By Eric Curl
July 14, 2021 update – This story has been updated to include Chatham County’s request for proposals to dredge slip 1 for the planned marina.
July 6, 2021 -The construction fencing is installed, the office trailer onsite, the ground cleared, and permitting is ongoing. About 10 years after Savannah businessman John Cay and his development group, Savannah Harbor Associates, announced plans to extend Savannah’s downtown to Hutchinson Island, work has finally started on that $400 million vision.
“Yes, construction at Savannah Harbor is finally underway,” Cay said in an email on June 25.
Known as Savannah Harbor Parcel 5, the 27-acre site along the Savannah River and east of the Westin is where the development group said it planned to develop housing, retail and lodging, along with a public waterfront park, medical complex and marina. Construction of the bulkhead at Savannah Harbor is complete and Chatham County is putting out a request for proposals to dredge the marina, Cay said in an email on July 1.
In March, Savannah Harbor Partners, which purchased the property for $5 million in 2019, secured the site development permit for one mixed-use development building, one multifamily residential building, a parking garage and associated amenities, as well as the roads, water, sewer and drainage infrastructure to support the development. A clearing and grading permit for a commercial building was issued shortly after in April, the same month Savannah Harbor Partners sold a portion of the site to Raleigh-based Savannah Harbor Apartments for $4.9 million. An application for a clearing and grading permit for the second phase of the development was submitted on June 24.
The developer’s request to rezone the site and create the planned development was approved by the Savannah City Council in November 2019. During the same meeting, the mayor and aldermen also approved a development agreement to help fund public infrastructure such as streets and sidewalks using tax revenue generated by the development.
Activity at the site comes following the start of the Savannah Convention Center expansion project to the west. To meet the safety needs that will accompany the developments, the city in 2015 accepted donated property across the street from the development site to build a public safety facility.
Meanwhile, the development of a separate residential development near the Talmadge Bridge , The Reserve at Savannah Harbor, remains stalled. While some homes have been built, most of what was to be Hutchinson Island’s first residential development consists of vacant, undeveloped lots. The amenities building is boarded up with a tattered community sign next to it that reads “Coming Soon.” Many of the lots were recently scheduled by the city to be sold in auction only for the owed taxes to be paid off in time for the properties to be removed from the list of available properties.
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