By Eric Curl
Jan. 17, 2023 – Hash browns and hops may soon converge at the corner of East Anderson and Paulsen streets.
The owner of a local microbrewery got the initial OK on Tuesday after unveiling plans to open a diner at 1401 Paulsen St., where a former laundromat has been sitting boarded up and vacant for years.
The Metropolitan Planning Commission approved Two Tides Brewing owner Liz Massey’s petition to rezone the site in order to open the restaurant, while also supporting her request for a special-use permit to allow a microbrewery to operate at the location.
The restaurant will be open 24 hours while beer service will be cut off at 12 a.m. on the weekdays and 1 a.m. on the weekends, as approved Tuesday.
The board’s vote is a recommendation only and the zoning change and permit will have to be approved by the Savannah City Council to go into effect.
While Two Tides beer will also be brewed at the site, it will be at a greatly reduced scale compared to the Starland location, Massey said. State law prohibits her from owning another business that serves alcohol if it isn’t a brewery, so licensing the business as a microbrewery is the only way to be able to serve beer there, she said.
The board’s approval, which was recommended by staff, came after Massey held two meetings on the site last month to discuss the plans with residents. About 200 letters of support were also submitted ahead of the board’s vote.
Surrounded mostly by single-family homes, the property is currently zoned TN-3 (Traditional Neighborhood-3), which is s “intended to allow limited neighborhood-serving uses and mixed uses located in predominately residential areas,” according to the MPC staff report. The proposed TC-1 (Traditional Commercial-1) district “provides for commercial areas that are developed at a mass and scale harmonious with nearby residential neighborhoods.”
“The zoning proposal would most likely not adversely affect the usability of adjacent properties or nearby properties,” the staff report states. “Any adverse effect would depend on how the commercial use is managed and the fact that the petitioner has applied for a Special Use permit, where conditions may be applied to mitigate any adverse effects.”
The building, which once housed a dry cleaners and laundry business, sat boarded up and vacant for many years before Vintage Home Restoration’s owner Michael Condon acquired the building in 2018 and renovated the structure.
If the zoning change and brewing permit is approved, the building will need some additional work – including the installation of windows, electric, restrooms, air-conditioning and a staircase – before the business will be ready to open its doors, Massey said.
The diner concept comes more than four years after Massey and her husband, James Massey, opened Two Tides Brewing in March of 2018. The brewery and bar is located at 12 W. 41st St. in the Streetcar Historic District – also branded as the Starland District – south of downtown.
