Written by Marian Carrasquero
The pedestrian friendly Broughton Street has recently become an “unpleasant stroll” for locals and tourists according to Laura Manrique, a fourth-year advertising major from Bogota, Colombia.
“There are constructions and renovations in so many buildings happening right now and the leasing propaganda and construction sights can be seen from any point in Broughton, ” said Manrique, who moved to Savannah three years ago.
These changes come with the arrival of Atlanta-based developer Ben Carter. Carter bought many of the retail spaces on Broughton Street for a redevelopment project called “The Broughton Street Collection.”
The Broughton Street Collection isn’t Carters’ only project in Savannah. The Tanger Outlets, consisting of 400,000 square-feet of retail, are another one of the firm’s projects that they hope will better accomodate the Savannah area. They are located on I-95 near the Savannah International Airport and have more than 120 acres containing the outlet mall, a children’s play area, and a peripheral retail development site.
According to the Ben Carter enterprise website the project will include renovations in retail, restaurant, residential and office spaces in the heart of historic downtown Savannah.
“I’m glad we are going to have more stores now but the majority of them are going to be too expensive for the student market,” said Manrique. “I’m not sure if they are going to survive.”
Manrique is not the only one who sees the renovations as risky.
“The vacancy rate on this block alone is over fifty percent right now,” said Stacey Arai, owner and manager of Cardeologie, a card and gift store that opened on Broughton Street over three years ago. “Either you had current leases or you had to leave.”
Arai’s business isn’t affected by the tax raises and rent increases that come with The Broughton Street Collective
because of a five year lease she signed two years ago with the building’s owner. Hers is one of the few building
that Carter hasn’t purchased for renovation. The resulting decreases in sales due to construction and lack of parking on the street, however, have affected her business
Locals should expect more changes in the coming years.
Developers are asking the Savannah City Council and the Chatham County Commission to approve a Tax Allocation District (TAD). This means that in a defined area including the eight block segment from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Lincoln Street along Broughton Street’s real estate taxes will be allocated to the specific use of this project for a time period of about 25 years.
The Ben Carter enterprise is also proposing the implementation of a Community Improvement District (CID) that would raise the taxes in order to maintain the new improvements brought to Broughton Street. The CID will only pass if the majority of property owners affected agree to the proposal. Carter would like the City Council to approve the TAD by the end of October and the CID to be in place by next summer in advance of 2015 tax bills.
The affected areas consist of 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant spaces as well as renovation of the upper-level floors into apartments for students, young professionals, and military members.
In an interview for the Savannah Morning news, Carter said that the project took what he considered to be uncared for buildings and spaces and restored them to “bring Broughton Street back to its splendor.”
Locals like Manrique have already seen big name stores such as J. Crew, Kate Spade, L’Occitane, Lululemon and Club Monaco open on the street. Manrique said that H&M is probably going to be one of the more popular stores for students because of the low prices and fashionable apparel. These brand named stores take the places of locally owed stores.
“Carter gave building owners money to move, maybe that would have benefitted us as well, I dont know,” said Arai.
Arai said she doesn’t know what the long term benefits or risks of this whole project will be, but what she does know is that for now the all-at-once redevelopment project brought unexpected consequences that are not necessarily benefitting independent businesses.
