By Eric Curl
May 22, 2024 – Former warehouses near downtown could become sources of fun instead of freight.
On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Planning Commission recommended approval a special use “indoor amusement” permit for a year-round haunted house in a warehouse at 100 West Lathrop Avenue.
The haunted house will focus on the history and legends of the Savannah area and highlight specific locations such as the Pirate’s House, Mercer House, and the Colonial Park Cemetery, according to the application submitted by a Dallas, Ga.-based corporation, The Haunted Savannah LLC. Customers will be able to walk through the simulated areas while encountering various animatronics and special effects, the application states.
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There are examples of similar businesses throughout the country, including Netherworld in Stone Mountain, Ga., said Attorney Robert McCorkle on behalf of the applicant.
“Interestingly theirs was not a creative re-use of an industrial property,” McCorkle said. “It was a creative re-use of an abandoned office park.”
The warehouse near West Bay Street and the Interstate 516 ramp is located in a light-industrial zone, but is surrounded by commercial properties that would allow similar business, according to MPC officials.
The special-use permit will next have to be approved by the Savannah City Council. In addition, a specific site plan will have to be approved by the MPC as a condition of the approval Tuesday.
The Lathrop building is not the only warehouse potentially being put to a new use. A plan was recently submitted to convert a warehouse at 4102 Meding St. for use as a pickleball court facility about four blocks north of the city-owned former fairgrounds site. The plan is currently under review by the city.
