What do you think about the plans for Broughton St.? (Jefferson: apartments, leasing)

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Heymom32000

H&M just needs to be built at the outlet mall instead. Its sad to think buildings will be destroyed when they really don't need to be.

Have you seen that building? It's ugly as heck. And it does not have historic status, meaning it's better off being replaced with something more attractive and useful.

Ironically enough, one of the members of the Historic Review Board who'll ultimately decide the fate of said building is an attorney who's law office currently resides there. He stands to earn a pretty penny by selling the building to Carter. For ethical reasons, he should obviously abstain from voting on the matter. But I doubt he will.

BTW: The article states that H&M has been looking for retail space downtown for a long time. They obviously WANT to be on Broughton! Do you know how fabulous that is for Savannah? Why on earth would you prefer them be in a suburban mall?!?!

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Have you seen that building? It's ugly as heck. And it does not have historic status, meaning it's better off being replaced with something more attractive and useful.

Ironically enough, one of the members of the Historic Review Board who'll ultimately decide the fate of said building is an attorney who's law office currently resides there. He stands to earn a pretty penny by selling the building to Carter. For ethical reasons, he should obviously abstain from voting on the matter. But I doubt he will.

BTW: The article states that H&M has been looking for retail space downtown for a long time. They obviously WANT to be on Broughton! Do you know how fabulous that is for Savannah? Why on earth would you prefer them be in a suburban mall?!?!

Thank you for keeping us updated with the news, newsboy! That building is kinda ugly but maybe there is nicer brick wall underneath it? Hope they can keep maybe just the front of it, only if that is the case. Take out the rest if they have to. Could they just build a new building next to it and connect them by knocking the side wall out that faces the empty lot? I don't know much about construction so maybe that costs too much. Either way I agree, it is only one building, and not a looker at the moment. I like everything Carter has said and done so far.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Thank you for keeping us updated with the news, newsboy! That building is kinda ugly but maybe there is nicer brick wall underneath it? Hope they can keep maybe just the front of it, only if that is the case. Take out the rest if they have to. Could they just build a new building next to it and connect them by knocking the side wall out that faces the empty lot? I don't know much about construction so maybe that costs too much. Either way I agree, it is only one building, and not a looker at the moment. I like everything Carter has said and done so far.

The article in today's paper implied that Carter plans to keep the facades and gut the interiors of several of these buildings to do what he wants to do. I generally don't have any problem with that, since modern building codes require this anyway. It's pretty much what Charleston had to do to allow King Street's renaissance. Otherwise, these old buildings have no usefulness and will continue to stay vacant.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

So, I love Charleston. I lived in the midlands of SC for years and visited occasionally. But I love Savannah more as a city to live in, personally. Do I like that King St has an Apple Store? Heck yes. I want an Apple Store on Broughton! I'm surprised with SCAD here we don't have one. Now yes, many parts of King St are magical. It does have some awesome restaurants and local shops. I just feel Broughton St has an even more *local* and original feel, and more "main st" feel as Newsboy is getting to I think. I also think Savannah has far more (very) talented street musicians and performers which I see every day on my way to and from work and talk to and listen to often. Although less homeless people and graffiti would not be a bad thing but overall I like the gritty feel. In fact it is not the homeless people they are usually very calm, or are just having a wee bit of fun in the City Market at night. it is the thugsters of which Charleston has much more I feel. I hope shootings on Broughton become a thing of the past when Carter brings money and thus I hope more police presence here. So I hope we can keep it local and original, yet perhaps bring more businesses and increase public safety.

I agree with you concerning the feel of Broughton versus the feel of King, but King Street has that same local original feel along Lower King and Upper King; it's the central part of the corridor centered around Charleston Place Hotel that's very touristy. And with the presence of SCAD, Savannah should indeed have more of a presence of street performers and such.

As far as the H&M goes, that's awesome news and it will be a perfect fit for Broughton. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you see other retailers like Apple locate downtown as well.

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I agree with you concerning the feel of Broughton versus the feel of King, but King Street has that same local original feel along Lower King and Upper King; it's the central part of the corridor centered around Charleston Place Hotel that's very touristy. And with the presence of SCAD, Savannah should indeed have more of a presence of street performers and such.

As far as the H&M goes, that's awesome news and it will be a perfect fit for Broughton. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you see other retailers like Apple locate downtown as well.

I think SCADdies will buy H&M stuff. And me too! On renovating interiors newsboy mentioned yes it all sounds good, I really like King St but I think all of Broughton will be like the "good parts" of King. So, it will be basically a local and more original feel all the way end to end if all goes well. I think?

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I agree with you concerning the feel of Broughton versus the feel of King, but King Street has that same local original feel along Lower King and Upper King; it's the central part of the corridor centered around Charleston Place Hotel that's very touristy. And with the presence of SCAD, Savannah should indeed have more of a presence of street performers and such.

As far as the H&M goes, that's awesome news and it will be a perfect fit for Broughton. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you see other retailers like Apple locate downtown as well.

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Apple is one of the retailers Ben Carter is negotiating with right now. It's s a no-brainer with the SCAD kids and Savannah's large downtown creative class.

Ironically enough, one of the things that MIGHT have held up an Apple store coming to Savannah before now is SCAD itself; they use Apple products exclusively and most likely have contracts via Apple to supply their needs at a discount ... and a kick-back.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

I think SCADdies will buy H&M stuff. And me too! On renovating interiors newsboy mentioned yes it all sounds good, I really like King St but I think all of Broughton will be like the "good parts" of King. So, it will be basically a local and more original feel all the way end to end if all goes well. I think?

Yes; I think when it's all said and done, Broughton will feel like a more developed version of upper or lower King.

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Apple is one of the retailers Ben Carter is negotiating with right now. It's s a no-brainer with the SCAD kids and Savannah's large downtown creative class.

Ironically enough, one of the things that MIGHT have held up an Apple store coming to Savannah before now is SCAD itself; they use Apple products exclusively and most likely have contracts via Apple to supply their needs at a discount ... and a kick-back.

Ahhhhh...very interesting. That makes sense because I honestly would have thought that an Apple store would have already been looking at downtown. And maybe they have but we don't really know about it.

[SavannahLife]

Developer Ben Carter, with interests in Savannah and Pooler, to sell his stake in Jacksonville center | savannahnow.com

[gentlearts]

Good. That leaves more money for Savannah.

[Newsboy]

I was down on the river tonight. There was a HUGE black yacht moored at the Hyatt. Guess who was hosting a big party on the back deck? That's right -- BEN CARTER! Don't know if it was his boat or not, but the guy is definitely making his presence known in town.

In the past couple of weeks, a BUNCH of storefronts on Broughton have either started demolition (with windows covered over), have COA signs posted on them, or have large prominent B-STREET PROJECT For Lease signs in them. This tells us that Carter's plans are moving forward very quickly.

Also, a demolition application has appeared on the building next to McDonald's at Jefferson and Broughton. This will pave the way for construction of the large new H&M store on that and the adjoining (vacant) lot.

Exciting things happening on Broughton!