Starland Village work resumes, power outage ensues
The resumed demolition of a former school building as part of a long planned mixed-use development in the Starland District led to the power outage of about 20 customers on Thursday, according to Georgia Power.
The outage surrounding the property at 2201 Bull St. began at about 6:15 p.m. and power was restored at about 9:45 p.m. after Georgia Power repaired the damage from the demolition, according to a company spokesperson.
The building is being demolished to make way for a 5-story, 58-unit apartment building being built by Foram Development as part of a long planned development dubbed Starland Village.
The demolition work, as well as the development, which has been planned since at least 2017, has been taking longer than anticipated.
Earlier this year, a partner told Savannah Agenda that the demolition of the school building would be complete in May and construction would begin in July. The partner, Victor Apat, with Equus Development Partners, did not immediately respond to a call for comment on Friday.
Colonial Group shells out $30M to buy Savannah Morning News building
Colonial Group, Inc. the parent company of Colonial Oil and the Enmarket convenience store chain, purchased the former Savannah Morning News building for $30 million on July 12, according to sales records.
The company announced in a press release Thursday that it plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the 3-story office building, at 1375 Chatham Parkway, which includes 145,000 square feet of warehouse space previously used as a newspaper press and distribution facility.
Colonial’s Savannah area employees currently work in eight different offices that have reached or are nearing capacity, according to a statement issued by President and CEO Christian Demere.
“This location will create a more collaborative atmosphere for our employees, which will allow us to better support our operations and accommodate our needs as we continue to grow,” Demere said.
Employees of the Savannah Morning News vacated the building earlier this year as the publication’s former owner, Augusta-based Morris Communications, made preparations, including the dismantling of the newspaper press, to sell the property it had built for the newspaper in 2003. Morris sold the publication in 2017. Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, acquired SMN about two years later through a merger.
Savannah Morning News staff now work remotely.
Demos, apt complex proposed for East Broad at Gwinnett
The developer behind the planned Starland Village development is proposing to construct another mixed-use apartment complex along East Broad Street on nine parcels between East Gwinnett and East Bolton streets.
Foram Development is petitioning to construct the complex consisting of two 5-story buildings with about 200 units on the upper floors, retail and restaurant space on the ground level and an underground parking garage.
Located in an area listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Eastside-Meadows-Collinsville Historic District, the site includes a now vacant lot at 810 East Broad St. where the Faith on the Move Ministries church was demolished in 2021, along with currently affordable housing that would be demolished to make way for the project, according to Metropolitan Planning Commission staff.
While the National Register district designation provides federal tax incentives for rehabilitation of historic properties, the area is not protected by a local historic overlay district that would prevent the demolition of historic structures. Of the seven structures within the subject property, five of them were identified as contributing to the historic character of the Eastside district in the National Register nomination. The buildings include one-story, side-by-side duplexes at 610-612 and 614-16 Bolton Street and 611-613 and 615-617 Bolton Lane.
The petition to rezone the site from TC-2 (Traditional Commercial-2) district to a S-PD (Small-Planned Development) was scheduled to go before the MPC on July 11, but the meeting was postponed to July 25 due to a lack of a quorum.
