The developer who’s bought 37 properties along Savannah’s historic Broughton Street and released plans detailing a potential streetscape makeover told the downtown business community Wednesday he only wants to spark improvements.
Ben Carter, speaking to the Savannah Downtown Business Association at the Charles H. Morris Center, said he’s “not the big, bad wolf” but just an individual who wants to invest in Broughton Street renovations.
“All I’m simply trying to do, is say ‘Would you like to take this opportunity to have Broughton Street renovated and make it look like something better than it is today?’” asked Carter, who said he’s already poured about $70 million into building and streetscape renovations.
The developer has become controversial after promising to bring in international retailers, placing new planters and sculptures on sidewalks and his properties and releasing renderings of a future Broughton Street that could include a grand archway at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, yellow-brick road crosswalks, and an intricate compass rose design at the street’s center.
Those drawings, he insisted, were “just ideas.”
“It doesn’t have to be this,” he said. “But this is designed to start a dialogue here. … (Broughton Street) can be better.”
Carter, who spoke for more than 45 minutes, shared a series of photographs that illustrate some of the issues he sees with the street.
He would prefer a more unified look with similar trees and light
fixtures down the street, updated bike racks, newspaper dispensers and trash cans. Additionally, he’d like to see signs removed from light poles and sidewalks improved.
Not everyone at the meeting agreed Broughton needs a uniform look.
Joe Steffen, who has served on the Savannah Historic Review Board, cautioned against regimentation along the street.
“One of the really cool things about Savannah is it is so quirky and that you can have a Crypt (Pub) next to an Anne Taylor or a high-fashion store,” Steffen said. “Let me urge that with the improvements of creating Broughton Street as a destination … we have to be careful we don’t create a regimented Broughton Street that looks just like (Charleston, S.C.’s) King Street. Savannah has to have its own identity.”
Ultimately, those decisions would not be up to Carter, the developer answered.
“It’s not my project,” he said.
Instead, Carter pushed for downtown businesses to support his proposal that the city approve an eight-block Tax Allocation District along Broughton to help fund streetscape improvements that the community at large could agree on.
Carter also is proposing a Community Improvement District (CID) that would require the consent of a majority of property owners on the street to voluntarily raise taxes to maintain the streetscape.
“Our goal is for every person no matter what your income level or your preferences in life, to be able to find something to do and enjoy along Broughton Street, so that it truly is a center of community,” Carter said.
“This (project) is not me — nothing up here is what I want to do. I just want to have the city and we, as a community, to figure out how to prepare some plans and get something done. This is not a design suggestion. It’s a concept.”