By Eric Curl
July 22, 2021 update – Cabretta Capital’s petition to rezone the property was approved by the Savannah City Council on July 22 in a 6-3 vote. Mayor Van Johnson joined Aldermen Bernetta Lanier, Detric Leggett, Nick Palumbo, Kurtis Purtee and Estella Shabazz in supporting the petition, while Alicia Miller Blakely, Linda Wilder-Bryan and Kesha Gibson-Carter voted against the change.
April 25, 2021 (original story) – Savannah-based design firm LS3P Associates is petitioning the Historic Preservation Commission to rehabilitate the historic St. Paul’s Academy building at 315 West 38th St. for use as an apartment building, according to the April 28 meeting agenda. Staff is recommending approval of the rehab project, which the design firm states will allow for a planned 27 apartments.
The Savannah College of Art and Design is contracted to sell the building to Cabretta Capital, a Savannah-based company that describes itself as a specialty finance firm with expertise in structured tax credit equity and opportunity zone funds.
The company is waiting to be approved for historic preservation tax credits for the project before closing on the sale, which they are hoping will occur this summer, said President Brent Watts. They will also have to rezone the site to allow for the density they are seeking, Watts said. The building will include efficiency and one-bedroom apartments that should rent for about 30% less than its competitors that offer a little more square footage, he said.
SCAD purchased the building for $900,00 in 2014 to rehabilitate for classrooms, as described in this 2015 Savannah Morning News article I wrote in my reporting days, but the plan never came to fruition.
The historic building was constructed in 1900 and is a contributing resource within the Thomas Square-Streetcar National Register Historic District and the local Streetcar Historic District. Up until 1992, the property was owned and occupied by the Chatham County Board of Education as a school, according to a history of the building LS3P submitted as part of the petition. Between the years of 1992-2014, the property transitioned to the St. Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and was converted to be St. Paul’s Academy for Boys. Founder Rev. Henry Delaney Jr. established the school to educate young Black men who were in the juvenile system or were not doing well in a traditional school setting. St. Paul’s Academy closed in 2014.
Subscribe to Savannah Agenda
[email-subscribers-form id=”1″]