By Eric Curl
April 23, 2023 – It won’t be in time to enjoy the Graveface Records and Curiosities temporary pop-up shop that is opening there this year, but a Charlotte, NC-based developer says the Oglethorpe Mall will one day have hundreds of potential customers living right next door.
Madison Capital Group is moving forward with plans to demolish the vacant Sears on the mall’s west end and construct a 240-unit apartment complex on the site. The company submitted a building permit application for the project this month, more than a year after the Savannah City Council approved the company’s petition to rezone the property from commercial to multi-family residential in February 2022.
The company is now looking to start construction in the next 30 to 60 days, Executive Managing Director Ross Rabun said Friday.
“We’re excited to get it rolling,” Rabun said.
The proposed complex is comprised of five 48-unit buildings, two of which are to be built where the Sears store currently stands vacant after closing in 2018. Plans for the four commercial outparcels that surround the planned apartments are still being determined, Rabun said.
MCG purchased the property for $9 million in 2021 and submitted the rezoning petition for the project that November, as reported by Savannah Agenda. The company is currently planning a similar development at another closed Sears in Asheville, Rabun said.
The proposed project comes as malls in Savannah and throughout the country face declining popularity and an uncertain future.
With the apartment project, the mall is happy to have the foot traffic and the residents will have the convenience of being able to shop right outside their doors, Rabun said.
“It works for everyone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ryan Graveface says he hopes to open his pop-up record and oddities shop at the mall in about two weeks, bringing a bit of life and locally owned business to the building.
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