The rebirth of Drayton Tower is great news for downtown Savannah.
For the last half of the 20th century, the international style building on Liberty Street had 188 small apartments. That concentration of year-round residents was vitally important in a downtown economy that was becoming increasingly reliant on tourism.
And then Drayton Tower got caught up in the condo craze.
Convinced that condominiums were the wave of the future, real estate investors created new units throughout downtown. The number of sales never justified the level of lending and speculative investment, but a kind of group-think had taken hold.
Flash forward to 2009 when Darby Bank repossessed portions of the building. Darby itself failed in 2010.
Then last year, much of Drayton Tower was purchased by the development firm Flank, which began working to restore infrastructure and once again offer apartments for rent.
But there are only about half as many apartments in this latest incarnation.
A large crowd turned out last Thursday night for a grand opening and open house at Drayton Tower.
The reception was in the lobby, but the real action was on the 12th floor, where a number of renovated units were on display.
The first unit I toured was a one-bedroom with windows facing south. The cathedral was to the left, the Hilton to the right, with the rich green of the city seeming to stretch to the horizon.
A two-bedroom, two-bath unit on the northwest corner of the building was especially impressive.
With the bridge looming in the distance, the view conveys the human scale of the city, not to mention Savannah’s sheer beauty.
One of the bedrooms in that unit is literally in the corner. Take a close look at Drayton Tower the next time you pass it, and you’ll see that there aren’t any structural supports on the corners, so the views are interrupted only by the metal between the panes of glass.
The fixtures and finishes seemed appropriately simple and refined.
All this comes at a price, of course.
The 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom units start at $2,500 per month. The 400-square-foot studios start at $1,150 per month.
Those are high prices by any measure of the Savannah market.
But the price includes all utilities and keep in mind that many tenants will likely live without cars. The Drayton Tower website (http://www.draytontowersavannah.com) touts the Walk Score of 94 and includes photos of a variety of businesses in the neighborhood.
We’ll have to wait and see if the market can sustain those prices.
Either way, it’s great to see Drayton Tower buzzing with activity again.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.
