By Eric Curl
Feb. 29, 2020 – An application was submitted on Feb. 26 to renovate a former Savannah fire station at 7 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for use as a restaurant. The city sold the building to Rockbridge Capital for about $1.14 million in 2016, according to the property records.
The former fire station is now owned by Riddick Lynch, according to the renovation application. Lynch is the co-owner of Poe’s Tavern, a small restaurant chain with locations located in Sullivan’s Island, S.C.; Atlantic Beach, Fla.; and Wrightsville Beach, N.C. The restaurant is best known for their gourmet hamburgers and broad lineup of craft beers, according to the website.
Records show the building was built in 1970 and it is not listed as a contributing structure to the downtown Historic District, according to this Savannah Morning News article I wrote back in my reporting days in 2015. Rockbridge used the building as a staffing office while building the adjacent Alida hotel, as described in this Savannah Morning News article I wrote in 2016.