Posted: June 1, 2012 - 12:21am | Updated: June 1, 2012 - 10:16am
By
 |
| By Jennifer Branch |
Plans for Georgia Power’s four-plus acre site that includes the company’s former region headquarters and nearly three acres of riverfront property were unveiled Thursday during a specially called meeting of the Savannah Historic District Board of Review.
The plans call for a hotel, 500-space parking garage, four small retail buildings and a park on the waterfront property currently devoted to a fenced-off parking lot and greenspace formerly utilized by Georgia Power. Another new hotel is to be built next to the existing Georgia Power office building on the south side of River Street.
The project represents an $80 million to $100 million investment, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Georgia Power spokeswoman Swann Seiler confirmed the property is under contract for sale. She anticipates the deal closing by the end of the year.
However, the project is contingent on the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission and Savannah City Council agreeing to amend the Historic District Height Map. The change would allow the would-be developer to build part of the riverfront hotel as well as the parking garage to a height equal to the Georgia Power office building across the street.
The hotel/garage property is currently subject to the two-story restriction imposed on new construction along the waterfront side of River Street east of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The limit is meant to protect views of the river from the bluff and the properties located on the south side of River Street.
The hotel developer, Northpoint Hospitality Group, argues part of the property sits east of the bluff’s edge and where River Street joins General McIntosh Blvd. Building to a greater height therefore won’t impede views, according to Northpoint, and the building will still be shorter than the neighboring Savannah Marriott Riverfront. The Marriott sits just outside the Historic District boundary.
The Savannah Historic District Board of Review disagrees. The board discussed the height map change Thursday. A five-story hotel on the waterfront will block river views from the bluff, board members agreed.
The board technically has no jurisdiction over the proposed amendment but will forward a letter, crafted during Thursday’s meeting, to the planning commission recommending it reject the change.
“The site in question has a historic role as a viewing corridor between the eastern edge of the bluff north of Bay Street and the river,” the letter will read. “Views should be considered a vital component of the historic district and a factor in the context of visual compatibility. The (board) believes the existing map best preserves the visual character of the riverfront between Bay Street and the Savannah River.”
The MPC will take up the issue Tuesday and will issue a recommendation, for or against, on the map amendment. Savannah City Council will then decide whether to approve or deny the request.
If approved, the project would still be subject to normal review processes conducted by the MPC and the Historic Review Board.
Georgia Power’s Seiler is optimistic the project will move forward.
“It is our intention to work with the purchaser in the coming months as potential changes and modifications are vetted through the various review board processes as needed,” Seiler wrote in an email.
The proposed development would transform the east end of the waterfront and essentially extend the River St. commercial corridor all the way to the Marriott. The first of the four waterfront retail buildings would sit at the eastern edge of Morrell Park near the foot of the East Broad Street ramp.
The retail complex is broken into four buildings with walkways between each to ensure pedestrian connectivity to and sightlines of the river. The riverfront hotel sits east of the retail buildings and stretches past the ferry boat landing.
The riverwalk frames the property.
Georgia Power’s office building will remain as part of the complex, although its use has yet to be determined. The developer plans to construct a pedestrian walkway between the office building and its neighboring hotel that would provide a new connection between Bay Street and River Street.
Release of the project’s plans ends – at least temporarily – nearly three years of speculation about the future of the property. Georgia Power announced it would list the site for sale in September 2009.
Georgia Power and its predecessor, Savannah Electric Power Co., occupied the property from the opening of the office building in 1961 until relocating to its new headquarters on Reynolds Square in January 2011. The original building once featured a sales showroom and three demonstration kitchens. Home economists staffed the kitchens and offered cooking lessons as well as demonstrations in the latest all-electric appliances.
The building long hosted community meetings in an auditorium. And economic development officials once utilized the fifth-floor veranda overlooking the river to welcome visitors and dignitaries to Savannah.
ABOUT THE BUILDING
Located at the east end of Bay Street, the 4.1-acre Georgia Power property includes a 50,000-square-foot, five-story, brick building and nearly 3 acres of parking.
ABOUT NORTHPOINT HOSPITALITY
Northpoint Hospitality is based in Atlanta and operates five Savannah-area hotels, including the SpringHill Suites, the DoubleTree and the Hilton Garden Inn in the Historic District.
SAVANNAH HISTORIC BOARD OF REVIEW RECOMMENDATION
The historic review board will forward a letter recommending rejection of the proposed text amendment to the Historic District Height Map. The letter will read as follows.
“Historically, buildings along the north side of River Street were no more than two stories (except for a small portion, the now lost Neal Blun warehouse on the site of the Hyatt). The site in question has a historic role as a viewing corridor between the eastern edges of the bluff north of Bay Street and the river. The historic Harbour Light was always visible from the river. Further east, the 18th century Fort Wayne (along the northeast edge of the Trustees Garden) maintained an open view to the river. Views should be considered a vital component of the historic district and a factor in the context of visual compatibility.
“The Savannah Board of Historic Review recommends that the MPC reject any effort to alter, amend or change the two stories above River Street and three stories above Bay Street portions of the existing Historic District Height Map. The BHR believes the existing map best preserves the visual character of the riverfront between Bay Streets and the Savannah River.”
A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga
No comments:
Post a Comment