By Eric Curl
March 18, 2023 – The developer behind a planned affordable housing complex on former city property recently submitted plans to construct the commercial component of the project.
The developer is proposing to build a one-story building for use as a restaurant on the site at 1705 Abercorn St. in the Streetcar Historic District, where a small parking lot currently exists.
Located at the corner of 33rd Lane and Abercorn, the proposed building is in a mixed-use zoning district and directly adjacent to a two story building used as a law office.
Such single story commercial projects within the district are common, according to the petition submitted by Greenline Architecture’s submission.
“Historical maps for this area also reflect a history of one and two-story buildings,” the petition states. “The design of the new building will blend into the same historical patterning.”
The plan was scheduled to go before the Historic Preservation Commission at the March 22 meeting, but has been continued to April due to public notification signage not being posted for the required length of time, according to Metropolitan Planning Commission Executive Director Melanie Wilson.
The 1,828-square-foot lot is one of three parcels the Pinyan/Procida Development Group acquired from the city for $750,000 in late 2021, as approved that February by the Savannah City Council. The city sold the properties to the development group for the purpose of building affordable housing after the city’s Code Compliance Department building at the site was destroyed in a fire in 2020. In addition to the housing component and parking on the two larger parcels, the approved plan also included commercial space at the site of the proposed restaurant.
The developer is now planning to submit another application to obtain competitive state low-income housing tax credits for the planned 42-unit apartment complex, after two failed attempts over the past two years.
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