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The future of the Coastal Empire Fair is up in the air as the Exchange Club of Savannah has the nearly 70-acre fairgrounds tract near Montgomery Street and DeRenne Avenue up for sale.
The decision to put the property on the market came shortly after the end of the 2012 fair, where seven young people were shot in a Saturday night confrontation between two teenage factions.
“That was the main reason for listing the property,” Exchange Club President Lum Purvis said Monday. “But we didn’t really have any problems with last year’s fair.
“So, if the property hasn’t sold by then, the 2014 fair will go on as planned.”
And if the nearly 70-acre property, which is listed at $3.45 million, sells?
“We haven’t made that decision,” Purvis said, adding that the club has not looked at alternative sites.
“The fairgrounds property has been on the market for nearly a year, and we haven’t had an offer yet. But if we have a buyer, we’ll have to decide whether we want to move the fair or just discontinue our sponsorship of it as an organization,” he said.
The Coastal Empire Fair has been the Exchange Club’s primary fundraiser since 1950, helping support the Victor Jenkins Boys’ Club and other projects.
But the proceeds from the sale of the property would go a long way toward filling that need, Purvis said.
Another option would be to take the property off the market if it doesn’t sell, Purvis added.
That scenario is highly unlikely, according to Harvey Gilbert, managing partner and broker-in-charge of Gilbert & Ezelle Real Estate Services in Savannah, who said the property has attracted strong interest from a number of qualified developers, several of whom are evaluating the site for potential redevelopment.
“This is probably the largest infill site in the city limits, which makes it even more attractive,” Gilbert said.
Infill, the process of taking empty lots and underused or rundown buildings within densely built-up urban areas and redeveloping them into more attractive and usable residential or commercial space, has become a popular practice, he said.
“This property is ideally suited for a mixed-use development with a wide array of possibilities ranging from multi- and single-family housing to church, school or medical facilities,” Gilbert said.
His company, he said, has interest from a health care facility, a charter school group, senior housing and retail developers.
“The real beauty of this tract is that it is poised for almost immediate development, with roads, water and sewer already in place,” he said. “And, much like the Savannah Gardens area on Pennsylvania Avenue, this could change the face of the neighborhood. It could be a real economic generator for the area, an anchor for the redevelopment of this whole part of town.”
While the property, currently zoned C-R: Recreational Conservation, would need rezoning and approval of a master plan, Gilbert said he is certain city support would be there for a well-balanced planned development.
“We’re looking to attract the right developer with the right mixed-use plan,” he said.
“We’re not that far away.”
