I am a long-time resident of the Historic Landmark District. I would like to add my concerns to the chorus of other concerned residents concerning forthcoming changes to the regulations for STVRs.
My husband, Bill, and I purchased our historic home, on the northeast corner of State and Lincoln Streets, in 1974. I was only 25 years old when we moved into our 4-story home, and I became the mistress of the house that I wanted to be our “forever home.” At the time we bought our home, it was in deplorable condition and served as a multi-unit, low-rent apartment building.
Within a few short years, The Kehoe House was vacant along with what is now Presidents Quarters. The four row houses across State Street from us were serving as low-rent housing, as well as the double apartment complex (now Lincoln Plaza condominiums) across Lincoln Street from us. The International House of Pancakes was located to the rear of our house, and I suspect it was about the classiest eatery on Broughton Street. Nevertheless, when we made our one addition (a breakfast room on the rear of our parlor floor), I requested the architect design a wall that would totally block my view of the blue-topped IHOP!
For almost forty years, we invested untold sums of money into the restoration of our home so that we would be able to enjoy it during our retirement and that it could, indeed, be the “forever home” we always planned for it to be during all those years of hard work we put into it. When others were moving to the suburbs, we were purchasing downtown in order to join the other “pioneers” of Savannah’s restoration movement.
For the past five years, shortly after Bill retired, what we had long looked forward to as being our “golden years” started becoming an absolute nightmare for us due to the carnival/theme park atmosphere in our area -especially the strip, along Lincoln Street, between Abe’s on Lincoln and 1790’s “reinvented” bar, a major destination for numerous pub crawls and quadricycle stops. Once STVRs started springing up in our neighborhood, things went from bad to worse. There are now two STVRs directly across State Street from us, and there are three directly across Lincoln Street from us. And another property, directly across Lincoln Street, was just purchased this month by an out-of-state investor who plans to immediately convert it into a STVR. Therefore, within a month, there will be six STVRs directly across one of the two streets bordering our house, less than the number of homeowners/full-time-residents I know about in the same space.
Even though we are fortunate that two of the owners of these STVRs have been wonderful to work with, we have still been badly affected -especially with loud late night partying (on a deck right below our bedroom window on State Street) which sometimes last until 3 a.m. (or until I call the police, which I have had to do three times in the past five months for one unit). We have had problems with a couple of the STVRs across Lincoln filling up our trash bins, as well as renters or service people sometimes parking in one of our private parking spaces. And last month, one of the STVRs (located in Lincoln Plaza) not only had large beach towels draped over a balcony of a major tour route in our Landmark District, but ladies’ lingerie hung there as well! So tacky!
For decades, we have had three different historic inns within a block of our home. Yet, not once have we ever been disturbed in any form or fashion by any of their guests. Never. Yet, in less than the five years since the “invasion” of STVRs into our neighborhood, we have had one problem after another with the renters staying in them-including two female renters who almost got into a fist fight in the middle of Lincoln Street, around 3 a.m. one morning in January. I have video footage of much of what I have reported either to the police, to an owner/manager, or to the city’s Bridget Lidy. In addition, we have recently seen eight individuals staying in a STVR (across from us), which we have been told only permits six to stay.
So, at this point, Bill and I are wondering how much longer it will be before we simply are no longer willing to subject ourselves to the ever-growing escalation of noise, intrusion, and disruption of our lives and just move somewhere else where we can enjoy our latter years in a more peaceful environment.
We have lived in this neighborhood longer than anyone else we know about, and we had hoped to continue living here much longer. If it were not for wanting our young grandchildren to have memories of spending time in the home their mother grew up in, I suspect we would have moved out of our beloved home/neighborhood when the STVRs started moving in.
Like other downtown homeowners and residents we have spoken with, we feel like we have become secondary in importance to the come-and-go tourists, and we wonder how much longer we will even want to continue living in an area we dearly love and amongst neighbors we care about deeply.
It has become more than obvious to us that the “powers that be” in Savannah are much more concerned about bringing in throngs of tourists than keeping those of us who spent decades restoring historic homes which have become a major drawing card for the very tourists who are now driving us away-many now in our old age and, sadly, totally against our will.
Maxine Pinson is a long-time resident of East State Street in the city’s Historic Landmark District.