By Eric Curl
Oct. 7, 2021 – After sitting vacant for about seven years, the historic St. Paul’s Academy building may soon be restored and put to use.
The Savannah College of Art and Design recently sold the 121-year-old building for $920,000 to Chatham 38th St School, LLC, which is planning to rehabilitate the building for use as a 27-unit apartment building.
In addition to the school building at 315 West 38th St., the developer also purchased SCAD property across the street for $930,000, which includes two residential structures and three adjacent vacant lots, where the buyer is planning to construct six attached townhouses. The university paid a total of about $326,000 for the residential properties and vacant lots between 2014 and 2018, according to property records.
SCAD purchased the St. Paul’s property for $900,000 in 2014 with plans to rehabilitate the structure for classroom use, but the building remains boarded up and unused. On Sept. 3, the Chatham County Board of Assessors approved staff’s recommendation to remove a tax exemption SCAD obtained for the property in 2019, after the nonprofit university failed to move forward with the building’s rehabilitation. Tax exempt properties can lose their exemption if no improvements are made within a two-year period, according to the assessor board’s policy. SCAD has 45 days to appeal the decision.
A field audit of the property and the board’s vote came after progressive policy advocates Better Savannah brought up the SCAD building and the board’s 2-year policy regarding tax exempt properties during an interview (1:01:20 mark) with Assessors Board Chairman Terry Tolbert.
“I didn’t know anything about that issue,” Tolbert said at the time. “I certainly will check into it.”
Returning to the tax rolls
Prior to successfully applying for the exemption in 2019, SCAD had paid property taxes on the historic school building. In addition, SCAD has been paying taxes on the unused properties across the street because there are additional requirements for obtaining the tax exemption, other than just being a nonprofit, according to Chief Appraiser Roderick Conley.
“Exemptions are initiated by the taxpayer through an application process,” Conley said via email. “They are then considered by the Board on a case by case basis.”
A SCAD spokesperson did not respond to emails seeking comment on the removal of the tax exemption or why the university did not move forward with the rehabilitation plans.
The St. Paul’s building was set to return to the tax rolls, regardless of whether the exemption was removed. Chatham 38th St School, had contracted to purchase the property prior to the assessors board’s vote, but had been waiting to get some zoning changes and preservation tax credits approved before closing on the property, said Cabretta Capital President Brent Watts, whose Savannah-based finance firm provided the tax credit equity for the purchase. The company closed on the sale on Sept. 17 after gaining preliminary approval for state tax credits for the preservation project, Watts said. As a private business, the new owner will pay property taxes on the building, he said.
Smaller, market rate apartments planned
The petition to rezone the property for the apartment project was approved by the Savannah City Council during the July 22 meeting. That vote allowed for 27 units, compared to the 16 units the previous zoning allowed for, Watts said.
The apartment rates have not yet been determined and will be dictated by the market, but because the units will be smaller they will be cheaper than apartment buildings with larger units of comparable quality, Watts said.
“We are very grateful to city council and especially Mayor Van Johnson who understood that the smaller units would be better for the city and the neighborhood,” he said.
The council’s vote followed the Historic Preservation’s Commission’s approval of the company’s April petition to rehabilitate the building.
Work will begin immediately and the school building should be finished in late spring next year, while the townhouse will take a longer to complete, Watts said. Meanwhile, the existing houses will get a major exterior facelift and landscaping, he said.
About St. Paul’s
Constructed in 1900, the St. Paul’s building is a contributing resource within the Thomas Square-Streetcar National Register Historic District and the local Streetcar Historic District. The building was owned and occupied by the Chatham County Board of Education up until 1992. Between the years of 1992-2014, the property transitioned to the St. Paul Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and was converted to be St. Paul’s Academy for Boys. Founder Rev. Henry Delaney Jr. established the school to educate young Black men who were in the juvenile system or were not doing well in a traditional school setting. St. Paul’s Academy closed in 2014.
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