By Eric Curl
Feb. 10, 2022 update – The rezoning petition for the project was approved by the Savannah City Council on Feb. 10, as recorded in the meeting minutes.
Nov. 1, 2021 – The black Ford Mustang burned rubber doing donuts outside the vacant Sears on Oglethorpe Mall’s west end. Evidence of similar muscle car maneuvers was visible on the tread marked parking lot that recent Sunday evening, about three years since the department store’s doors were shut for good. There may soon be more to offer at the site other than a prime place for car tricks. Poolside living so close to the food court that you can almost smell the Sbarros could be ahead.
A Charlotte, NC-based investment firm is planning to construct a 240-unit apartment complex on the 9.85-acre site bordered by Abercorn Street to the north and White Bluff Road to the west. The complex would be comprised of five 48-unit buildings, two of which would be built where the Sears store currently stands, according to the rezoning application Madison Capital Group submitted for the project. The firm is seeking to rezone the property from commercial to multi-family residential due to changing market conditions and the need for more housing, the company says.
“Both commercial and multifamily residential uses are suitable in this location but the City need and demand is for multifamily residential,” the application states. “Most apartments in the area are decades old. New quality apartments will be a benefit to the community.”
The Sears store closed in November 2018 after the company filed for bankruptcy the month before, according to this WTOC report. Madison purchased the property in April for $9 million, according to sales records. The property was previously owned by Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust spun off Sears Holdings to replace the department stores with higher-paying tenants. The property includes four parcels outside the apartment complex that are being advertised for lease by Atlantic Retail. The outparcels include two vacant buildings that previously housed a Sears Auto Center and a Golden Corral restaurant.
In the rezoning application, Madison Capital Group states that retail conditions in Savannah and throughout the country have changed and that adaptive re-use is necessary for such large retail tracts to avoid long term vacancy.
“There is little demand for large scale retail space,” the application states. “This project will fold into the parking and circulation of the mall and benefit adjacent properties by improving traffic flow and inserting customers on site.”
Madison Capital Group was founded in 2009 as a full service private equity real estate investment and development firm with a primary focus on the multifamily and self-storage sectors, according to its website. The firm’s founder and CEO, Ryan Hanks, is the founder of Go Store It, Madison’s wholly-owned self-storage operating company that has a location in Pooler.
The rezoning application states that the most reasonable use for the mall site as currently zoned is self-storage.
“However, there is a great need for multi-family residential on the southside and this site is ideally located for such use,” the application states.
The rezoning application is under review. To get approved, the application must first go to the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission for consideration and then forwarded to the Savannah City Council for a final decision.
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