SAVANNAH, GA (August 16, 2018) — This afternoon City Council approved the sale of the Broughton Municipal Building (BMB), located at 132 E. Broughton St., to Columbia Ventures, LLC. The City sold the surplus property for $4.5 million.

This property will serve as a residentially anchored mixed-use development in an urban area. The historic integrity of the building will be preserved while restoring the exterior to its mid-century roots. The proposed Broughton House, a boutique hotel,  will provide an anchor to Broughton Street for residents and visitors.

The method of procurement used was the request for proposal (RFP), which evaluates criteria in addition to cost. The criteria evaluated for this RFP were the qualifications of development team, quality of design proposal, schedule of performance, financial return and economic impact, and commitment to the City’s hiring programs. The financial return and economic impact of this property sale was determined to have an estimated net present value of $6.4 million which includes the proceeds of the sale and incremental tax revenues.

Most of the employees who worked at the BMB have already been relocated to other facilities; namely 1375 Chatham Parkway and 1700 Drayton St.   Two departments remain, the Revenue Department and City auditors.   The Revenue Department will soon be relocated to the Civic Center, and the City auditors will relocate to Chatham Parkway.  

The sale of the BMB aligns with the City’s Savannah Forward strategic plan priority “Good Government”.   The City is moving forward to consolidate operations and city staff to increase efficiencies and put surplus property back on the City’s tax roll.