By Eric Curl
Aug. 20, 2023 – The Bull Street corridor between Victory Drive and DeRenne Avenue is going to look a lot different 10 years from now, with the way things are going. Actually, five years from today you may not even recognize the place.
An auto repair shop will be replaced with a mixed-use apartment complex as a Richmond Hill-based company moves forward with plans to construct a multi-family housing complex with ground floor retail use along Bull near Nathanael Greene Park.
To accommodate Live Oak Living LLC’s project between 59th and 60th streets the Metropolitan Planning Commission voted on Aug. 15 to recommend approval of the developer’s request to rezone residential property at 20 West 60th St. to Traditional Commercial.
The parcel is proposed to contain a small portion of a 3-story apartment building and off-street parking for residents. The total development is expected to contain about 63 market-rate dwellings across five buildings, consisting of studios and one, two, three and four-bedroom units. The proposed project comes after Live Oak Living purchased the project site, which includes the now-closed Daiss Service Center building on Bull, for almost $1.5 million in December last year.
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The parcel being considered for rezoning contains a single-family home that appears to have been used in association with the adjoining automobile salvage and repair business, as the yard contains several non-functioning automobiles, according to the staff report. The subject parcel contains about 11% of the total 1.6-acre area proposed for development. The remaining 1.42 acres currently has the zoning designation required for mixed-use commercial and residential development.
Overall, the development is proposed to have more than the required number of off-street parking spaces and the site is also accessible by Chatham Area Transit. Whether the project moves forward will be contingent upon MPC staff approval of a general development plan consistent with the conceptual site plan submitted with the rezoning petition.
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The project received a letter of support from the Ardsley Park-Chatham Crescent Neighborhood Association, which thinks the development is “important as a small step to mitigate the critical housing shortage in Savannah,” according to a letter submitted by association President Scott Anderson.
The Feiler Park Neighborhood Association is opposed to the project due to concerns about the traffic it will generate and other impacts to the community, according to a letter from President Betty Jones, who noted a nearby apartment complex is also proposed to be built behind the JEA at 67th Street and Bull.
At 61st and Bull, the building that previously housed the Bowen used appliance store has a for-sale sign in the window.
Meanwhile, a Washington, DC-based developer recently submitted plans to construct a 181-unit apartment complex on a partially developed 2-acre lot at 45th and Bull streets, just south of Victory Drive, as previously reported.
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