NEWS - Commercial Real Estate

SBJ Staff

12/07/2009 - Curtis Lewis III does not expect much of anything to change within the commercial block he owns from Abercorn Street west to White Bluff.

But that does not mean the property is off the radar of commercial developers, including builders of big-box retail.

Developers see DeRenne Avenue’s high volume of traffic in a mostly different way than do the motorists who must navigate it daily. Those tens of thousands of motorists who pass through the avenue have made top performers of the street’s Burger King and Auto Zone car parts store.

Even the closed-up Captain D’s Seafood fast-food outlet on the south side of DeRenne near the Abercorn intersection performed strongly, said Lewis. “We were told it was the top store in the chain. Yet they closed up when their lease ran out.”

Lewis said the site has drawn significant interest from the fast-food sector but noted significant time and expense would be involved in getting the parcel up to city land-use codes. “The Captain D’s spot has some challenges with the layout,” he said, including entrance-and-exit requirements, parking, green space and stormwater retention.

Nonetheless, he said, “We have a number of national fast-food chains that want the property.”

The same code issues would apply to redevelopment of Globe Plaza and the parcels around it owned by Lewis. Land-use variances would likely be needed, said Lewis, a lawyer.

Yet DeRenne’s traffic counts and the property’s frontage with both Abercorn and White Bluff appeal to developers, Lewis said. “I talk to people all the time about redevelopment.”

Big-box retail developers are among the callers, he added. “We’ve talked to a few. I haven’t got any of them to sign on the dotted line.

“They do like the traffic count.”

Aside from a roadway that connects with most of Savannah’s major traffic outlets, including Truman Parkway,

Abercorn and interstates 516 and 16, DeRenne has some nearby neighborhoods that should interest retailers, said David Sink, a principal with commercial real estate firm Colliers Neely Dales. “The area has some great demographics,” he said, citing Ardsley Park and Kensington Park.

“Once you’re east of Abercorn, it’s all residential,” Sink noted.

He said he’s unsure if the Lewis property is large enough for a genuine big box but it does have room “for some sort of anchor.”

John Rauers, owner of commercial real estate firm Lamara, said he does not expect to see any commercial redevelopment on DeRenne until traffic bottlenecks are eliminated.

And even with improved traffic flow on DeRenne, a redeveloped globe area would still have plenty of retail competition up and down Abercorn, Rauers noted.

For anything to happen, Rauers said, the commercial real estate market would have to rebound strongly and absorption of vacant retail space, including empty big-box stores, would have to occur.