27 Jan Apartments planned for historic Savannah school building
It’s hard to miss, but it’s been easy to overlook, “it’s a little off the beaten path,” says Choate Construction Project Manager Brianna Walter.
But when the 38th Street School building became available late last year.
“It’s just something that’s too classical and too beautiful to not address it when it’s just sitting there doing nothing and wasting away,” said Chatham Developers President Patrick Johnston.
The school, built in the early 1900s, was last used as the St. Paul Academy for Boys, before closing down in 2014, leaving plenty of work to be done.
“You know a building like this has been sitting vacant for over 8 years now. There’s obviously a lot of issues from being abandoned for that long,” said LS3P Architectural Designer Michael Garcia.
Although long ago abandon, the role it once played is not lost on those working to restore it.
“A building like this is so important to the community and preserving the fabric of Savannah,” said Walter.
So, what will this old school become?
“27 housing units,” said Johnston.
Choate Construction is partnering with Cabretta Capital on the historic renovation and preservation project.
A challenge Garcia was more than willing to take on.
“Working on this was such a fun exercise because it’s really just converting classrooms into apartment units and how you can maximize the best unit for that.”
Bringing in new life, while preserving what came before it and insuring this hard to miss building is never overlooked again.
“I hope that in restoring this building people see it,” said Walter.
See it, and the beauty all around it.
“I just hope that it continues to bring to light these different areas of the community that people may not have experienced previously,” Walter added.
Developers say the renovations will cost roughly $3 million and they hope to be completed by the fall of 2022.