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The Historic District Board of Review refused Wednesday to allow developer Ben Carter to demolish 240 W. Broughton to make way for a new structure to house retailer H&M.
The board voted unanimously to deny the petition by Patrick Phelps of Hansen Architects, the local firm charged with renovating many of the 20 buildings Carter now owns.
The building in question is connected to 246 W. Broughton, occupied by McDonald’s, and houses the law offices of Wiseman, Blackburn and Futrell.
Both buildings were constructed together in 1924 and were originally identical, boasting a bright yellow brick facade with twin parapets. According to property records, the building was extensively altered and stuccoed over sometime in the 1970s and again in 1983. An empty lot, also owned by Carter, sits on the other side.
Carter had proposed tearing down the building in order to create a larger contiguous building on all three lots, an homage to the former Chatham Furniture store that sat next door to 240 before it burned down in 1991. The developer said the larger building is needed to house international clothing retailer H&M, which is looking for 30,000 square feet of space.
The petition had originally gone before the board in February but was continued at the request of Phelps after the board encouraged his team to do more exploratory demolition.
Phelps said this demolition had only further revealed the extent to which the structure had been modified over the years, modifications he said made the building beyond repair.
“There’s not much left there to restore. Most of the historic fabric has been removed. It’s been damaged. It’s irreplaceable,” said Phelps. He said the only parts that remained intact were the side wall and back brick wall facing the lane.
Phelps also reiterated that the building was listed as non-contributing on the city’s historic building map, a document last revised around 2011.
Ellen Harris, director of historic preservation at the Metropolitan Planning Commission, said staff recommended denial of the petition because there was still historic fabric underneath and demolition could harm 246 W. Broughton, which is listed as a contributing struture — a designation that requires more stringent preservation standards.
“They were designed as one building and built as one building, and we think it should be considered as such,” said Harris.
Many members agreed with Harris.
“I agree with staff that we have to treat that building as one building, I don’t care that one half was sold to one person,” said board member Stephen Merrimon.
“I just don’t think this is a good start,” said Reed Engle. “And as our chairman mentioned, we suggested restoring that (original) facade and building another two-story setback, which would give the square footage that H&M wants.”
“We can have progress and also preserve what we’ve got,” he added, giving 24 East Broughton as an example of a building that had little visible historical intergrity before its owner, Ruel Joyner, restored it.
During Wednesday’s hearing, two people spoke against the building’s demolition, Danielle Meunier of the Historic Savannah Foundation and Ryan Arvay, a historic preservation grad student at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
“It sets a bad precedent for other property owners, and it certainly sets a bad precedent as we start to see the aggressive revitalization on Broughton Street by Mr. Carter,” said Arvay.
The developer can appeal the historic board’s decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals, though it was unclear if he would do so.