When Diane and Jerry Whitlow arrived in Savannah several years ago from Hilton Head, South Carolina, where the scarcity and expense of land was making it nearly impossible to continue their development work, they found Savannah to be a city ripe for change. And they quickly became a force helping to direct that change. Part of the reason for their success is due to smart networking and their original partnering with Savannah’s leading downtown broker, Cora Bett Thomas. Having pondered several sites rimming the district, they looked at all the “tin sheds” near Tattnall Street which housed businesses supporting the mighty automobile (many of these businesses had evolved from early in the 20th century) and they envisioned a new luxurious corner of town which they've branded “The Gardens District”. Savannah now benefits from several new projects they have created on the Landmark Historic District’s west side such as The Side Gardens, Taylor Row, Jones Square, and the newest project called Montgomery Quarters. Diane recently launched her own company and we wish the best of luck in her new venture!

Other developers have also thrown in their hats almost simultaneously and one cannot talk about this area without mentioning the amazingly talented Nic Applegate who also began staking out and building high quality infill like his Iron Gate town homes on several sites. Nick has also invested in some of Jerry’s projects. All of this activity is currently bounded roughly by Charlton Street to the north, Gaston Street to the south, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (formally West Broad Street) to the west and Jefferson Street to the east, and is spreading south and west where there are still plenty of development opportunities.

The property that really launched this area in the minds of many Savannahians is The Gardens on Jones. Originally priced at under $200,000 and purchased primarily by parents of Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) students as investments/housing for their children, these condominiums with submerged gated parking and balconies facing an enclosed interior large common courtyard, now sell in the upper threes and are attracting a broader demographic including empty nesters and folks who are semi-retired or affluent enough to have a second home in Savannah. Two units are currently under contract and only one of the basic 2bed, 2-2.5 bath units ranging from 1,336 to just less than 1,600 square feet is currently on the market.

Please feel free to take a look at my Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of The Gardens on Jones to see for yourself what has been happening with this great property in downtown Savannah’s blossoming “Gardens District”.

This rosy real estate picture looked quite a bit different last year around this time. 2006 proved to be a very slow year with only two of these traditional units selling, one in April and one in December, both of them for less than $230 a square foot. My personal theory about this little “hiccup” (which did not feel so little at the time) is the fact that the primary buyers of this project, parents of SCAD students, were able to find comparable condominiums within a short drive of downtown at Whitmarsh Island’s Merritt and Mercer Point comunities. With prices in the high one hundreds and nicely conceived floorplans, with amenities like a gated entry, swimming pool, elevators in some buildings and a community room, I feel this virtual flood of new inventory (well over 500 units) overwhelmed the market that year and probably had an effect not only on The Gardens on Jones but also on many of the historic condominium conversions dotting the Historic, Victorian, and Thomas Square Historic Districts, all hoping to lure a limited pool of buyers. It is a competitive world out there and nothing illustrates that any better than Real Estate.

FYI , there are currently less than 280 condo units for sale in downtown Savannah north of Victory Drive for under $500,000.

Until next week,
Ron Melander