the space into a 150-seat ballroom to accommodate the glut of weddings it oversees at the nearby William Aiken House and at Lowndes Grove plantation.

Just eight months ago, the company scrapped plans to build a hotel just behind its cluster of King Street buildings, saying it had too many capital projects on its hands at the time. Hoteliers suspected the Patricks were braking for an economic slowdown. Goldman, however, said business has stayed strong despite a listless economy.

"We're still such a thriving segment of Charleston. I don't see our end of King Street slowing down," he explained.

The company is putting the finishing touches on Lowndes Grove plantation, which it bought for $6.7 million in August. Crews have finished building a stand-alone "kitchen house" and the Patrick team is now focused on turning out the guest rooms. The spruced-up site will start seeing nuptials again in September.

Finally, Patrick Properties is scheduled to break ground today on a three-story, 13,000-square-foot office building just behind Alex's Restaurant at the intersection of Live Oak Drive and Lucas Street in Mount Pleasant. The company said a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for environmental friendliness became prohibitively expensive, but it is adding some green touches, such as geothermal wells and rooftop vegetation.

Changing of the guard

David Teich, longtime manager at Charleston Place, was recently named general manager of Orient Express's Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans.

Teich had been at the Bermuda-based company's Charleston lodging for 11 years, most recently as director of food and beverage operations.

Charleston Place GM Paul Stracey said the move is a big promotion. He has yet to name a successor for Teich.

"We're very sorry to see him go," Stracey said. "But I couldn't be happier to send someone like that there."

Reach Kyle Stock at kstock@postandcourier.com or 937-5763.