As a Savannahian, I am of the minority when it comes to spending time on River Street. One of our real estate offices is located on East River Street and I have a friend that likes to dock his Chris craft along the riverfront periodically throughout the year. Some of his guests from the Savannah area only venture down to River Street when they know he is going to be there.
The proposals that planners are looking into updating River Street for the first time since the early 1970S, offering new attractions and reasons for more people to spend time on the riverfront. This area up until 1860, was the economic power behind Savannah's prosperity.
Along the riverfront, numerous warehouses were storing cotton that was being purchased by foreign and Northern markets, such so, that Savannah was setting the price of cotton that was being sold throughout the South.
The war, diminished Savannah's cotton market and by the early 1930S, the Depression and the Bowevil, an insect that destroys cotton crops had forced the closure of Savannah's Cotton Exchange. The warehouse then were a Savannah eye sore for the next 40 years, they were not being kept up. These former warehouses were brought to life with new businesses during the restoration during the 1970s. So I applaud these planners, taking a new look at River Street. On another positive note, the tracks along River Street will soon be in action again, sometime after May 1st, a trolley will start to rumble up and down the length of River Street. Enjoy the article below.
Redesigning River Street: Luring Locals Back
(SAVANNAH, GA) Something's missing from Savannah's River Street - Savannahians. As many as 90 to 95 percent of the customers patronizing River Street businesses are tourists, according to researchers involved in a city study of the street.
And how to get the hometown crowd down by the riverside is one of the factors under consideration as officials ponder a new master plan for River Street.
River Street was rebuilt in the 1970s from a series of rundown and partially abandoned dock and warehouse sites into a tourist hub of shops, restaurants and nightclubs. But that successful redevelopment is starting to show its age now, and the city of Savannah is considering how best to plan for the signature street's future.
The Savannah Development and Renewal Authority is working with various city agencies to come up with a master plan for River Street which, in turn, will become part of the new overall master plan for downtown Savannah. On March 5, the officials behind the effort gathered with various stakeholders - including River Street businesses - to present some preliminary ideas and to solicit public input.
"How do we get those locals back into the mix?" said Shawn A. Rairigh, a planner with the firm of Kise Straw & Kolodner, one of the presenters at the session.
Some possible routes to that end Rairigh tossed out for discussion include adding a variety of features now generally lacking on River Street, the kind of uses other cities have found for their waterfront property - outdoor dining. performance venues, attractions like splash pools to draw families with children, combined studio/gallery space for artists, even "boutique" cruise business to bring in smaller boatloads of richer tourists than conventional cruise lines.
While retailers on the street told researchers that 90-95 percent of their business was from tourists, the planner noted that most of the local portion of River Street traffic came from downtown offices.
"Continuing that office presence is very important," he said. Office space spills over from the central business district onto River Street, he noted, and much of it is congregated around City Hall. Among those offices is the city-owned Gamble Building, which the city is considering selling, he said.
Christian Sottile, a Savannah-based urban planner and professor at Savannah College of Art and Design, outlined some proposals for public spaces and projects in the redevelopment of River Street.
"Eric Meyerhoff's plaza design (Rousakis Plaza) is one of the few pieces of 20th Century design we have to be proud of," he said. For that reason, he said, changes to that part of River Street calls for sensitivity.
But the slide show he presented of River Street today showed a public face that has gotten dirty again. Incongruous street lighting, intrusive mechanical fittings, and trash compactors that are eyesores were among the problems he pointed out. Disruptions to the original pedestrian traffic pattern have left some public areas under-used and cut off from foot traffic, he said.
Among Sottile's suggestions in Wednesday's session at the Hyatt Regency Savannah were re-establishing the pedestrian footbridges that previously spanned gaps along Factors Walk, the intermediate level that runs between River Street and the bluff-level Bay Street. Such a feature at Barnard Street would be a useful feature in linking the future restored Ellis Square with the riverfront.
Parking shortages are part of any discussion of downtown's future. The two planners leading last week's session held out little hope of increasing parking on the river, but did suggest that a proposed public trolley could ferry River Street workers from remote parking locations.
Sottile's presentation included the redevelopment of public assets at the fringes of the historic street and working to reunite the waterfront with the bulk of Savannah's historic district, both visually and through pedestrian access.
After the presentation, the audience broke into discussion groups. A second such session is planned tentatively for march 24, leading up to preparation of a final plan.
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