By Eric Curl
April 7, 2024 – The C&S Furniture & Upholstery buildings at 2517 Bull St. and 2517 West 42nd St. will be converted into a “managed food hall” that would include bar uses and restaurants with alcohol sales, according to a petition going before the Metropolitan Planning Commission (Update: The MPC voted on April 9 to recommend approval of the special-use permit for the project. The petition will next go before the Savannah City Council for consideration.)
Starland Bull LLC owns the noncontributing, 1970s-era buildings in the Thomas Square Streetcar Historic District.
The planned food hall will consist of small, independently operated restaurants and bars within the existing structures, according to the MPC staff report.
While restaurant use is permitted by right in the zoning district, on-premises consumption of alcohol and bar uses require a Special Use Permit from the Savannah City Council.
Despite some concerns raised about parking at the Thomas Square neighborhood association meeting last month, MPC staff is recommending approval of the petition.
“The site is currently developed for commercial purposes and the requested use is not substantially dissimilar to others in the immediate vicinity,” the staff report says. “If properly regulated, the proposed use is unlikely to have a negative impact on adjacent properties.”
The proposed food hall plans come after the properties, along with a vacant lot at 2508 Whitaker St., were purchased for $2.4 million by Delaware-based Starland Bull LLC in December, according to sales records. The owner of C&S did not immediately respond to a request for comment left with an employee in January about the future of the business at the site. The wholesale company provides fabric, tools, and other materials to upholstery businesses locally and across the United States, and has been serving customers for more than 50 years, according to the website.
The buyer of the property, Starland Bull LLC, is not listed as a business on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website and could not be reached for comment.
A similar food hall concept is also being planned for a site on East Broad St. just outside the eastern border of the downtown Historic District, where the former East Side Theater is located, as previously reported. A Savannah-based development group recently acquired the theater as part of a plan to renovate the building for use as two small 50-seat theaters and a food hall with multiple smaller incubator kitchens and a shared eating space. An apartment complex is also planned behind the theater building.
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