By Eric Curl
July 13, 2022 (updated) – After initially being proposed about four years ago, an approved plan to construct a 7-story residential building at 2 Whitaker St. has resurfaced.
LS3P Associates Architects successfully sought approval of a minor amendment to the plan – a different type of window – at Wednesday’s Historic District Board of Review meeting.
The proposed building site is located at Whitaker and Bay where Moon River Brewing Company’s outdoor dining area and bar is located. The beer garden and bar – a one story structure approved by HDBR about 10 years ago – will be demolished as part of the project.
The HDBR approved the bar structure’s demolition along with the height and mass (known as Part I of the review process) of the proposed 7-story building on Dec. 18, 2018. As proposed in 2018, multiple ground floor active uses would be incorporated into the building, including the expansion of the Moon River restaurant, a beer garden and a residential lobby. On July 8, 2020, the HDBR approved the design and details of the project (Part II). The project’s approval was set to expire on May 28, 2022, however, the applicant submitted the amended application 14 days before that deadline.
The review board on Wednesday approved the amended plan (new windows) at staff’s recommendation.
In potentially related news, an application was recently submitted to demolish the catwalk to nowhere hovering behind Moon River over West Bay Lane. The skybridge, which protrudes from the building across the lane at 10 Whitaker St., connected to the building that used to stand where the beer garden is now, prior to be demolished in 2005.
Back in my reporting days with Savannah Morning News, I wrote a story about a lawsuit the city had filed in an attempt to get the owner to tear the structure down. At the time (2018) the case was eight years old.
More than a decade on, I’m not sure if the case was resolved or if the demo permit is connected to the new building, but I have a feeling most people will be glad to see the eyesore finally go.
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