![]() ![]() The parcels facing East President are destined to be auto-oriented with a lot of surface parking. It could end up being some other big box store. The commercial parcel facing East President might be a grocery store. Some things will likely change as 57 acres are built-out over a number of years. Smart developers want and need wiggle room. The real estate market is a moving target. It’s bait-and-switch – we’ll end up with a bunch of big box stores. Maybe we can get the streetscape improvements to River, Bay, and Broughton Streets quicker for it.ģ. I have to believe that these structures will be well-designed and part of an attractive ensemble.įinally, consider this: The more intensely this land is allowed to be developed, the more tax revenue it will bring in, and the more it might relieve development pressure elsewhere. This is a marquee project for these developers. We in Savannah like to insult Atlanta, but Midtown has wonderful walkable urbanism - I know because I lived there three years without a car. Think of this area as a hybrid of Savannah and Midtown Atlanta, but without the traffic of the Peachtrees and Spring Street. They will not loom over historic neighbors. However, these buildings are not being inserted into the fabric of the Historic District itself. Yes, the developers are asking for maximum building heights that exceed the previous plan (the 2006 plan indicates maximum number of floors, whereas the 2017 PUD plan indicates maximum height in feet). I can’t wait to spy on similar home-owners at SRL. It was an incredibly interesting psychological game to tease out what they wanted to say to passers-by through their yards. These owners knew their property was on display. On my walk I was mainly peering into yards, and not at the river. ![]() Similar to what is proposed at SRL, private yards abut the public walk along the river. One of my favorite memories of London is walking along the Thames in the far west of the city. In fact, I look forward to future voyeuristic pleasures. On the eastern, single-family residential side of the development, the green space facing the public riverwalk will be composed of private backyards that property owners will not be allowed to build on. A sub-argument: not all of the green space is public space. So, there is no reason to be wed to the dimensions of the original. The fact that the SRL Master Plan is including public space in the form of squares is a cosmetic concession, though a very welcome one. The brilliance of the Savannah Plan is largely moot in this situation. Yes, residential parcels and condos will be sold off, but only according to the Master Plan, and only after being constructed by the chosen home-builder. It is “Hegemonic Development” - one entity, 57 acres. Savannah River Landing is a very different thing. However, this is because it is a proven system for organizing what I’ll call “Democratic Development” - city growth accommodating thousands of individual participants. When the seas rise to the point that coastal populations are displaced and new inland towns and cities must be built from whole cloth, planners need look no further than Savannah for a model. Bacon wrote it was a “system of land organization is both practical and delightful.” Savannah’s ward system is a framework that organizes a multiplicity of owners, architects, and users in a beautiful, harmonious, whole - a true gestalt achieved at urban scale. However, I do not think that the Savannah ward is the answer to all urban design questions, and particularly not this one. I’ve actually drawn out a Savannah ward diagram that I plan to have tattooed on my body at some point. In grad school it came up on an almost daily basis, and I incessantly reminded my fellows that I actually owned a home in downtown Savannah (though not in the Historic District). It’s not a faithful enough re-creation of the Savannah ward plan, and squares were removed from the previous iteration. So, allow me to address what seem to be the three main concerns with the revised Master Plan:ġ. You can see all of this and more in the illustrated master plan for the new Savannah River Landing (SRL) development here, find more information online, and see the developers themselves present their case to the City at a future council meeting. That means the interior streets are likely to be a wonderful pedestrian environment. The garages will be mostly hidden, and sequester the bulk of incoming cars at the periphery. In addition, the structured parking will be wrapped with commercial, office, and/or hotel space. Their desire for less required parking indicates an understanding of urbanism (complementary uses and compact design = less need to accommodate cars) and an eye towards maximizing the built area of the development. (One attendee asked if they considered including “affordable housing” in the mix. The original master plan for SRL from over a decade ago ![]()
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