Savannah River Landing, a 54-acre project planned for the low-lying lands directly east of downtown and north of President Street, mirrors the traits of SavannahÂ's celebrated Historic Landmark District.
Savannah River Landing, a 54-acre continuation of the downtown, is designed to replicate and extend OglethorpeÂ's vision.
The study, done by Urban Partners of Philadelphia, revealed not only the growth potential of the downtown but also the necessity of growth. "The analysis also notes that we need to encourage the 'Class A' office-space development to retain our current 'preeminent position' in the Class A market," said Lisa Sundrla, executive director of SDRA. "You've got older buildings, and not all of them are what you would consider Class A office space."
Until now, Savannah's picturesque, ultra-valuable historic downtown has been a bounded proposition. The stately appeal of western Bay Street dissolves to the west as it slides down into industrial and shipping yards. To the east of the Marriott-Riverfront, the street rides over low, soggy land lined with facilities that lack curb appeal: a waste water treatment facility, a liquid natural gas terminal, the Georgia Pacific plant and a men's transitional center. To the south are the long-standing residential neighborhoods of the Victorian District. And, of course, to the north lies the Savannah River.
Given these limits and an intensifying need for expansion, local civic planners recently began asking a bold question: What if the historic district...kept going?
Jules Paderewski, a local dentist-turned-developer, has a bold answer. Partnering with the city and Ambling Land & Resort, a large-scale regional developer, Paderewski has spearheaded Savannah River Landing, a $700- to $900-million project contiguous to the downtown's east side along President Street and an aesthetic continuation of the Historic Landmark District.
Wes Taubel, project manager for Ambling Land & Resort, told a recent luncheon meeting of the Savannah Area Convention and Visitors Bureau that the design maintains consistency with James Oglethorpe's original concept for Savannah, including six public squares modeled after the Historic Landmark District's squares, buildings pulled up to the sidewalk and mixed-use structures.
The 54-acre project breaks ground this month. Filling in the swampy lowlands started in February, about the time the property was rezoned to a downtown expansion zone. Construction is expected to get underway during the first half of 2007, with 16 months of site development to follow.
By the time it is completed in an estimated five to 10 years, the project will include 11 mid-rise buildings. Among them will be a 200-key luxury hotel, a 150- to 180-key boutique hotel, four condominium buildings and an office building, as well as an extension of the River Walk and a series of riverfront "estate" homes complete with carriage houses.
"This development is unusual," said Sundrla. "This is probably the largest-scale development that downtown has seen, and this will show that downtown does not necessarily have a finite boundary."
"We want Savannah River Landing to be a development of which the entire community can be proud," said Elizabeth Horner, vice president of marketing/communications for Ambling. "The Savannah River Landing team looks forward to a long-term partnership that adds to the charm and character of this historic and very special city."
According to the SDRA head, this property has been "underutilized property for a hundred years." Historically, the land was used for warehouse space, wharfs and agriculture until a major fire around the turn of the century. Since then, the acres have sat undeveloped.
Christian Sottile, design principal for Sottile & Sottile, has also been a key player in creating the master plan for the development. "He helped carry the vision forward," Sundrla said.
Working on behalf of the Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC), the City of Savannah and SDRA, Sottile created a regulating framework for development. "The single most important defining element of the Civic Master Plan is the street and block plan, connecting this large open property to the historic patterns of the City of Savannah," said Sottile.
"The buildings have, in a way, already been affected" by the restrictions set, said Sottile. And the result is "a network of very small blocks."
This is good news for those traveling on foot. "Small blocks mean better pedestrian environments," said Sottile. "A pedestrian gets to make more choices at a more frequent interval."
This is in keeping with established Savannah, which has more blocks per square mile than other cities. He pointed to the work of Alan Jacobs, an urbanist, who reported Savannah has 399 blocks per square mile. Worldwide, the average city has 200, and even New York City has just 275 blocks per mile. Sottile said continuing this pattern augers a wider movement away from large, imposing blocks, often filled uniformly with a single structure, which "alienate" people.
"Building facades over 60 feet in width should be broken down vertically to reduce their mass and create a human scale," said Sottile.
"This generation of Savannahians has the opportunity to chart the future of the geography of the landmark district," said Sottile, who believes this project will ensure further development will be connected to and in sync with the downtown's core.
"I think everyone is excited about the prospect of this development," said Jim Hansen, development director of the MPC. "Certainly there are not (other) large tracts of land vacant adjacent to downtown. This is certainly something unique."
As the downtown unfolds to the east and west, there will be room for not just more buildings but taller, larger buildings. Sundrla said the lower elevation of the eastern tract makes the greater heights reasonable. Measuring the buildings from the standard elevation of the historic downtown, as required, the new buildings will be within municipal code. "Trustees Garden goes so low," said Sundrla. After building an eight-story structure, "You're still just four stories above Bay Street." The overall effect, as viewed from the Savannah River or Hutchinson Island, will be a flush skyline.
Maximum heights ranging from four to 10 stories have been established block by block throughout the Savannah River Landing project.
Ambling and any future landowners may stray from Oglethorpe's and the city's vision at their own peril. Two pervious developers "did not last" because they were not willing to abide by the civic master plan, said Sundrla. Ambling came on board in 2005 after Paderwiski interviewed several development teams and selected those with the greatest "buy-in" of the city's vision.
Nobody can deny the scope of the project is impressive, but some locals have one thing on their mind: traffic.
As a part of all this planning process, the city and the MPC have been working with a consulting team to consider concepts for improving thru-traffic on President Street, from barreling commercial vehicles to hoards of beach-goers. Officials are currently considering different traffic, calming devices to create "more of a boulevard" than "a drive-by-with-your-blinders-on" experience. Some minor traffic rerouting is already underway.
Thomas Thompson, executive director of MPC, said the panel is three weeks deep into a traffic study expected to be complete in six months.
"When they submitted their zoning, they included a traffic study which looked at all the future development in the area and made an estimate of the number of trips and developed a phasing plan of what kind of improvements were needed to accommodate (the additional flow)," said Thompson. The additional study should provide a more complete picture.
The MPC and the city had already been looking at President Street as something greater than a street or a highway, even before the development. "This is an entry way into the historic district," said Thompson. "It isn't just President Street we're looking at." The city has created a street system for this development that Ambling is following, including an extension of Broughton Street across General McIntosh, heading right into the Savannah River Landing development.
Simultaneous but unrelated to the local plans, the Georgia Department of Transportation has begun work on road improvements between East Broad Street and the Truman Parkway.
Asked if trucks from President Street industries would be redirected, Thompson was resigned. "I would say trucks are in our future for sometime to come," said the executive director.
Thompson described the relationship between municipal elements and the developer as good. And Ambling and company aims to be good neighbors.
Across President Street, North Point Real Estate is the main landholder. The city is working with them to configure an expansive master plan that brings both sides of President Street in concert with the downtown. To the east, Ambling will be installing a landscaped buffer to shield property from light industry.
Eventually, however, officials believe that development will continue eastward.>
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