By Eric Curl
Feb. 27, 2024 – A Savannah-based development group, which includes the owner of multiple local restaurants, recently acquired the former East Side Theater as part of a plan to renovate the building at 718 E. Broad St. and construct an apartment complex behind the structure.
The recently formed 718 East Broad LLC, which closed on the the property on Feb. 16 for $2.7 million, includes Ele Tran, whose Rhino Hospitality has opened 10 local restaurants and lounges throughout Savannah, including the popular Vault Kitchen & Market in a former bank. However, the development company behind the purchase is focused on community development and not just restaurants, according to the project’s architect, Jerome Elder .
“The collective wants to bring new life to a lot of these buildings that have been in Savannah sitting (unused),” Elder said last week.
The plan is to restore the 78-year-old building for use as two small 50-seat theaters and a food hall with multiple smaller incubator kitchens and a shared eating space similar to Atlanta’s Krog Street Market. The kitchens are expected to provide opportunities for those that may not have the opportunity to rent a space to start their restaurants.
The surrounding property is proposed to be developed as a mixed-use apartment complex comprised of three buildings and 75 to 85 apartments. The height variance approved in October will allow for parking on the first floor of one of the buildings, which is expected to help provide 130 spaces. At least 15 percent of the apartments will be more affordable “workforce housing,” Elder said prior to the variance’s approval.
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The project is in its early stages and a site plan that is “substantially consistent” with the conceptual plan presented at the zoning board meeting will have to be approved before construction can begin. Elder said the development team is hoping to begin construction late this year or in early 2025.
“It’s a pretty mighty project,” Elder said.
Not everyone is thrilled with the project moving forward, including Silvia de Paula, whose home is located directly behind the former theater. De Paula said she likes the idea of the theater itself being renovated, but is concerned about being “boxed in” by the apartment buildings and the amount of pedestrian and vehicular traffic that would accompany it.
Elder said that the development group plans to work with de Paula to address her concerns as they move forward.
There has been some opponents of the project, including the owner of a house located directly behind the theater. Eric Curl/Savannah Agenda
Built in 1946, the vacant building at 718 E. Broad St. originally served as a movie theater for black residents during segregation. The building was designed by architect Oscar M. Hansen and built by Fred G. Weis, who also built what is now Trustee Theater on Broughton Street. In more recent years, the building housed the Hungry World Mission and a storage warehouse.
Many of Savannah’s residents have shared memories of going to the theater when they were younger, and reminisced about using soda bottle caps to pay their way to watch Saturday matinees.
Feiler Park Neighborhood Association President Betty Jones said she used to walk with her friends from downtown’s westside to the theater in the 1950s when she was in elementary school. They would pay with their bottle caps and typically catch a cartoon or western, Jones said. She said she was looking forward to the building and its history being preserved and shared, noting that it is just outside of the protected downtown Historic District’s boundaries and across the street from the The Faith on the Move Ministries church that was demolished by a different developer in 2021.
“I don’t know why it’s not in historic area, just like the church that they tore down,” she said. “They seem to bypass those areas, but they ‘ve been there a long time and I’m glad that instead of tearing it down they are going to restore it.”
The acquisition of the theater property comes after Tran’s development group, the Rhino Collective, recently purchased two downtown buildings, including 120 Whitaker St., which previously housed the New Realm Brewing Company, in addition to a 19th-century building at 123 W. Oglethorpe Avenue.
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Much like West Broad Street (MLK Blvd) on the other side of town, East Broad Street was largely populated by African Americans in the 20th century. Movie theaters like the East Side Theater, the Melody Theater (now St James AME Church), and the Star Theater (now one of the vacant lots on the block) served the community during — and after — segregation. Despite being in poor shape, the iconic curved marquee makes this the last of the African-American theaters on East Broad to be easily recognizable. It is a significant building and I am beyond happy to see a plan for its rehabilitation as a restaurant.