City Talk: Savannah needs both affordable and market-rate units to address housing demand

This is the City Talk column by Bill Dawers, a longtime contributor to the Savannah Morning News.

A few months ago, I was standing on a sidewalk in the downtown area while looking closely at one of the city’s newer apartment buildings.

A man stopped his car next to me and engaged in a brief rant. I could only hear part of what he said, but he seemed upset about how “they” are ruining Savannah.

That exchange echoed many other conversations about large-scale construction projects during the past several years. Sometimes “they” refers specifically to developers, but it can also refer to local government officials, the various boards at the Metropolitan Planning Commission or even to the future tenants who are willing to pay rents that seem astronomical to many people.

More City Talk: High costs, inadequate supply demand more aggressive housing policy

In their objections to the scale of new construction, many folks draw little distinction between apartment complexes and hotels even though they play markedly different roles in the urban landscape.

Feel free to blame me. I have been advocating for higher population density in the downtown area for almost a quarter of a century – and I will continue to push for more housing units as long as City Talk hangs around.

I agree with the critics who want more units that meet the objective standards for affordability, but few developers will go that route in the absence of clear incentives or mandates. So far, city officials have shown little interest in moving ahead with an inclusionary zoning ordinance drafted in 2022 or other zoning changes that could allow additional density when affordable units are created.

Consider the funding hurdles for a property that I have mentioned in previous columns. After the city’s code enforcement office at 1700 Drayton Street was destroyed by arson in 2020 , the property was slated for affordable housing, but the developers could not secure the necessary state tax credits.

In April, Savannah City Council approved a $1.2 million loan that might finally jumpstart the 41-unit complex.

I also agree with critics who want new construction with more architectural distinction, but costs are obviously a factor, and the approval processes do not encourage risk taking. I would prefer some new multifamily developments in the downtown area to have simpler facades similar to the historic townhouses on Gordon Row , but the landmark district design guidelines for large-scale construction encourage “the use of significantly different incremental façades on the same building.”

As things stand, the process still gets a lot of things right.

The city originally sold the site of the new Capital Collective apartments on East Oglethorpe Avenue without mandating the reestablishment of the lane, but preservationists successfully pushed in 2018 for changes to the original deal.  The visual impact of the five-story, 154-unit complex is buffered by trees along Oglethorpe and the red brick facades on Habersham. An underground parking garage is accessible via the lane, as it should be.

Rents at Capital Collective start close to $2,000 per month. Prospective tenants will have similar options in the general area, including the new Pilot & Park at Eastern Wharf and The Felicity on Perry across East President Street.

For the past few years, the market has supported those prices, but the supply should eventually catch up with the demand. Given the number of new units coming online, the downtown area could hit that point soon, or it could still be years away.

Whatever the case, the population boost will strengthen the residential fabric of downtown.

I am not arguing for a free-for-all, but Savannah will be a more resilient city in the long run if residents support smart projects that increase density while respecting historic development patterns.

Meanwhile, local officials should be working more aggressively to address the growing chorus of concerns about affordability.

Bill Dawers can be reached via @billdawers on X and CityTalkSavannah@gmail.com .

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: City Talk: Savannah needs both affordable and market-rate units to address housing demand