Hotel utility work damages historic building, shuts down downtown bar

Work related to providing the electricity needs of a new downtown hotel recently damaged the adjacent three-story historic building, shutting down a downtown bar, Abe’s on Lincoln, that operates on the ground level.

The installation of an in-ground electrical vault by Georgia Power at the northeast corner of the mid-19th-century building at 226 E. Bryan St. resulted in some “significant settling and cracking” in the street level masonry wall, according to correspondence submitted Sept. 22 with building permit documents.

A Georgia Power spokesperson said Sept. 26 they were unaware of any damage caused by the company, but they would look into the incident. The spokesperson did not provide comment in time for publication.

The correspondence from JDR Construction & Design’s John Roberts said his company was issued an “emergency repair” permit for the foundation work after contacting the city about the incident.

Roberts did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Sept. 26. 

Abe’s owner, Brian Huskey, said on Sept. 26 that his bar had to shut down due to the incident and the repairs were supposed to take about two weeks to complete. Huskey said he is now trying to get some compensation from the hotel’s developer, who now serves as his landlord, for the closure to pay his six employees who were put out of work.

“That’s where I’m starting at least,” he said.

Noble Investment Group, which purchased the property in April 2022, as part of the hotel development did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Sept. 27. The Atlanta-based developer is constructing a seven-story, 154-room Tempo brand Hilton at the adjacent site after demolishing a four-story, non-historic office building there.

Constructed in 1852-1853, the building that houses Abe’s is also used as a short-term vacation rental on the top floors. Plans had initially been to relocate the structure, as well as another historic property to its immediate north, but the structure was left in place instead and incorporated into the hotel plan. The two-story, 19th-century structure to the north was deconstructed by Repurpose Savannah last year after it was found to be structurally unsound by a Chatham County Recorder’s Court judge.

Savannah’s historic Realty Building building sold for $14 million to New York corporation

Another prominent office building in Savannah’s downtown Historic District was recently sold, with the buyer paying almost double the closing cost of the ten-story structure in late 2017.

A subsidiary of Arlington, VA-based Northridge Capital sold the historic Realty Building at 24 Drayton St. for $14.2 million on Sept. 14, according to public records. Northridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Sept. 26.

The building’s buyer, New York-based Teton Tanya LLC, was formed in April by Paul Xuereb, according to state business records. Xuereb is a property manager with New York-based Tri-Star Equities, where his role includes “attentive and individualized care” to select buildings and their owners and strategic planning of building projects, upgrades and upkeep, according to the company’s website. Teton Tanya also shares an address with one of Tri-Star’s New York offices. Xuereb did not immediately respond to a request for comment made Sept. 26.

Constructed in 1924, the Realty Building between Johnson and Reynolds Square was added as a contributing resource within the downtown Historic District in 1985.

The sale comes about six years since Northbridge purchased the building in Nov. 2017 for $7.9 million. At the time the building had achieved a 96.98% occupancy to a diverse mix of 18 tenants, according to a press release regarding the acquisition. Some of the tenants currently include Ameris Bank, JE Dunn Construction and the Law Offices Of Daniel C. Jenkins, along with Aleksandra’s Gift Shop on the ground level.

The sale follows the recent sale of two other downtown office buildings. New York-based LEFT LANE is converting the Manger building at Johnson Square from office building into a hotel, the historic building’s original use. In addition, Marriott recently acquired the HunterMaclean building at 200 East Saint Julian St.

This article appears in Connect Savannah | October, 2023.