By Eric Curl
March 16, 2024 – The Foram Group is once again proposing to develop a mixed-use complex with residential and commercial space along East Broad and East Gwinnett, following the Metropolitan Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny a similar plan last fall.
The latest proposal is scheduled to go before the Savannah City Council on March 28, when the mayor and council members will consider Foram’s request to rezone nine parcels to construct the complex. The proposed development will also be presented to the MPC on Tuesday, but for “information only,” according to the agenda – so the advisory board will not get a chance to make a recommendation concerning the revised plan. (Update: The proposal was postponed to the April 25 meeting.)
Foram is petitioning to establish development and design standards, including allowed uses and parking requirements, for the project area. The buildings would be permitted to be four stories in height and 185 residential units would be allowed within the planned development, under the proposal. Parking would be accommodated in the structure of the building or in an underground parking garage within the property boundaries.
The MPC voted to recommend denial of a similar plan on Nov. 7 after staffers advised them that there was “ample” opportunity to more appropriately develop the site under the current zoning. Foram’s attorney at the time said the development would not be feasible with current restrictions in place under the current zoning, which include limiting building heights to three stories and the site to 120 residential units.
Located in an area listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Eastside-Meadows-Collinsville Historic District, the site includes a now vacant lot at 810 East Broad St. where the Faith on the Move Ministries church was demolished in 2021, along with currently affordable housing that would be demolished to make way for the project.
While the National Register district designation provides federal tax incentives for rehabilitation of historic properties, the area is not protected by a local historic overlay district that would prevent the demolition of historic structures. Of the seven structures within the subject property, five of them were identified as contributing to the historic character of the Eastside district in the National Register nomination. The buildings, which would be demolished under the plan, include one-story, side-by-side duplexes at 610-612 and 614-16 Bolton Street and 611-613 and 615-617 Bolton Lane.
The Foram Group is behind the long stalled Starland Village mixed-use development in Savannah’s Thomas Square Streetcar Historic District on a two-block stretch of Bull Street. The project has not progressed much beyond the demolition of a former city building and partial demolition of a church school building where a 5-story, 58-unit apartment building is proposed to be built.
After months of delay, the resumed demolition of the former school led to the power outage last July, when a large portion of the structure collapsed onto power lines and the adjacent lane (watch video), as previously reported. The demolition has not resumed since the incident.
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The Foram Group should not be allowed to develop anything else in Savannah until they clean up their mess on Bull Street. The sidewalk is completely demolished creating a pedestrian nightmare, and the debris on-site is an unsightly mess. Enough! Don’t start another project until you finish the one you so poorly started.