A Washington, DC-based developer recently submitted plans to construct a 181-unit apartment complex on a partially developed 2-acre lot at 45th and Bull streets, just south of Victory Drive.
The site plan submitted by the MED Developers shows a multi-family complex with a shared pool taking up most of the property, which currently includes an undeveloped grass lot, a 2-story apartment building and the Bull Street Estate Sales & Consignments shop. Both buildings on the site would be demolished to make way for the complex. The project and demolition does not include a connected building to the north that houses the Late Air wine bar restaurant, which is located on a separate parcel.
MED Developers, which did not respond to requests for comment, purchased the property for $2.4 million in June 2022, according to property records.
A previous developer, Development Associates Partners, had sought a height variance for a different project on the site, along with another parcel to the south, in 2020. The developer withdrew the petition after city zoning officials opposed the variance, which would have increased the permitted height from 3 stories up to 45 feet to 4 stories up to 50 feet.
The site plan submitted by MED Developers does not include the height of the proposed complex.
Bull Street Estates owner Lisa Arcos said that the property’s owner informed her in January that they would have to relocate the business she has run with her husband for about 15 years – first as an auction house in the back before moving to the front as a consignment shop about 2.5 years ago. Due to “skyrocketing” cost of Savannah’s commercial properties, it took a while to find a spot, Arcos said, but they were fortunate to find a new location at 1101 Eisenhower, where they will be moving the business to at the end of the month.
“I had planned on shutting it down because I wasn’t able to find anything I could afford and then this building came open at just the right time,” she said.
