When Atlanta developer Ben Carter appeared before Savannah City Council Thursday to outline his $75 million plan to return Savannah’s historic downtown Broughton Street to its former glory as a shopping and dining hub, he pointed to the success of King Street in Charleston’s historic district as an example of what Broughton could be.
A thriving corridor of upscale commerce, King Street features furniture design shops and restaurants, art galleries and antiques, boutique hotels and high-end retail shops. It is one of Charleston’s busiest streets and a destination for locals and visitors alike.
Charleston native Linn Lesesne and her husband Rick Widman own four hotels and two restaurants in Charleston. Their Kings Courtyard Inn and Fulton Lane Inn, both boutique hotels, as well as Kitchen 208, a casual dining establishment, are on King Street.
“Both Kings Courtyard and Fulton Lane have been very successful properties for us, and I’d have to say our biggest selling point is our location on King Street,” Lesesne said Friday.
But, like Broughton, King Street has had its share of ups and downs.
“When I was growing up in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, King Street was the place to be,” said Lesesne, who sits on the board of the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It was common to spend an entire Saturday there, walking up and down the street, looking in all the stores, eating at a sandwich shop and catching a movie.
“But in the ‘70s, the activity — and a lot of the shops — just seemed to fade away,” she said. “King Street seemed to lose a lot of its allure.”
Although Lesesne wouldn’t speculate on the reasons, the 1972 opening of the 130-store Northwoods Mall in North Charleston — much like the 1969 opening of Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah — likely didn’t help.
In the ‘80s, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley began a major revitalization of King Street, but his efforts were thwarted in 1989 by Hurricane Hugo, a monstrous storm that dealt the historic city a devastating blow.
By the early ‘90s, some 40 percent of King Street buildings were vacant and many that weren’t were occupied by low-income residents rather than businesses.
The mid ’90s brought a renewed call to restore the street. The one-way street was returned to two-way traffic and street parking was added. This, according to a Clemson University study, allowed King Street to “regain its status as a cultural and retail hub in the city of Charleston.”
Today, Lesesne said, the street is “a great mix of office space, apartments and condominiums, above-store lofts, hotels, restaurants, shops and galleries.”
“The look is different — there’s a Talbot’s where Woolworth’s once stood, for example — but the character of the street has stayed the same,” she said. “It’s a good balance of national retailers and locally owned businesses. There are lots of family-owned stores that have been here more than 100 years.”
It’s a successful formula Carter thinks can be replicated on Broughton, citing the fact that Savannah’s 12.5 million annual visitors bring in $1.4 billion in revenue, while Charleston’s 4 million tourists generate nearly $2 billion.
The discrepancy, he says, is in Savannah’s lack of downtown retail and visitors’ shorter stays.
“Your city is an incredible example, as is Charleston, of urban life, work and play environments,” Carter said, adding that the streetscape on Broughton could be “really world class.”
“I think you’re going to see a lot of fantastic new things happen.”