By Eric Curl
March 1, 2026 – There is something more to the old furniture store than you might think — hinted at by the chimneys poking out of the top.
The existing warehouse building at 2324 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was constructed in 1975, but it enveloped two wood-frame houses built sometime between 1898 and 1916, incorporating and largely obscuring what remained of those earlier structures within the larger commercial building. Hence the chimneys. The building, vacant for about five years, most recently housed the Westside Furniture Company, which has been shut down for about five years.
What remains inside is a key question that led to the Savannah Historic Preservation Commission’s decision on Wednesday to deny a petition to demolish the structure to make way for a housing development.
The demolition request was first presented to the commission in October, where it was continued to allow for further investigation of historic structures within the building. The petitioner, Samuel Kopelman, said that when drywall was removed to explore the enclosed historic structures portions of the buildings partially collapsed due to a lack of interior structural support.
In January, the petition was again continued with specific conditions requiring surgical demolition on the south and north facades and the salvage of internal building materials.
Kopelman said that the building is a non-contributing commercial structure that had been converted from individual residences into a single retail shop 50 years ago. He said that the building had been “vertically integrated” with steel beams, and all of the plumbing, electrical and windows had been “gutted out.”
Kopelman said the surgical demolition conditions imposed by the commission “would not yield the desired results and will disturb the outer building envelope.” He argued that the financial investment required to salvage any remaining historic elements is not economically viable.
Commissioners expressed ongoing concerns about what they said was a lack of adequate investigation into potential historic fabric within the structure.
“I still have a problem with it being demolished,” said commissioner Scott Krotzer. “I think some things have been misunderstood or misrepresented. The building envelope will not be hurt by what we talked about surgically inspecting this.”
Commissioner Courtney Bonney said it was difficult to make an informed decision.
“We were seeking additional information from the applicant and on our end, it’s been confusing as to why those requests … There hasn’t been a lot of great communication,” Bonney said.
Commissioner Kathy Ledvina said there was a real opportunity to save some “hidden historic gems” in the neighborhood.
“Unfortunately, with the continued demolition from the interior, we were unable to do that,” Ledvina said.
As a result of the demolition denial, two related new construction applications for 402 West 40th St. and 404 West 40th St. were continued until the May 27 meeting. The two postponed projects each involve plans to construct a two-story quadplex. Both lots are currently vacant and include portions of the MLK building. Approval of the new construction was contingent upon approval of the demolition of the structure.
The broader proposal called for four quadplexes – 16 aparemtns – across four adjacent lots along West 40th Street, restoring what staff described as a historically residential development pattern reflected in 1955/1966 Sanborn maps. Staff had recommended approval of the quadplexes with some design conditions.
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